Company of Heroes 2 vs Shogun: Total War
Company of Heroes 2
Company of Heroes 2 is the exciting follow-up for the original Company of Heroes game. Set in World War 2, this game is rather multiplayer-focused but it does provide players with an intense single-player campaign which also double as a way for you to be familiarized with the gameplay before heading into multiplayer.The game does have a lot of "standalone" DLCs that adds either a new single player campaign to the game or a new multiplayer army for well... the multiplayer gameplay which you'll have to buy if you aim to get a "complete" version of the game. This kind of make the multiplayer aspect of the game rather pay-to-win since players without the new multiplayer standalone, which usually features a new army that's slighter stronger, will probably be on a disadvantage.
All in all, Company of Heroes 2 is still a great game from a great franchise, but it seems like the developers/publishers may have lost some favor with its player base mainly because of the slew of "standalones" that players have to shell more money for in addition to the "base game".
Shogun: Total War
Shogun: Total War is the first original title in a legendary, 15-year (and counting), award-winning, real-time strategy game series that currently spanned across multiple themes and settings. However, this game is set in ancient Japan - 1542 to be exact - when the last shogunate collapsed and the entire nation is thrown into conflict as multiple daimyo (faction leaders) vie for the most powerful seat. To make things worst, Europeans have also ventured to island at this point, bringing guns, religion and disease - factors that you'll eventually have to deal with if you are to attain the people's support and conquer the whole of Japan.The gameplay in Shogun: Total War is akin to Rise of Nations in the sense that each battle is carried out in real-time, but moving your troops on the world map is pretty much turn-based (Risk-style). However, unlike the latter, the battle itself is purely consisted of the actual fighting rather than having you build a base and amassing resources and an army. Instead, Shogun lets you view the entire battlefield from any view you like and send commands to your troops as the battle unfolds. This is basically something that's unheard of until this game came along.
Shogun: Total War may be an old game by modern standards, and due to this, many players might simply opt for its sequel in order to have a taste of that this game has to offer. However, if you truly want to experience the very first of the Total War series, this is the game to play.