Nobunaga Ambition Mac Game
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Koei's 'Nobunaga's Ambition' strategy game series began in 1983, and has seen over 25 different releases on a wide array of platforms. The latest entry in the retelling of Japan's feudal history is 'Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence - Ascension,' an enhanced version of last year's 'Sphere of Influence.' An extension of the 12th release in the Nobunaga's Ambition series, Nobunaga's Ambition: Iron Triangle, has appeared at the Steam Store as Nobunaga's Ambition: Iron Triangle w/Power-up Kit! Oct 22, 2014 Gameplay for Nobunaga's Ambition, Dos PC game produced by KOEI in 1986 - Playing through a few tu.
Summary
Quite a good game, if you manage to survive the first few turns, that is.The Good
Nobunaga's Ambition has several elements that make it an interesting game. First there's the setting; the game simulates the struggle for power in feudal Japan. I find this setting a lot more interesting than for example medieval fantasy. Koei games have traditionally been about portraying history fairly accurate; most of the daimyos in the game are real historical figures. While I didn't know the majority of them, I recognized some of them from Akira Kurosawa movies. Moreover, there aren't that many strategy-games around which deal with this subject (Shogun: Total War and Sword of the Samurai come to mind). Reading the manual will give you some extra background info on the time period and some of the personalities. It makes the game more interesting.The graphics aren't spectacular, but they fit the theme. Whenever you give a command, a small animation is shown on the bottom part of the screen, a nice touch. The graphics mode is CGA however. I think CGA graphics were already outdated in 1988.
The addition of RPG aspects is an interesting move. You play the role of a character, not one side of a conflict or a country. If your character dies the game is over, so take care of his health and be patient. If another daimyo dies you may be able to claim his land. Different daimyos have different statistics and each of them has his own fief (some of them are easy to defend, others difficult). The difficulty of the game varies with your daimyo-selection.
I've never been a fan of those turn-based strategy games in which battles are fought out on a hex grid, but I'm glad this feature is in the game. Serious war-gamers will probably find this mode too simplistic, but it does add some more strategic thinking. You can use the terrain (hills, towers) to gain an advantage in battle or gain an advantage by attacking the infantry with your cavalry. When you destroy the enemy's command unit, you kill the opposing general and the battle is over instantly. The command unit should be your first target.
Plenty of things to do; manage armies, states (upgrade towns, prevent flood damage, raise taxes) diplomacy (let another daimyo marry your daughter; survival requires personal sacrifices :->), hire ninjas (they spread nasty rumors, set cities on fire, destroy dams or, when you are lucky, assassinate other daimyos), bribe enemy soldiers. Fortunately, the manual explains all the different actions and which actions influence certain variables (like peasant loyalty). Unfortunately the manual does not explain the amount of change of the variables. If I spend 64 gold on upgrading the town, how large will the increase in tax revenues be? It remains unclear; but then again, tax revenues depend on several variables.
Of course Nobunaga's Ambition doesn't have mouse support. You use the numbers on the keyboard to enter commands. This works pretty well. You'll have to learn the shortcut keys but it's a direct method of giving orders. Most of the time the menu structure tree isn't too deep. However if you want to hire 5 ninjas to spread rumors to decrease population loyalty in fief 11, this is the required series of input commands:
Lord what are your orders?10 [Enter]
Recruit soldiers or ninjas?
2 [Enter]
How many ninjas do you want to hire (xx is maximum)?
5 [Enter]
Which fief do you want to send them against?
11 [Enter]
What will be their mission?
1 [Enter]
This process can become tiresome if you want to give certain commands several times or you have many fiefs. I don't know how this could have been solved. The one thing I do miss: right-clicking on an object to get extra info (for instance about the status of a fief).
