It’s crazy to see game IPs celebrating their 30th anniversary, but what’s more crazy is realizing just how long ago that was. The newest game in this particular series comes out during its 35th anniversary, meaning it started back in in 1983. In that span, I’ve managed to never play any of the releases – not even the spinoff Pokemon Conquest. Naturally it was time to change that, as a game that lasts so long must be doing something right.

Having never played the games prior, I didn’t have much knowledge jumping into this. I have played a number of the dev’s games, including multiple Musou series, the first being Dynasty Warriors 2. Some screenshots of battles from the 15th entry of NA reminded me of the oft forgotten Kessen. Sadly, like with this, I never had the chance to play any of its sister series Romance of the Three Kingdoms games either, although had I done so when I was younger I probably would’ve been disappointed. With the knowledge and experience from other games in the same realm of the developer (Samurai Warriors especially) while also knowing this was more strategic, I felt like I knew what I was getting into. I was wrong. The opening cutscene that shows a grand time in the vein of Warriors games ends there, as you’ll be doing a lot of menu management with this.

In a sense, this is an in-depth game of Risk, the ever popular Hasbro board game. The difference is all of your decisions and regions take place within Japan several hundred years ago. Starting out you’re given the option of choosing a time period to play, as well as a character within that timeframe. You can start with any you so desire, as the game is kind enough to offer up tutorials during your gameplay session. I’m not sure I’ve ever played a strategy game that is both so overwhelming and yet so simplified that I find it frustrating. What I appreciate is that the game is meant to teach history to some extent, with characters having their own resolve – staying within these parameters allows for you to play through the game in different ways while being rewarded for doing so. Despite the era being one that I adore, the dialogue is a bit off-putting at times – I understand language needs to be contemporary to an extent, but it’d be nice to have some indication that this was taking place during the Sengoku Era. One of the strongest aspects of the game is the soundtrack. If you enjoy the likes of Koichi Sugiyama, chances are you’ll enjoy this – while not composed by him, there are a lot of tracks that are reminiscent of his past work.

Having no experience, I can say that I appreciate the approach of implementing the tutorials within a live session opposed to having a separate section making me wish I was just playing the game. Admittedly, when it comes to games like this, my patience runs thin when learning the mechanics. So the fact that they are interspersed through the match opposed to all at once makes things much nicer. However, I couldn’t help but feel like some of the decisions I made either had no weight or needed to be performed by me at all. For example, when managing the agriculture for one of your areas, the game has a description at the bottom of the screen that tells you the state of the area, and informs you which of the two available options you should choose. So when you only have one set of seeds to sow, and you’re told exactly where you should sow them, it feels like it’s holding your hand a bit too much. And when you follow the prompts and things still fall apart, it’s a bit disheartening, especially since the game doesn’t tell you how to combat that.

There are many options that the game allows you to choose from prior to being told about them, and should you choose any of them, the game offers a tutorial on how to use them properly. As much as I like the way the tutorials are implemented, I did find myself being confused by the commands within them from time to time. It would be helpful if the options would be highlighted in some manner, or an arrow of sorts pointed after a period of time of failing to figure out where it wants you to select. But I can’t complain too much, as I’ve played strategy games that are far more confusing and don’t allow for someone new to play at all. Following the guiding hand of the game, I started to wonder if there was something to do that would feel more fulfilling, at which point I entered into a battle.

Knowing how the rest of the game was, I should’ve expected the battle to be more strategic than most other Koei games. Indeed, this is the case here, as battles are a mix of turns and tactics – almost like an SRPG without the grids. The map shows where the enemies may be and you are given an area to move in and then face a direction. Once you spot the enemy it’s in your best interest to stay out of their sight and circle around for an ambush. Should you fail and not have the appropriate gear, chances are you’ll end up losing. Even if you achieve perfect strategy, without the proper gear for battle you’ll end up going home with your tail between your legs. Perhaps the one part of the game that could’ve soared and made it stand out among all the menus ends up feeling sluggish and slightly disappointing. That’s not to say it’s outright bad, as it is certainly a nice change from the building up of your regions with soldiers, infrastructure, and diplomacy, but I was left wanting more. If battles are not your thing and your stats outweigh the opposing forces, you can just allow the AI to battle it out without you.

With a huge roster of characters to choose from, each with their own ambitions and goals, it’s hard to say the game doesn’t offer enough content. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind it being a bit smaller in this regard with more focus on the battles. This entry makes me want to jump into a previous iteration to see what was different before, as I’m sure a number of things were removed in lieu of new ideas. If you’re a huge fan of the Nobunaga’s Ambition series, I can’t speak to whether or not this is a good sequel or not. If you’ve never played it, this seems to be a decent enough entry point, although Civilization is probably a better choice. The first few hours can be rough, but things pick up if you can make it past the initial learning portion of the game.

6 out of 10

Pros

• Many Campaigns
• Soundtrack
• Tutorial Implementation

Cons

• Battles
• Lack of Weight in Some Decisions
• Confusing at Times

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi was developed and published by Koei Tecmo Games. It launched June 5th, 2018 for PC and PS4 at $59.99. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

Check out OpenCritic for a better idea of how our review stacks against others.