Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth vs Total War: Shogun 2
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth lets you play as the leader of a pioneering group of spacefarers as you set off for the stars in hopes of creating a new civilization in space. The science fiction-themed in this game is a pretty far cry from the usually historical theme in the award-winning Civilization game franchise, but the game was pretty well-done mainly because it contains many of the features that had made Civilization 5 such a resounding success while changing things up a bit, such as replacing religion with affinity, just so everything is relevant to the overall theme of the game. There are also items that you can find on the alien planet that you're trying to colonize which will unlock nice storylines and quests for you to experience. And of course, there's the epic DLC, Rising Tide, which has elevated a mediocre but interestingly-themed game into an impressive one.If you're hoping for a game that's as amazing as Civ 5, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth might end up disappointing some of you, but if you consider that this is the franchise's first attempt in doing a game that's not history-based, then well, this is a pretty good first attempt for an established, triple-A series.
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.