Total War (series)

Total War is a computer strategy game series developed by The Creative Assembly. Its games combine turn-based strategy and resource management, with real-time tactical control of battles. The first game of the series, Shogun: Total War was released in June 2000. The most recent major game released was Total War: Warhammer on 24 May 2016. Since the series debuted, it has sold 20 million copies.^[1]

Main games

Shogun: Total War

Shogun: Total War is set in feudal Japan. The single-player game includes interactive videos that represented possible decisions by the player, such as converting to Christianity. The original Shogun was not a mainstream product, but attracted a dedicated fan base. The expansion pack, called Mongol Invasion, was released with the original in the Warlord Edition.

Medieval: Total War

Medieval: Total War is set in medieval Europe. The expansion pack is called Viking Invasion, and the combined edition is called the Battle Collection. It was one of the best-selling games in the Total War series.

Rome: Total War

Rome: Total War is set in the Roman Republic. This was the first game to encompass what would become one of the most fundamental additions to the Total War series, the inclusion of free map movement as opposed to earlier versions where all movement was province based. The first expansion pack, Barbarian Invasion, was released on 27 September 2005. Rome: Total War Gold Edition, which combined the fully patched versions of the original game and its first expansion into one DVD (instead of the original game's three CD-ROMs) was released on 14 February 2006. A CD-ROM version (a total of four CDs) was also produced. A Mac version of Rome: Total War Gold Edition, developed by Feral Interactive, was released 12 February 2010. A second expansion pack, Rome: Total War: Alexander, was released on 19 June 2006 as a download and, later at retail. A compilation of the original game and the two expansions, Rome: Total War Anthology was released on 16 March 2007. The series has also spawned several popular mods such as Europa Barbarorum and Rome: Total Realism both of which seek to create more historically accurate settings.

Medieval II: Total War

Medieval II: Total War, a sequel to Medieval: Total War, was released on 10 November 2006 in Europe and on 14 November in North America. This game includes much more detailed characters and features the Age of Discovery (and colonisation of the Americas) and the Mongol and Timurid invasions. An expansion pack, Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms was announced on 30 March 2007. It was released on 28 August 2007. The Gold Edition of the game, containing the original game and the expansion pack, was released on 1 February 2008. The Kingdoms expansion pack contained 4 campaigns: the Britannia Campaign, set in the British Isles in 1258, during the reign of Henry III of England; the Crusades Campaign, set in the Middle East in 1174; the Teutonic Campaign, set in the Baltic region of Eastern Europe in 1250; and the Americas Campaign, set in the New World in 1521, during the decline of the Aztec and Maya civilizations.

Empire: Total War

Empire: Total War was announced on 22 August 2007 by Sega^[7] and had been secretly in development since the release of Barbarian Invasion.^[8][9] It is set in the 18th century and includes features such as the Industrial Revolution, America's struggle for independence and the colonization of India. For the first time in a Total War game, players have the ability to play real-time 3D naval battles. Also a feature that had been developed in the game was the decentralisation of provinces, adding greater realism in that many features, from production to technological advancement, would now occur outside of the capital of the province. Empire: Total War was released on 3 March in North America and 4 March in Europe 2009.^[10] The expansion pack, Empire: Total War: Warpath, was released in October 2009. Warpath is set in the Americas where it is possible to control one of five different Native American nations. While the game was critically acclaimed due to its innovative game play, the game has been subject to most of the criticism of the Total War series by many critics and fans after its release due to bugs; Sega claims nearly all issues have been presently resolved. The issues have been publicly explained by Creative Assembly several months after the game's release. It was the first in the series to use Valve Corporation's Steamworks DRM and achievements system, thereby requiring Steam to be played.^[11]

Napoleon: Total War

Napoleon: Total War was released in North America on 23 February 2010, and in Europe on 26 February. The game focuses on the politics and major military campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars in the late 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. Napoleon was released with several editions: the Standard Edition (as well as a limited edition version of the Standard Edition), Imperial Edition, and the Emperor's Edition (available in Australia and New Zealand only). Players assume the role of Napoleon Bonaparte, or one of his major rivals, on a turn-based campaign map and engage in the subsequent battles in real-time. As with its predecessor, Empire: Total War, which included a special episodic United States storyline, Napoleon features three separate campaigns which follow the general's early Italian and Egyptian campaigns as well as the European campaign and the Battle of Waterloo.

In the grand campaign, which is named "Campaigns of the Coalition", the player can play as Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, or Russia in a map that spans Europe. There is also a second campaign available as DLC, the "Peninsular campaign", in which the player vies for control of the Iberian peninsula. The campaign is playable as either France, Spain, or Great Britain. On 3 June 2013 premiered Napoleon: Total War Gold Edition for Macs, available for download.

