Total War: Shogun 2

During your journey of conquest, your general will acquire retainers: objects or individuals linked to your avatar. "As you capture certain regions you'll attain more retainers," reveals Roxburgh.

"You can also take them into a battle with you to gain an extra edge. You have a certain number of retainer slots ranging from one to five - depending on what level your avatar is - that you can take into a battle.

"One option is to send a spy to check on the enemy during the deployment stage to see where they've positioned their troops. Or maybe you use a retainer to increase the strength of your spearmen because you know the opposition will be susceptible to spear attacks. There are around 70 retainers in total."

As well as pushing Shogun's multiplayer nuances, Roxburgh was keen for me to get to grips a single-player campaign siege battle against an AI opponent. This took place on a mountainside sleek with freshly driven snow, and saw me facing off with a superior-sized aggressor attempting to take the multi-layered fortress I was defending. While bazooka-toting samurai (apparently they really did exist) pummelled my fortifications, I picked them off with arrow fire in a desperate bid to prevent them from breaking through.

The sweeping majesty of the setting made for a visually stunning encounter as the two sides exchanged missiles, though unfortunately those now all too familiar AI bugbears that have blighted the Total War series in recent years again reared their heads. The AI often seemed overly static, predictable and unresponsive. Hopefully this will be rectified before release.

The multiplayer battle I tried out was another fittingly titanic encounter as two armies faced off on opposite sides of a valley. Sitting between the two sides were a number of strategic buildings, a new feature that Roxburgh believes will make players more proactive and less defensively minded.

"Within the multiplayer battles we've introduced the concept of key buildings. There are now key buildings on the map which if captured give you a bonus to some of your units depending on the type of units they are," he says.

"We've added this primarily to stop people from sitting on hills during battles. Now if one player sits on a hill, the other player can capture the buildings in order to counter the terrain advantage enjoyed by the player holding the high ground."

As any Total War buff knows, it's a controversial move to add such a 'gamey' feature to a strategy series that prides itself on authenticity. However, Creative Assembly's reasoning behind this new addition does make some sense.

Anyone who's spent their nights trying to outstare 5000 men on the opposite side of a level to see who'll blink first will understand the frustration that can accompany a Total War multiplayer game. Conversely, though, it's this endless cat-and-mouse-style psychological warfare which often contributes to making these skirmishes so memorable.

The addition of these key buildings certainly seemed to speed up the action as both sides attempted to gain the edge provided by capturing them. But it was impossible to tell from just one battle whether this new approach will ultimately improve the multiplayer experience or dilute it. Perhaps an option to turn bonus buildings off could be one way to safeguard against a purist backlash.

While it's hard to make any definitive judgements on the single-player campaign, or the yet-to-be-seen naval battles, it's clear that Shogun 2's revamped multiplayer features have huge potential to engage players like never before. The need to form clans in order to compete might just put some gamers off, however.

Here's hoping Creative Assembly has more to reveal by the time we've wiped the blood from our katanas, washed the sinews of our hewn enemies from our hair, mediated on our victories and had a nice cup of tea.