Cheap Shogun: Total War Warlord Edition (Jewel Case) (Software) (Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 98, Windows Me) Price

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Customer Reviews of Shogun: Total War Warlord Edition (Jewel Case)

Look at All of the Wonderful Things to Eat!
The download and install were uneventful, if rather long. The mod is available in two sizes: small (28MB) and large (140MB). I chose the large version and downloaded from the mirrors available in this forum post. The mod itself will automatically install itself into the Medieval: Total War directory on the player's hard drive, so the process is as hassle-free as they come. Once done, simply fire up the game as always. <
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>Immediately noticeable upon starting a campaign is that the game is now running in version 2.0 (without any other patches applied), some basic screen art additions, alterations, and a big, sloppy smorgasbord of new features. If the player truly loves medieval European history, Medieval: Total War XL may be the only game played for months, if not years to come. <
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>Choosing a faction and era to play in almost made my head explode, in the best way. Besides the additional factions added by the Viking Invasion pack (Hungarians, Sicilians, and the Aragonese), the XL pack doubles the amount of playable factions to include Armenians, Bulgarians, the Crusader States, the Knights Hospitaller, Lithuanians, Norwegians, Portuguese, Scots, Serbs, and the Teutonic Knights. Older factions like Italy are broken up between two new factions: the Genoese and the Venetians, and formerly unplayable factions like the Golden Horde and the Papacy are now playable. All of the old factions (English, French, Spanish, Holy Roman Empire, etc.) are still all playable as well, of course. In addition to doubling the amount of playable factions, the Medieval: Total War XL mod also adds a number of faction specific units: every faction now has at least two or three unique units. Some are modeled on older unit models, but some are all new creations added by VikingHorde himself. <
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>Many of the newer units are ethnically and geographically based, such as Slav Javelin men, found in Balkan provinces, and some very exotic Eastern European and Islamic units. As I applied both the Viking Invasion pack and the Medieval: Total War XL mod back to back, it was difficult for me to be able discern which were added by the modder and which were "officially added" by Creative Assembly. It can only be to the modder's credit that determining the difference was no easy task. <
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>Besides new units and factions, the map has been further broken into additional, historically accurate provinces. They are scattered across the entire original map, throughout every region, and are subtle and not noticeable until the player really gets a chance to study the map by investing some game time. Other more subtle changes to the programming of Medieval: Total War are tweaks to the economics of the game, specifically trade balances and farming income. <
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> The Medieval: Total War XL patch is a little slice of gaming heaven, but alas, it's not absolutely perfect. There are scattered little typos in some of the added in-game text. Nobody is perfect, and I know this may not bother some, but as an editor and writer I couldn't help but notice them. More importantly, the load time between turns on the strategic map has become absolutely spirit-crushing. On some occasions it took the AI up to three or four minutes to complete its moves, much greater than the time it took for the same turns in the old Medieval: Total War. The game never actually crashed, but it appeared to be hung up. It only occurred on the strategic map, and there was no slow-down in any other parts of the game. The turn was always [eventually] completed, but I was able to leave the room, do the laundry, and let out the dog on some occasions between moves. Hopefully this is addressable in an available patch somewhere, because the Medieval: Total War XL mod is terrific and absolutely immersive. The replay value evident with Medieval: Total War XL goes beyond any other game I can recall, with such a variety of factions, units, and provinces to explore that any Medieval: Total War fan will be entertained for a very long time. Despite the problems, Medieval: Total War XL is a great demonstration of what PC wargaming can be: engaging, expandable, entertaining, and even [gasp!] educational. Wargamers with a taste for a more distant, darker history owe it to themselves to check out the Medieval: Total War XL mod. <
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The best strategy game i've ever played
This game was great. The battles were amazing, and it what they use on History Channel's Descisive Battles. Wonderful graphics, it was like a Lord of the Rings movie. The only part I wasn't thrilled about was the board game-like map. It could have been a little more interactive. Anyway, if you buy this game, you will not be wasting your money.

