The Art of Total War: From the Samurai of Japan to the Legions of the North Hardcover – January 20, 2015

Great art book. Content includes art work (uniform,’props, weapons, etc.) from the Shogun, Medieval, Empire, and Rome time periods.

I got into shogun 2 recently! And this book is awesome!! Even though I bought this book for just shogun 2(cause I love the Japanese history and culture, literally everything of Japan) it is great! This book is heavy and big I wasn't expecting that but I find this book incredibly awesome! It came in secured!

Artwork is beautiful, was hoping for unit pics from each nationality and the such. More of a autobiography of the company and its practices.

Beautiful book with exceptional art work,mI might be a bit prejudiced as one of the key artists is my son.

Very good book...

The media could not be loaded. The Art of Total War is the companion artbook to the Total War series of games released over the years.Also included are artworks for the upcoming games such as Total War: Attila which is scheduled for a February 2015 release, and Total War: Arena that is still in the testing phase. Those titles have considerably less pages devoted.For Total War fans who have been following the series since 2000, this artbook will be a nostalgic trip down memory lane.The full list of games included as arranged on the contents page areShogun (2000)Shogun 2 (2011)Medieval (2002)Medieval 2 (2006)Empire (2009)Napoleon (2010)Rome (2004)Rome II (2013)Attila (2015)Total War Battles: KingdomTotal War Battles: Shogun (2012)Total War: ArenaThe artworks consist concept art for the characters, locations, buildings and several battles scenes and miscellaneous stuff like maps, ships. The style is a mixture of computer generated art, painted works and 3D renders. For what I see, a big portion are computer generated art. Quality is generally good, but it gets progressively better with the newer games. The early games clearly have the low polygon characters.The more unusual artworks would be those Japanese woodblock art-inspired ones used in Shogun 2. Those are the illustrative style as compared to the more realistic style that the game is trying to portray. The Total War Battles series also have their own style that's different from the main series, especially for Total War Battles: Shogun. Some of the more beautiful scene paintings were used as loading screens.The highlight of the book besides the art would be the commentary that talks about how the games have evolved under developer The Creative Assembly over the years. It's interesting to read about the history of game development and how battle mechanics, gameplay and art are all woven into one. Since the games are based on history, there's also some writeup on the historic accuracy of the games and the compromises made.As there are so many games featured, it's not possible to cover each in detail. Only selected pieces of artworks from each title are featured. I do feel that more could be included.Overall, it's a good artbook for fans of the Total War series.4 out of 5 stars.(See more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

Most computer and video games make me ill.It's not because of the quality--or lack thereof--of the products. It's because I'm prone to motion sickness.Despite my ailment, I've still purchased over a dozen games during the past several years. Ones that I could play without getting sick.However, I've hardly played any of my computer games because:1. I'm too busy with my writing and "analogue games" (as boardgames and miniatures are now called).2. I suck at playing computer and video games.One of the game series I've heard good things about is "Total War."I've collected some of the titles in the series, starting with the original, "Shogun: Total War."They're still sitting on my shelf, unplayed.However, this didn't stop me from buying a copy of "The Art of Total War" at Half Price Books."The Art of Total War" is a lavish collection of concept sketches and promotional pieces, along with a short history of the series.I finished reading the book in less than two hours and flipped through it one more time just to admire the artwork.Someday I'll upload one of the games on my computer and actually play it.The developers went to great lengths to maintain historical accuracy in their games.But the author, Martin Robinson, admitted they also allowed some Hollywood influence to creep in for entertainment purposes.Apparently, there's a debate as to whether or not video games are an art form.I'm no high-brow art critic, but after reading this book I'm convinced video games are indeed art forms.

nice hard bound book. my son loved it. (not my cup of tea tho! lol) good service and delivery, no problems. I would buy from this outlet again.