Nobunaga Ambition 1

Nobunaga’s Ambition is a turn-based war strategy and simulation game that was released by Japanese game developer KOEI in the late eighties. It was the first in the series, and sparked a love for the genre that has yet to abate.
In Nobunaga’s Ambition, the protagonist is a feudal lord in the Sengoku (warring states) period of Japanese history. The timeline and game features are historically accurate, which lends to the game’s educational value, although not enough to qualify it for the edutainment category.

At the beginning, the player can choose from four campaigns, ranging in time from 1560 to 1582 over the period of Oda Nobunaga. (The player may also choose from numerous other daimyos of the time, but Nobunaga seems to be the favourite). The player has to micromanage his daimyo’s holdings to create a successful campaign. This includes, first and foremost, building a strong economy by successfully managing resources. The economy must support the military, cultural growth, and the expansion of both. Players must also build and train an army, and pacify the peasants who create the resources at the heart of the economy.
As a turn-based game, each turn in Nobunaga’s Ambition is represented by a changing season. Time must be well-managed based on these seasons, incorporating the harvest, planting, weather changes and so forth. Research and forethought are both required at the beginning of the game when selecting the daimyo to be played and the original fief to be managed. While all leaders and lands have strengths and weaknesses, Nobunaga’s Ambition does a good job of balancing them out. For example, a fief that starts with a decent army may already be on the verge of war with one of its many borders when the game begins. A different fief, though, may have no military at all, needing one built from scratch, but is located in an easily defended mountain or peninsula. The same is true of leaders’ characteristics.
As previously mentioned, however, the only real necessity in the game is creating a strong and stable economy. Without it, nothing else will be possible and the game play will be short-lived. Nobunaga’s Ambition takes micromanagement to a superior level that allows for superb replayability and makes it well worth a quick download.