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Battle Axes, Brew & Plunder!
You sit hunched near the prow of the Longboat, listening to the oarsmen gasp as they heave against their burden and shove the boat bearing steely death through the North Sea. There is a close, deadly chill, but the sea is cloaked with a thick and heavy fog that roils up off the whitecaps like steam, as if the furnaces of Hell churned beneath the waves. The Huskarls were blessed by the Jarl's priest hours ago; they clutch their battle-axes and snarl through their teeth, their faces streaked with a cow's blood, the berserker rage upon them. <
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>Soon the dragon's prow will gouge into the Saxon shore; soon your berserker-band will leap across the side and crush skulls, spill blood, scatter the feeble enemy, rape and pillage and burn and plunder. You will drink the enemy's blood in a cup forged of his feeble skull and sing of Valhalla. You will not sully the honor of your ancestors. You will stare up to heaven and cry out in victory under the eternal one-eyed glare of Odin the All-Father. <
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> ******** <
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>The Omens warn of Death and Destruction. Just a fortnight ago, you watched as the heavens were filled with fire. The earth itself has turned against your people; the fields lie fallow, the crops barren, the yields puny. The people starve. Dogs run feral in the woods, even in the streets. <
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>Your Saxon grandfather's grandfather hacked his way into this unforgiving wilderness, pushed the barbarian Celts back into the western hills, forged a life and a kingdom. You wear that uneasy crown even now, but God---how that cold iron crown digs down into your skull. The Christian priest speaks of the armor of the Lord, but how much more would you give for stronger steel and more men against the coming of this new scourge: orange-haired giants stealing throught the fog in their dragon ships, wielding steely scythes of death, slaying your men and defiling your women. They wear horned helms like the Demons the priests preach against. They are barbarians, savages, bloodthirsty monsters. They are the scourge of an uncaring God: they are the Vikings. <
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> ******* <
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>A year ago I picked up "Medieval: Total War" (the original, without the Viking Invasion expansion). Several beer barrels of coffee and three sleepless nights later, I decided Medieval was the single most addictive videogame I had ever played. I picked up the full Battle Collection last week, armed only with the modest expectation of a minor tweak to the basic game that would enable me to send hordes of screeching, beer-guzzling horn-helmed warriors roaring across Anglo-Saxon England. <
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>Boy was I wrong. <
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>Here's what you need to do: if you just got Medieval Total War: Battle Chest, you absolutely must load up Viking Invasion. It's not just an expansion: it's a massive overhaul to the MTW game engine that boosts immeasurably the original's playability, and (sigh) addictiveness. The flaws that hampered the original---and occasionally brought the game to a screeching halt or aborted it altogether---have been fixed. <
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>Now there are four ages to choose from: the original three and the Viking Age (from 793 A.D. through the Norman Conquest in 1066). Apart from the Viking-era powers circa 793 A.D., you can now play an additional three factions: Hungary, the Kingdom of Sicily, and Aragon. The expansion includes a horde of new units to further your ambitions and smash those who oppose your imperial will: Slavic footmen, Hungarian Jobbagy, Russian Druhzina cavalry, Arab infantry, ferocious Heavy Steppe Infantry, the brutal Organ Gun, and of course the Viking units: miserable Viking thralls, doughty Viking landsmen, Saxon Fyrdmen, and fierce Viking huskarls. <
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>Best of all, the design flaws that made the original Medieval: Total War nearly unplayable as the game progressed past 1300 have been fixed or eliminated: <
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>1) Rebellions: In the old game, I would curse as constant rebellions turned my imperial map into a bloodbath of red, leaving islands of rebel armies knotted across my kingdom. Invading? You could count on a massive "rebel" or loyalist army left in your wake---piles of chivalric knights and feudal footmen boasting technology not available to the most advanced power on the gameboard! <
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>Rebellions will still break out, and if you leave a region undermanned or overtaxed for years there's always a chance some long-vanquished pretender to a throne will resurface to unite the disaffected---but overnight rebel super-armies are long gone. <
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>2) Ragnarok Abort Bug! Happily done away with. The original MTW used to be nasty to abort in mid-game, or when you went to save, or when you looked at the computer crosswise. Since loading up the Viking expansion I haven't had the game abort once. <
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>New Stuff: Using archers against an enemy building? Light `em up with flaming arrows! Digging in against an enemy siege? Laugh it up as the gatecrashers scream in agony as you dump boiling oil on them. <
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>The sleek new Battle Summary screen is also nice: now you get a full-screen display with a 360-degree view of the countryside, pictures of both unit leaders, details on both sides (if you've got spies or watchtowers), and an option to tailor your units before you get them on the battlefield. <
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>A quick word about the Viking era itself: ever wanted to dispense with all the careful maneuvering, throw the battle-axes and ale kegs into the dragon-prowed longboats and just sail off to raid and plunder the British isles, and generally kill people and break things? Play the Vikings. <
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>Enough talk! Open up the doors to the Temple of Odin! Raise your tankards to Loki in the drinking hall! Let the raids commence! <
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>JSG <
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