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

by Martin Robinson (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 59 ratings
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The Art of Total War is a high-end art book based on the bestselling Total War™ franchise, including the latest game in the series Total War™: ROME II. This volume will include full colour concept and development art throughout, as well as creator and artist commentaries.  Total War is known for its cinematic quality and phenomenal attention to detail, admired by gamers and critics alike.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    192 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Titan Books
  4. Publication date
    January 20, 2015
  5. Dimensions
    9.32 x 0.78 x 12.12 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1783292164
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1783292165
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book is constructed extremely well and contains images that would be worthy of framing and displaying in your home." - Steam First

"Many of these pieces are true works of art." - Gaming Trend 

"Titan publishes art books that are often as compelling to read as they are to look at, and The Art of Total War is perhaps the best example of this." - VG Blogger

"This art book is not a collage of images thrown together in a hardback book and waved in the faces of fans as collectable merchandise, but instead is a high-end art book that anyone looking for a lot of in depth detail and thought provoking discussion can enjoy" - Entertainment Buddha

"This book is a love letter to the iconic franchise that had a major impact in the strategy gaming community." - New Gamer Nation

"If you’re an game designer, artist or war history buff, The Art of Total War will be a wonderful addition to your library and reference." - Retrenders

About the Author

Martin Robinson is an award-winning journalist and Features Editor at Eurogamer. Previously Content Editor at the UK office of IGN.com.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books (January 20, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1783292164
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1783292165
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.91 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.32 x 0.78 x 12.12 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 59 ratings

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Martin Robinson

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
59 global ratings
Absolutely love it!
5 Stars
Absolutely love it!
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!
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Top reviews from the United States

library07
5.0 out of 5 stars Art of Total War:
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2024
Verified Purchase
Great art book. Content includes art work (uniform,’props, weapons, etc.) from the Shogun, Medieval, Empire, and Rome time periods.
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Gina
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely love it!
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
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!
Customer image
Gina
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely love it!
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2022
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!
Images in this review
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DWS
5.0 out of 5 stars Artwork is beautiful, was hoping for unit pics from each nationality ...
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2016
Verified Purchase
Artwork is beautiful, was hoping for unit pics from each nationality and the such. More of a autobiography of the company and its practices.
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David J McDowell
5.0 out of 5 stars amazing art
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2015
Verified Purchase
Beautiful book with exceptional art work,mI might be a bit prejudiced as one of the key artists is my son.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2016
Verified Purchase
Very good book...
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Parka
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice artbook for the fans
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2015
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 are

Shogun (2000)
Shogun 2 (2011)
Medieval (2002)
Medieval 2 (2006)
Empire (2009)
Napoleon (2010)
Rome (2004)
Rome II (2013)
Attila (2015)
Total War Battles: Kingdom
Total War Battles: Shogun (2012)
Total War: Arena

The 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.)
14 people found this helpful
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T. Henkle
5.0 out of 5 stars A Book Illustrating the Art of a Video Game
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2017
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.
One person found this helpful
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jean
5.0 out of 5 stars nice quality book as gift
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2016
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.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Mr Mark Braithwaite
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2018
Verified Purchase
A Beautiful Book arrived save and sound and in time as a gift
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Lorenzo
3.0 out of 5 stars Bel libro per i fan di Total War, ma troppo poco spazio riservato a Rome e Medieval II
Reviewed in Italy on February 13, 2017
Verified Purchase
Il libro è bello, con decine di artwork e splendide illustrazioni, ma sono rimasto deluso dal poco spazio riservato al primo Rome, a Medieval e a Medieval II. Cioè, parliamo di poche pagine all'interno di un libro che ne conta quasi 200. Chiunque conosca Total War sa che Rome e Medieval II sono stati due capitoli storici per la saga. Tralasciarli per concentrarsi più sui nuovi titoli mobile e free to play mi pare una mossa commerciale di dubbio gusto.
2 people found this helpful
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Patricia McDowell
5.0 out of 5 stars This beautiful, large quality book produced by Titan is a ...
Reviewed in Canada on May 15, 2015
Verified Purchase
Total War is a Bafta winning series of historically authentic video games produced by Creative Assembly. This beautiful, large quality book produced by Titan is a 190 pages of art as used in the games. Commentary by various members of the art teams explains the processes used to produce the brilliant art of the Total War series. Of interest not only to game players but also to anyone who is interested in the process of creating award winning games or anyone who is interested in beautiful art. Highly recommended..
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biakoki
5.0 out of 5 stars Geniales Artbook
Reviewed in Germany on March 9, 2015
Verified Purchase
Als absoluter Fan der Serie war das Artbook ein absolutes muß für mich,und ich miß sagen ich wurde nicht enttäuscht.
Die Qualität des Artbooks ist sehr wertig und Detailverliebt gestaltet.
Für alle Fans ein absolutes muß.
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Chrischek87
4.0 out of 5 stars Fan Boy Ware
Reviewed in Germany on June 2, 2017
Verified Purchase
Wer die Spiele liebt, der findet hier etwas schönes um seine Sammlung aufzubessern.
Für den Vollpreis hätte ich es allerdings nicht gekauft, ich habe es für 17€ geschossen.
Man hätte noch mehr Artworks/Bilder etc. einbinden können, bei manchen Titeln fällt das recht mau aus.
One person found this helpful
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