Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influnence Ascension Review (PS4)

First off, let me say that I am fairly new to the Nobunaga's Ambition Series.  This is only the second NA game I've ever played.  My first was Iron Triangle, a game I wanted to love, but wound up hating with every fiber of my being.  The game was simply impossible to beat, no matter how much food and gold I saved up or what force I started off as.  Even creating officers didn't help.  It was a nightmare.  That said, I kept giving Iron Triangle a chance because I have a soft spot for strategy games and like this particular time in Japan's history.

Considering my experience with Iron Triangle, you'd figure I'd be turned off to the NA series.  A number of things lead to my purchase of Sphere of Influence Ascension.  One, I was looking for a strategy game for the Playstation 4 and I hadn't been impressed with what I'd been hearing and seeing about Romance of Three Kingdoms 13.  Then, there were gameplay videos (thank God for Youtube).  Also, for as bad as Iron Triangle felt, I still attempted to play it, so I was willing (even wanting) to give the series another try.  Finally, the price was low (I got my copy for twenty dollars) so it wasn't too risky.  Simply put, I thoroughly researched the game and decided the risk was worth taking.

As of this writing, I haven't play the original Sphere of Influence, so I don't know how it compares to that, but compared to Iron Triangle this game is a dream.  First, let's talk about the premise of the series before we get into the meat of the review.  Your goal is to pick your favorite Sengoku-period warlord and conquer Japan.  It's just that simple.

As you can see, conquering Japan is no small feat, as you have many enemies trying to do the same thing.

This game takes this formula a step further.  You can play as any officer in the game and control him or her until the game ends.  From the lowest scrub to greats like Nobunaga Oda himself, you control this officer's fate.  You can climb the ranks and make your officer the greatest warlord Japan has ever seen or you can make him stay a lowly ass-kisser.  You can keep him loyal to one master or jump from daimyo to daimyo.  The choice is completely yours.

This leads us to the ranking system.  You can play as a daimyo (the warlord) or of his underlings from regent (second only to the daimyo) to a retainer (the lowly ass-kissers).  Gameplay is different at every rank (and fun to boot).  As a retainer, you are given land by your daimyo to build up.  Along the way, you need to fulfill missions (if you wish) to earn honor.  This is how you climb ranks.  Eventually, you'll be offered a promotion, which you can refuse.  If you take it, you'll gain more powers to help your ambition.  Beware though.  Each rank has clear strengths and weakness (even daimyo), which I won't get into here.

Starting off as a retainer net you a house and a plot of land you can develop to your liking.

Eventually your plot will grow into a bustling town.

As mentioned before, you can betray your daimyo by going to another clan.  Once you acheive a certain rank or popularity level, you can even break away from him and start your own clan, taking all the land he gave you control over.  Needless to say, this is awesome, as it gives you a sense that you truly control your own fate.

Speaking of starting your own clan, you can create an officer and plop down a clan in any free city on the maps.  Yep.  If you don't like the options you are given, you can make an option of your own.  This had it's advantages and disadvantages which I won't get into here, but it adds a layer to the gameplay that simply didn't exist in the series before.

About the created officers.  You can create over 1,000 of them.  Feel free to create as many gods and/or scrubs as you'd like.  You can create entire families and kingdoms of your own, deciding when they're born, when they die, who's a legend, and who's lucky to be alive when all of the fighting as over.  You are only limited by how much inspiration you have.  Heck, sometimes your created officers will just pop out a random, computer-generated kid for no reason, adding to your strength.  It is worth noting that even though you can create 1,000 officers, your can only have 350 of them active at once (minus their random children).  That's still plenty, though.

On to the other stuff.  The graphics are okay, but really show the scale of the game.  As you might guess, conquering Japan is no small task and hence, the map is not small.  There is decent detail and you'll know what stuff is.  When units are on the battlefield, they appear as an arrow when moving and as a Tetris block when fighting.  However, when you zoom in, you'll see the individual soldiers (which is sometimes overrepresented).  On the bad side of things, when starting off as a retainer, the plots of land you start with tend to look the same, no matter which daimyo you serve.

A tactical view of a castle battle, but you can...

...zoom in to see the action...

...and the carnage thereafter.

The music is solid to good.  For the most part, it does what it should do, which is give you a sense of your situation.  When you're at peace, the music is relaxing and peaceful.  When marching, the music takes on a heroic theme.  When the enemy is marching 15,000 soldiers on your small castle housing only 1,000 soldiers and 1,000 HP, the music says, "Uh oh, you're in deep shit now."  Even the title screen does what it's supposed to do, with a theme that's peaceful while also letting you know how big of quest you're about to embark on.

There are multiple time periods to start in, ranging from the birth of Nobunaga in 1534 to the final battle for unification at Osaka Castle in 1614.  There are also quite a few difficulty settings.  You can decide who your created officers serve (if anyone), where and when they show up, or if they are used at all.  You can create events and set the conditions for them to happen, as well as the fallout from said events.

When all is said and done, NA: SOIA is a massive game that can be tackled in many ways.  There's no limit to how you can conquer Japan or who you can conquer it with.  The graphics and music are solid at worst.  Plus, there are lot's of things I didn't touch on here.  There's simply too much to cover in this one review.  The title is quite niche, so it's not for everyone.  Only tacticians need apply.  If you happen to be a fan of strategy games, don't miss it.