The Art of Total War by Martin Robinson is a great supplement for any fan of the Total War computer game series. This is not a book with tactical tips or tricks. This is simply a book that dives deep into the stunning artwork and visuals the game is associated with.
You’re in safe hands here. Martin Robinson is an award-winning journalist and he’s worked at both IGN and Eurogammer. He’s one of us. Equally, the publisher with skin in the game is Titan Books. Titan Books do these art books well and often. For example, The Art of Alien Isolation, The Art of Watch_Dogs, The Art of Thief and The Art of Titanfall.
The Creative Assembly finish the team and we’re ready for a thorough and rich book. There are a number of “Art of War” games in the book. Inside there are: Shogun, Shogun 2, Medieval, Medieval 2, Empire, Napolean, Rome, Rome 2 as well as the Total War Battle games of Kingdom and Shogun. There’s Attila and even a section “Future of Total War: Arena”.
For each game there’s a mix of insight; stuff to read, and a visual mix of concept art, sketches and game renders. This isn’t a book I’m going to pretend I buy to read the articles. I’m here for the eye candy. As it happens; I’m not a huge fan of the computer game series. That might suggest the book would struggle to please but because there’s such a range of time periods on display, since there’s such a range of art I found it quite delightful to skip through.
As is usually the case for Titan Book’s game galleries; the production quality of The Art of Total War is high. This is a robust hardback with a wrap-around cover. The paper is thick and glossy. The colours are bold and clear. This is the sort of book that makes a good gift. This is the sort of book that looks great on the coffee table, sitting beside the Xbox One or PlayStation 4 and it’s certainly the type of book you would be happy for visitors to browse through.
The video tour of the book below was made with Google+’s Auto Awesome, bad photography and uses colour filters.
My copy of The Art of Total War was provided for review. The book was published in hardcover by Titan Books in January 2015 with a RRPG of £29.99.
