Fortunately, foreign rulers aren’t too keen on allowing another daimyo to just come in and claim their land, so players get to put their troops to use and engage in a real-time 3-D battle engine that operates like many of the popular RTS titles on market. Battles allow for up to 24 units simultaneously (12 per side), allowing for some major-scale battles if players have the means to pump a massive amount of troops into war.
If you think the strategy stops on the battlefield, you’re dead wrong. Troops can be assigned to spearman, cavalry, cannon, rifle squads, and more, each featuring a distinct quality that is extremely useful in some situations and not so great in others. Destroying enemy foundations is a key element of battle as well. Players select squads and direct them in a “point-and-click” fashion in an attempt to either eliminate the opposing leader or completely siege their enemy HQ; however, players must keep a sharp mind because the enemy will be aiming to do the same.
The title allows players to tackle seven different scenarios that begin in 1551 and go as far as to the years following Nobunaga’s death in 1582, so there is definitely no shortage of game play. The title also features an officer creation mode to place custom elements into scenarios and a very detailed tutorial mode will shape up newbs into warlords in just a short time, so while on the surface the game is nothing more than continual reading and menu surfing, the game has a lot of content and depth buried underneath it.
If you’ve ever played any Koei simulation title on the Playstation 2, you’ll know what to expect in the game’s presentation. The character stills all come across as majestic and vivid and the menus are full of small details that make the text a little more bearable to surf through for hours on end. Aside from buildings and foundations, though, the battlefields and maps do lack any sort of detail. While understandably, due to the “eye in the sky” view of the camera, the people look like working ants, generic environments for the most part aren’t much of a treat for the eyes. Thankfully, the management and battle situations should be enough to take your mind off of the sights and hook it with the title’s game play.
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