The Bad
A game can be over very quick. I've played games that lasted two turns, and I played on the easiest level of difficulty. The computer cheats and it’s very obvious. One of the computer daimyos will attack you in the first or the second season while it’s impossible for a human player to raise an army AND buy weapons AND attack another a fief (remember you can only give one order per season). And if you manage to survive the first attack, another daimyo will crush your weakened forces or the plaque will kill half of them. If you're lucky enough to survive the first few rounds and if you’re patient you have a serious chance of winning the game (Nobunaga's ambitionNobunaga Ambition Mac Games
is comparable to Risk, once you have several countries you become very powerful. A lot of fiefs => a lot of production power => a lot gold => a lot of soldiers => even more countries).A.I. isn't brilliant, it certainly knows when to finish a weakened opponent but I don't think it ever outsmarted me on the hex battlefield. I haven't played the game on the toughest level but I have the impression the game just changes the odds more and more in favor of the computer daimyos. When two comparable units clash your unit is most likely the one that loses half its soldiers, the other daimyos start with better equipped troops, more typhoons & plaques etc.
Since you can do only one thing per turn, the game will test your patience. For instance: it takes one turn to hire new soldiers, another turn to give them some basic training, if you want to raise their loyalty it will cost you another turn. Buying weapons will take another turn. A year has passed before you launch your attack.
Some other complaints:
- Diplomacy isn't complete. You can make a pact with another daimyo and they won't stab you in the back immediately (in the end all conflicts are solved with the sword). But you can't make a deal to attack a common enemy.
- You can't change the order of your commands (to your units) on the hex grid. First you'll have to give an order to unit 1, then unit 2 etc. Sometimes you want to move your riflemen before you move your command unit, but that isn't possible.
- Annoying save/load interface. There are only two save slots (that's probably a disk-space issue), the program only saves your game at the end of a season. When you're playing a game and want to load a saved game or want to start a new game you have to exit to DOS and start the program again.
- Although the manual does provide background info, the game lacks a real storyline.
- Sound effects are almost non-existent. The best thing about the sound? You can turn it off.
The Bottom Line
Not perfect, but still an enjoyable war/strategy/RPG hybrid. Not as complex/deep as some other Koei games (like Romance of the Three Kingdoms), since you manage your fiefs directly instead of appointing generals. Recommended to anyone with an interest in empire management or (Japanese) history. Be warned however: the game is addictive; I recently played the game till 3 o'clock in the morning (shame on me!).| Nobunaga's Ambition | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Koei |
| Publisher(s) | Koei |
| Series | Nobunaga's Ambition |
| Platform(s) | MSX, NEC PC-8801, NEC PC-9801, NES, Game Boy, Mega Drive, SNES, DOS, Mac OS, Amiga, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, PC Engine Super CD-ROM², PlayStation 2 |
| Release | PCFamicom
Xbox 360
|
| Genre(s) | Grand strategywargame Historical simulation Turn-basedstrategy RPG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Nobunaga's Ambition Free Download Pc
Nobunaga's Ambition (信長の野望・全国版, Nobunaga no Yabō: Zenkokuban) is a 1986 strategy game by Koei, focused in the Sengoku period of the history of Japan. A part of Koei's 'Historical Simulation' line of titles, it was published on several platforms such as DOS-compatible personal computers, Amiga, NES, Sega Genesis and the SNES. It is the second game in the series and also the first Nobunaga's Ambition title to be released in English. The player has the objective unifying Japan as Oda Nobunaga or as any of the other daimyos present in the game. Several revisions were made to the gameplay since the first game, as well as a 50-province mode which expanded the game's map to feature all of Japan.
Gameplay[edit]
The player may choose from four campaign scenarios, including 'Battle for the East' (beginning in 1560), 'Daimyo Power Struggles' (1560), 'Ambition Untamed' (1571), and 'Road Towards Unification' (1582). In each scenario, the player must allocate resources to raise a capable military force, provide a productive economy to support both military and civilian expansion, and support the peasants in order to sustain their respect and loyalty. Gameplay is taken in turns, with each turn in the map view corresponding to a season, and each turn during battle corresponding to a day. The player may achieve victory through numerous means, among which are forcing the enemy to retreat, destroying the enemy command unit, outlasting an invading force, or prolonging battles until the opposing force has exhausted its supplies.
