Lofty Ambitions
Nobunaga's Ambition finally returns to the States, but was the wait worth it?
Published: March 16, 2008
Ah ha! You thought I didn't notice that slightly wistful look as you read that KOEI had finally brought one of its oldest strategy games back to this side of the Pacific, didn't you? Well I did, and it's cool, man, really; the series was one of the best strategy franchises to grace the NES, so much so that for a time I thought it and Romance of the Three Kingdoms[/games] were all that KOEI did (and, to be fair, it was certainly what they were best known for). Sure, even back then the series was a little on the dry side, with a tangled nest of menus to drive everything and the barest minimum of visual pop -- even by 8-bit standards -- but there was still something compelling about balancing development with diplomacy, war strategy with careful political manipulation.
The good news is that despite a good two decade hiatus, the series still delivers these elements to intoxicating effect, and, thanks to increased hardware muscle and a greater attention to detail on the more interactive bits, offers a slightly lower barrier of entry for newcomers (compared to Romance, in fact, it's practically a My First Strategy Game-level experience). That's not to say the game will woo non-strategy buffs, as KOEI clearly knows their target market, but after a few hours of tinkering, it's hard not to be sucked into the turn-based give and take.
As we already detailed in our preview coverage of the game, Rise to Power plunks you in the shoes of Nobunaga Oda (or, if you prefer, any number of feudal Japanese rulers) and saddles you with the unenviable task of repeating history, taking Oda from a generally looked-down-upon ruler-by-inheritance of a small chunk of Japan to his eventual place in history as the man who unified the entire country under one rule, sometimes by force, but always with a surprising amount of strategic acumen.
It's quite a burden to bear, but then the insanely deep system of building up kingdoms that have been taken over, forming alliances and working warring kingdoms against one another, all while keeping the people happy wouldn't be worth playing through. As it stands, the game's half-dozen-plus scenarios could easily fill a month's worth of fairly regular play (trust me), and the included tutorials will doubtlessly be returned to from time to time because of the languid pace of development, but once you wrestle the myriad turns of development, construction, negotiation and, yes, warfare under control, the game becomes as much about what you do over the course of 20 turns as it is the next two.
And therein lies the game's biggest make-or-break setup: if you're the type that plays games of chess pre-planning for a dozen or so moves ahead of time, then you're going to meet with absolutely intoxicating sessions of playing at being an armchair general. Manipulation of relationships and rivalries like so many pawns, all while keeping your own people (and those you've... "adopted") happy pays out with a sense of accomplishment that few games will ever touch. It also means, however, that it's not impossible to paint yourself into a corner. The near-constant management of resources and timelines is not for the ADD crowd, and it can at times seem incredibly overwhelming.
The good news is that despite a good two decade hiatus, the series still delivers these elements to intoxicating effect, and, thanks to increased hardware muscle and a greater attention to detail on the more interactive bits, offers a slightly lower barrier of entry for newcomers (compared to Romance, in fact, it's practically a My First Strategy Game-level experience). That's not to say the game will woo non-strategy buffs, as KOEI clearly knows their target market, but after a few hours of tinkering, it's hard not to be sucked into the turn-based give and take.
As we already detailed in our preview coverage of the game, Rise to Power plunks you in the shoes of Nobunaga Oda (or, if you prefer, any number of feudal Japanese rulers) and saddles you with the unenviable task of repeating history, taking Oda from a generally looked-down-upon ruler-by-inheritance of a small chunk of Japan to his eventual place in history as the man who unified the entire country under one rule, sometimes by force, but always with a surprising amount of strategic acumen.
It's quite a burden to bear, but then the insanely deep system of building up kingdoms that have been taken over, forming alliances and working warring kingdoms against one another, all while keeping the people happy wouldn't be worth playing through. As it stands, the game's half-dozen-plus scenarios could easily fill a month's worth of fairly regular play (trust me), and the included tutorials will doubtlessly be returned to from time to time because of the languid pace of development, but once you wrestle the myriad turns of development, construction, negotiation and, yes, warfare under control, the game becomes as much about what you do over the course of 20 turns as it is the next two.
And therein lies the game's biggest make-or-break setup: if you're the type that plays games of chess pre-planning for a dozen or so moves ahead of time, then you're going to meet with absolutely intoxicating sessions of playing at being an armchair general. Manipulation of relationships and rivalries like so many pawns, all while keeping your own people (and those you've... "adopted") happy pays out with a sense of accomplishment that few games will ever touch. It also means, however, that it's not impossible to paint yourself into a corner. The near-constant management of resources and timelines is not for the ADD crowd, and it can at times seem incredibly overwhelming.
