Skulls of the Shogun: Review

Thanks to the series Total War We treat the games with special trepidation, in the name of which the word Shogun appears. Now it seems that they are a priori cannot be bad. Skulls of the Shogun, recently released on Steam, is a great confirmation of this. And this is also a step -by -step strategy. True, there is no construction on a global map and a victorious procession for countries and provinces. Skulls of the Shogun Dedicated exclusively to battles in which not for life, but to death converge … already dead samurai.

Who is the last in paradise?

In Japan, as you know, their own special concepts about honor. And judging by Skulls of the Shogun, They apply even to the afterlife. According to the plot, the great General Akamoto, treacherously killed by a blow in the back, went to the kingdom of eternity. But upon arrival, he discovers that you can get there only by defending a long queue. And you can stand there for 500 years.

Akamoto decided that, like a real samurai, he will never wait and wait for anyone. And went to war against local bureaucrats. He would, perhaps, would be passed forward and accepted with honors – the name Akamoto thundered on the other side of life, and on this. But the main local bureaucrat of Kurokava convinces everyone that the freshly arrived general is an impostor, and it was he who. Those who still do not believe this or simply admire the courage of our hero, join him and help in battles.

Despite all these harsh samurai showdowns and afterlife, Skulls of the Shogun – This is primarily a bright, sparkling comedy. And the point is not only in the plot itself, which makes the dead samurai take the line in paradise – the stupefying campaign simply breaks from funny dialogues and funny situations. The potion that the enemy general accepts is compared here with the Viagra, and the warriors who are waiting in line entertain themselves by making bets on the outcome of the battles with the participation of our hero.

Enough and colorful characters. The https://paddypowercasino.uk/ local lord of lightning resembles a hooligan flying off the coils, adoring samurai, give each other their tactical plans, and then giggle viciously. Periodically, our Akamoto comes to the rescue is the local goddess Sakura, who is turned out to be a girlfriend of one of the Kurokava assistant. He is wildly jealous and asks why she does not answer his sms. And such jokes, introducing elements of modern culture into the afterlife of samurai, in Skulls of the Shogun Full. Heroes, apparently, are well aware that they are in a video game. So, Akamoto periodically declares something in the spirit of “it seems we have almost passed this level!"Or" For those who do not understand, I will specifically highlight the next phrase in blue and in capital letters ".

Easy to Learn – Hard to Master

But in the battles themselves you will no longer be laughing. Skulls of the Shogun It fits perfectly into the formula "Easy in teaching – hard in battle"! The mechanics itself and the rules of the battle of the battle are really quite simple. Forget about scale and scope Shogun: Total War – Here, more appropriate comparison with a step -by -step tactical RPG, which, however, turned out to be gracefully woven and strategic elements.

Akamoto himself and several “units” himself are always subordinate to the player, which are only four types: a swordsman, archer, horseman and magician. The enemy puts up a similar army, which the general is also leading into battle – the most powerful warrior in the game. Soldiers can give an order to move or attack. In addition, on many cards (but not on all!) you can order to capture special buildings, allowing to call for reinforcements. True, precious rice is spent on this, so it is also necessary to occupy rice fields, which then increase the reserves of this important resource within a few moves. By the way, in order for magicians to be in your army (some treat allies, others attack enemies with lightning and fire), you also need to capture special buildings – temples.

Fighters spend glasses on all actions, do not believe, actions. At the same time, both the player and his enemy can give a strictly limited number of orders to subordinates, after which the opponent makes the course. Even if there were nothing in the battles mechanics, they would still look dynamically and fascinating. Restriction on the number of orders for the course and presence of strategic elements related to the seizure of buildings and sources of resources force to carefully plan their actions and constantly make important decisions. Is it worth it to call on reinforcements or is it better to rush into the attack by the remaining forces? Is it necessary to waste time to recapture the buildings and rice fields from the enemy, or is it better to drive into the corner of the enemy general as soon as possible?

Eat, hide and shoot!

However, several more important nuances are mixed with all this. Firstly, all the participants in the battles are subject to “pumping”-however, very specific, characteristic only of the dead samurai in the way: right in battle, soldiers can devour the skulls of the dead enemies. This, of course, is not very pleasant (“Fu, it will tear me out now!"Says one of the samurai after the first sample), but extremely useful. Each skull eaten restores health, and if the fighter eats three such skulls, he will turn into his advanced, demonic version. Here you have one more reason for tactical thoughts: to spend the glasses of actions on a meal and restore health or to finish the wounded foe faster? In addition, there are not many skulls, and you still need to decide for whom it is better to save them.

Secondly, c Skulls of the Shogun It is necessary to take into account the features of the relief and landscape of the area. Fighters can be hidden in the bushes – so the chance is reduced that the enemy attack on them will reach the goal. On some maps you can put your archers on a hill in inaccessibility for the enemy. And if our warriors fall into such an ambush, you have to hide subordinates behind logs and other shelters so that the arrows do not notice them. And also a very fun and effectively encounter enemies from bridges or from the edge of the cliff. True, the same thing can do with you, so you need to carefully monitor the location of your and enemy troops.

Finally, at the beginning of many missions, both Akamoto and his opponents, enemy generals, fall into a trance – they meditate, with each move increasing the overall health of health. And at this time in the fight, of course, they do not participate. And here it is very important to choose the right moment when to wake the general and enter him into battle.

In general, despite the apparent lightness of the rules, Skulls of the Shogun throws many interesting tactical situations, makes you think, plan and be extremely attentive throughout the battle. Especially heavy and at the same time fascinating are the battles with other players. Multiplayer offers many cards and two modes: ordinary and command Deathmatch. Moreover, this is one of the rare games where the owners of the Xbox 360, Windows Phone and PC can clash with each other.

In Steam Skulls of the Shogun I cameless not empty -handed, but with gifts. Expanded version called Bone-A-Fide Edition, I added to the game a new mini-campaign for 4 difficult mission, another magician magician, new cards for multiplayer, the ability to earn titles and emblems. But without this we would accept Skulls of the Shogun With bread and salt-after all, now so original, exciting and high-quality step-by-step strategies dedicated exclusively to battles, there is simply no PC market on the PC.

Pros: wonderful humor;An interesting plot;complex and exciting battles;excellent map design;Cross -platform multiplayer.
Cons: graphics to someone may seem too cartoony and frivolous.