The player can make many choices during the campaign, such as, according to Evan Brooks of Computer Gaming World: 'One may transfer soldiers between fiefs, go to war, increase taxes (which causes a decrease in peasant loyalty which may lead to rebellion), transfer rice or gold to another fief, raise the level of flood control (which decreases productivity), make a non-aggression pact or arrange a marriage, cultivate (which increases productivity, but decreases peasant loyalty), use a merchant (to buy/sell rice, borrow funds, or purchase weapons), recruit for the military (soldiers or ninja), train the army (which increases fighting efficiency), spy on a rival, expand a town (which increases taxes collected, but decreases peasant loyalty), give food/rice to peasants/soldiers (to raise morale), steal peasants from rival daimyos, allocate military strength, recuperate (even a daimyo can get sick), turn over a controlled fief to the computer for administration, or pass a turn (hint: when one has no idea of what to do, train the troops.)'[1]
Reception[edit]
In North America, the game was positively reviewed by Computer Gaming World, where reviewer Evan Brooks gave it four stars out of five. He introduced the game as 'a detailed economic / diplomatic / political / military simulation of the unification of Japan in the Sixteenth Century.' He praised the graphics for being 'among the best that this reviewer has ever seen for the IBM' and the 5x10 hex map battles, and noted that it used role-playing game elements, including assigning various statistics to a selected persona, a time system where each turn represents a year, as the daimyo ages and eventually dies of old age, and a multiplayer option. He stated that he 'thoroughly enjoyed Nobunaga's Ambition', concluded with a 'Highly Recommended' rating,[2][3][4]Compute! similarly praised the IBM PC version, calling it 'one of the best strategic war games ever designed for a personal computer' and citing the game play, user interface, and documentation.[5]
The console versions had a more lukewarm reception. Reviewing the SNES version, GamePro praised the control interface and combat system but opined that the game essentially offers nothing to set it apart from Koei's previous historical simulators.[6] They rated the Genesis version similarly, saying that 'Like all Koei games, Nobunaga has an easy-to-use but detailed menu-driven interface that activates a load of complex commands.'[7]
References[edit]
- ^Brooks, Evan (September 1988). 'Nobunaga's Ambition'. Computer Gaming World (51): 48{{inconsistent citations}}
- ^Brooks, Evan (September 1988). 'Nobunaga's Ambition'. Computer Gaming World (51): 12, 34, 48–9.
Nobunaga's Ambition is a detailed economic / diplomatic / political / military simulation of the unification of Japan in the Sixteenth Century. ... The graphics for Nobunaga's Ambition are among the best that this reviewer has ever seen for the IBM. While much of the graphics are composed of maps, the small touches reveal the craft that went into this product. Thus, when the daimyo distributes rice to the peasants, a vignette shows the lord throwing sheaves to the peasants who gratefully pick it up; as taxes are increased, the peasants flow with tears. When war begins, the screen changes to a 5x10 hex area for the execution of the battle. Terrain is effectively delineated as hill, mountain, village, river, plain, or castle; deployment is dependent on the route of invasion. ... After deciding upon a daimyo, one must select a persona. Akin to role playing games, characteristics are composed of health, ambition, luck, charm, and IQ. Generally, one should reselect if any single characteristic is under 80 (especially luck and/or IQ; there is nothing worse than a stupid daimyo). ... Each turn (year) is composed of four seasons, during which the daimyo ages (and will eventually die of old age). Each daimyo may accomplish one action each season for each fief he personally controls; these actions often affect other parameters of play. ... This reviewer thoroughly enjoyed Nobunaga's Ambition. ... Koei stresses that Nobunaga's Ambition is both a solitaire and a multi-player game. ... Highly Recommended. This reviewer was glued to his computer for 13 hours, stopping at 3:00 am. Not since Gunship has this occurred. The end result is that the computer gamer must have, at least, one Koei game in his inventory!
- ^Brooks, M. Evan (October 1990). 'Computer Strategy and Wargames: Pre-20th Century'. Computer Gaming World. p. 11. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- ^Brooks, M. Evan (June 1993). 'An Annotated Listing of Pre-20th Century Wargames'. Computer Gaming World. p. 136. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ^Randall, Neil (January 1989). 'Nobunaga's Ambition'. Compute!. p. 94. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ^'Nobunaga's Ambition'. GamePro (58). IDG. May 1994. p. 118.
- ^'Nobunaga's Ambition'. GamePro (60). IDG. July 1994. p. 126.