Strategy games — scratch that, grand strategy games — are one of several forms of content that I have the utmost respect for, but I just can’t get into. I’ve taken a crack at some of the Total War series, got a brother-in-law that loves them, but the strategy is too thick for me to get into. I’m more of a sci-fi RTS type. Anyway, I found myself in a very familiar and similar situation with Koei Tecmo’s latest, Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence.
As with the Total War games (and I’ll stop drawing comparisons between the two now), I could tell within a half hour of starting the game that I was playing something special. This is a quality title, and barring any major bugs that happen to occur after the few hours I have played it, I think it’s going to be a revered title in the PS4 library. Indeed, it’s for a niche, but sizeable, market of gamer that is looking for a massive grand strategy game that is has as much depth as it has content. But personally, Nobunga’s Ambition was a grind to play because it was so overwhelming.
The included, text-based tutorial system is an absolute must, but it’s so chock full of content that it’s quite unlikely you’ll grasp all of the details the first time through. The general concepts make sense, however — as a Daimyo, aka warlord, you need to tend to your clan first and foremost while constantly developing relations with neighbors with diplomacy, and being prepared for battle. This is a large three-pronged approach in which you must manage your citizens, your available labor, food supplies, and so forth, while being diplomatic in order to continue to spread your sphere of influence during the 15th and 16th centuries (the game ends when you reach 1700).
Koei Tecmo’s ambition with this title is about as impressive as Nobunaga’s — there is a wealth of gameplay elements and well-implemented mechanisms at your disposal that give you a wide array of options in letting you decide how you want to handle your “business.” It’s a turn-based game in as far as you have a monthly Council meeting (you can speed up and pause the flow of time as needed to get to these monthly meetings). At the meetings, you get reports from your top Council members regarding finances and labor forces and all matter of other things. You then set in motion new actions to help ensure that you’re meeting the needs of your people while tending to your on conquering goals, too. Actions include adding more laborers for farming, beefing up your army, sending a diplomat to your neighbors to boost relations or more underhanded tactics like facilitating a defector, and so forth.
With so many things to manage and tasks to delegate, I appreciated that a good HUD system was designed to help you navigate the command structures efficiently and get these orders in motion. As you will soon discover upon playing, you’ve got enough to deal with as is, so a good interface only helps. It’s still a tremendous undertaking for someone like me who is not well versed in this genre nor particularly interested in it, but if you’ve got the interest and the time, I see no reason why Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence would not be a great title for your PS4 library.
To the summary…
