![]() This morning he was arrested and briefly imprisoned. In winter, attrition gnaws at expeditionary forces like a lazy mouse. I can't click on him without a flicker of pride. Now level 6 and age 54, he goes about in the company of an unscrupulous sushi chef ("A man can die in many ways, but choking on a fish bone is truly unfortunate"), keeps a geisha disguise and a set of tiger claws (for climbing) in his trunk, and boasts a skill set that includes 'poisoner' and 'exotic weapons'.īecause I've invested time in him and have come to rely on his discrete deadliness, I can't send him on a mission - however high the chances of success - without a little twinge of fear. Over the last day or two, I've shaped him into Japan's premium VIP exterminator via choices made during level-ups. Down there on that road near Fuchu is Yoshitaka, my senior ninja. Elements like the new agent skills do make the decision-making noticeably denser and the distractions more numerous, but the pay-off is a level of personality and charm you just won't find in earlier TWs.įor a very literal example of that personality you need look no further than the Strat Map of my current campaign. With all the preview talk of Shogun 2's RPG-style character skills and persistent multiplayer avatars, I was a little concerned that Horsham's finest might have lost sight of fundamentals this time round (real-time battles! Turn-based city/state management!). ![]() You fret when you review a Creative Assembly game, but it's worth it to be reminded just how rich and riveting strategy games can be. The TW titles might be minefields for the hard-pressed and thin-skinned reviewer, but they're also blessed oases. Vivid recollections of cherished generals, valiant defeats and impossibly narrow victories. Brain echoes of blissful afternoons spent carving-up Carthaginians, axing Saxons and peeving the Pope. What stops you from fleeing are the memories. It can reach the point where you wonder if you'd be better off phoning-in sick and letting the poisoned chalice pass to another poor blighter. Will I miss some grievous bug and end up looking like an arse? Should I sprinkle my paragraphs with verbal get-out clauses like 'appears to', 'from what I saw' and 'on the whole'? Am I destined to be remembered as the critic that failed to notice that all the horses in Shogun 2 only have three legs? ![]() After that business with hydrophobic invasion forces in Empire: Total War, it's impossible to sit down to review a new Creative Assembly creation without anxiety. ![]()
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