Don’t take on this game unless you’re ready for it… cause it bites back.
Man this game is hard
Im going to be completely honest in saying that this game got the best of me. I couldn’t even complete the tutorial without losing almost all of my men. No matter how many campaigns I tried to start (literally 5), I couldn’t make it past an hour or two without losing all of my army and eventually my territory. I even kept the instructional character on in the corner, and either he was speaking Japanese or I just was a terrible listener because in the end, it never worked out. I think my main problem was that I was so bad at the battles that it must have been painful to watch. Even with a few “quick fixes” I looked up on some forums & blogs, I still got absolutely wrecked by any force I came across. This is 100% a me problem because I vividly remember hearing people talk about how they were winning some battles in class and how they were investing in banks and infrastructure and whatnot. Meanwhile I was sweating at the tutorial because it took me 30 minutes to figure out how to rotate my army. Which brought me to my final conclusion…
This game is so real it hurts
Yanno what I love to do more than anything after teaching all day and going to class all night? Getting my ass kicked in tutorial mode and having Japanese soldiers scream at me the whole time. However, even though I was painfully terrible at this game that doesn’t mean that it cannot be used to teach/learn history for those that can play it. After doing some research, (because I couldn’t see half the game because I’m as skilled as a potato) I found that there are a lot of aspects in this game that are accurate, like the Clan names and the buildings throughout the game.
Another aspect that is very accurate (to a painful degree) is the combat. Throughout the combat simulation you are faced with so many choices in how to execute your battle strategy. Do you take the high ground? A good idea but if you push your soldiers too hard they will become fatigued. It is so realistic that if you are trying to attack an enemy the enemy can actually set up and you have to attack them, not like CIV 6 battle simulations at all. However there are some inaccuracies, like the fact that there wasn’t any Katana Battalions, mainly archers and spears. Katanas were used during this time period but not by entire units. Another Inaccuracy that I found was that there was not Tadeka calvary at this time, they were believed to be a myth or legend. However I don’t think this inaccuracy took away from that gaming experience much.
Final thoughts
I think my opinion of this game is clear, it’s not for me. Im throwing in the towel , its just too hard and It does not work with me. This game is living proof that games are in fact – not for everyone. However, if you were into Ancient Japan and military strategy, then this game is probably right up your ally. If not, probably not at all. Im sorry if this review is a little weak, this game was a struggle for me, all the more reason I’m excited to take on Tropico 5 next week!
white peach gaming 