Total War: Shogun 2

On 2 June 2010 Creative Assembly released a full preview of Total War: Shogun 2 set in the middle of the 16th century in Medieval Japan. The new battle engine supports up to 56,000 soldiers in a single battle, making them significantly larger than in Napoleon, the previous game in the series. Shogun 2 is the first game of the series to feature the franchise's name appearing as the primary title in an effort to increase brand awareness.^[12] The game was released on 15 March 2011.^[13]

Total War: Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai is a stand-alone expansion to Total War: Shogun 2 released in March 2012. The game explores the conflict between the Imperial throne and the last Shogun around the time of the Boshin War in 19th century Japan, 300 years after the events of the original game in a clash of traditional Samurai culture with the power of modern weaponry. There are six new playable clans (Satsuma, Tosa, and Choshu, Imperial and Aizu, Nagaoka, and Jozai Shogunate) plus four DLC clans (Tsu, Saga, Obama, and Sendai), supporting either the Imperial throne or the Tokugawa Shogunate. Also portrayed in a limited role are Britain, United States and France, with all of whom trade deals can be struck (given the proper infrastructure), and from whom Marines can be recruited. A new feature is the land and sea unit interactions which includes the ability to call in offshore artillery support barrages, coastal gun emplacements that target enemy ships and the ability to call in campaign map bombardments – bombarding armies and cities in adjacent coastal areas of the campaign map. Other new features are railway networks, ironclad warships, improved siege battle mechanics (with upgradable tower defences, each with their own speciality), new agent types, the ability to control two armies on the battle map at the same time, a third person shooter for torpedo gunboats, coastal batteries, Gatling guns and cannons, and a multiplayer overhaul.

Total War: Rome II

On 2 July 2012, The Creative Assembly announced Total War: Rome II with a live action trailer that features different scenes with the theme, "How far will you go for Rome?".^[14] Work on the title began during the development of Total War: Shogun 2.^[15] The Creative Assembly announced that the game would have a bigger map than its predecessor, Rome: Total War, it will "go more to the east", have many new game features and that it will have new camera views in-battle, allowing the player to see the battle from almost every angle. The game was developed using a new programming system, which allows it to achieve graphical quality never seen before in the Total War series. It features new horse units. The game was released on 3 September 2013.^[16] The initial release suffered from significant problems, but most of them were fixed by the Emperor Edition of the game.

Total War: Attila

On 25 September 2014, The Creative Assembly announced Total War: Attila at the Eurogamer Expo.^[17] According to the Creative Assembly, Total War: Attila would implement an "apocalyptic" atmosphere, with hostile weather and darker lighting. Total War: Attila was released on 17 February 2015.^[18]

Total War: Warhammer

Announced on 22 April 2015, Total War: Warhammer will change the rules of the series as it takes place in a setting of high fantasy for the first time in the series' history. The setting comes from Games Workshop's miniature wargame Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The real-time battles and turn-based sandbox campaigns, a staple of the series, will be returning. Races mentioned include the men of the Empire, Orcs and Goblins, Dwarves, and Vampire Counts. Sega has revealed this is the first in what will be a trilogy of titles, with two additional standalone installments planned. Total War: Warhammer was released on 24 May 2016.^[19]

Spin-off games

Spartan: Total Warrior

Spartan: Total Warrior was developed by The Creative Assembly and released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. Spartan: Total Warrior is a hack and slash action title that was to bring Total War's hallmark large-scale battles to the console market. Rather than adhering to historical accuracies, The Creative Assembly took inspiration from Greek and Roman mythology to craft a setting that allows for more fantastical set pieces and foes. The player takes the role of a Spartan warrior guided by Ares, tasked with defeating the invading Roman Empire. The game features both a "campaign mode" and an "arena battle" mode. The campaign mode takes place over 14 levels, while the arena battle mode tasks the players with surviving enemy assaults of increasing difficulty. An indirect follow-up called Viking: Battle for Asgard was released in 2008, dropping the Total Warrior moniker.

Total War Battles: Shogun

Total War Battles: Shogun was released on 20 April 2012 for iOS.^[20] This game was also later released for Android devices and Microsoft Windows. Set in medieval Japan, the game utilizes real time strategy and, like other Total War games, combines troop organization and management, combat and building management. Available troops confirmed are: samurai, archers, ninja and cavalry. The battle system uses Hexagon tiles for movement and placement and a new key feature to this game enforces the "Bushido" code of conduct where once units are moved forward they can no longer move backwards. 1 vs 1 local multiplayer is available.^[21]

Total War: Arena

Total War: Arena is a free-to-play game that is currently under closed beta testing, soon to enter Open Beta Testing. During his session at the 2013 GDC in San Francisco, lead designer James Russell revealed the title under development at the UK studio. Arena will be The Creative Assembly's first title in a free-to-play model, a new spin-off for the Total War series. Offering players the chance to pitch history's greatest commanders and their armies against each other in massive team-based battles, Arena will focus entirely on online multiplayer, mixing elements of real-time strategy and multiplayer online battle arena gameplay.

Total War Battles: Kingdom

From the team behind Total War Battles: Shogun, Total War Battles: Kingdom entered open Beta on PC on 9 March 2015,^[22] following a limited closed Beta. Set in Medieval England, the game combines realm building and management with real-time battles and has been released for PC and iOS.

References

External links

• Official website
• Total War Games at DMOZ