Empire Earth vs Total War: Shogun 2
Empire Earth
Empire Earth lets you take the reins of a newborn civilization and nurture it so it'd grow into a formidable empire that can eventually dominate the globe. But of course, your rise to power will not go unchallenged, so expect the need to flex your military muscles from time to time or employ some diplomatic action to ensure the expansion of your empire. As you go through various eras until the final, hypothetical "nano era", you'll need to invest in upgrading your technology both for your normal citizens and for your military just so your empire can keep up with the times and have both military might and economic strength growing in tandem. Multiplayer is also available but only through LAN.Empire Earth may not have been as popular as Age of Empires, but it is still a pretty renowned real-time strategy game back in the day. If you love the genre, you'll definitely enjoy playing this game.
Total War: Shogun 2
Total War: Shogun 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to the groundbreaking original game, Shogun: Total War. Set in the darkest age of Feudal Japan right after the collapse of a unified government (in 16th century to be exact), many warring clans have risen through the chaos and out of them, 10 legendary warlords, or Daimyos, have their eyes set on the coveted position of shogun, but only one of them will be able to reunite a warring island.The gameplay is pretty similar to the original game. The campaign map features a turn-based, Risk-style gameplay while the actual battles themselves (rendered in glorious 3D) are played out in real-time. However, this time around, the game is filled with a ton of new units, including massive warships, as well as a more in-depth strategic gameplay based on the ancient texts in Sun Tzu's Art of War. There are multi-stage sieges, unique hero units who can be improved through standard RPG methods, and that the campaign map is now in 3D as well and can be rotated whichever way you like.
The campaign in Total War: Shogun 2 can also be played cooperatively (2 players), but if you truly want to test your skills, you can engage in epic online battles with up to 8 other players.
This game does the very first Total War game justice and is the sort of game that fans of the series would greatly enjoy. Also, considering that the game came out more than 5 years ago, the graphics in the game is still pretty relevant today... so I guess, that's another bonus.