User Reviews (21 - 31 of 107)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

BE WARNED

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: December 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is the fourth installmetn of this franchise and you might expect that the negative aspects of the game have ben dealt with but this is not the case.Basic gameplay is still hindered by a diplomatic engine which has no credible function. As with the first Medieval factions can intermarry, form alliances and enter trade with no binding result. Only when engaged in combat will an ally come to your assistance and only then if an army is in close proximity. In a game where the Ai essentially operates as a single entity and conspires to engage you withn every available faction it becomes a bit tedious.This is particularly true in the later stages. What ensues is a free for all which degrades into nothing more that one suicidal assault after another on your faction. This relentless barrage trully wears you down to the point where you have to wonder what happened to all the fun. If the game is simply going to be one meaningless battle after another then it may as well just be an arcade game with a series of random battles, which it devolves into in an
y event.The real spoiler for me is the preponderance of agents. Spies assasins. diplomats, Princesses, merchants et.al. bog the game down into a micromanagenet which soon eats up all your focus and time.I never bought this game to kill princesses! Furthermore the merchants who cost 500 florins to buy are too suceptible to being SEIZED by other merchant factions. If one earns 7 florins per turn then figure out how long he has to stay alive to earn that 500 back. Most never do. As for the Inquisitors which are controlled by the Ai they are way too efficient at killing your family members. As with the Geisha in installment #1 I fail to see the fun in being assasinated out of the game. Similarly I would appreciate if my cities didn't have to be systematically depopulated to keep them in line. Every game of this series has suffered from this curse. When i see other factions managing their settlements with a mere handfull of units while I have to fill mine to the rafters to keep them under control then i have to wonder what the heck is going on. Anyone who has played this franchise knows what I am talking about. Clearly the developers of the campaign portion have forgotten why people play this game. It is supposed to be fun not frustration. Unlike the other games this one has been written so that the data files cannot be altered. When you have so many issues it is imperative that the gameplayer be given options to deal with them. With this removed the frustration can become spoiling.It did for me. For example is it necessary for units to run at a pace which would task a greyhound? Armoured units are scampering around at a rate which equals that of horsemen. Even uphill distances are covered which are fantastical to believe. I used to change the movement modifiers in the previous games but with this option removed I am stuck with it and I'm not happy with it. As with the previous game this one has great graphics but perhaps to good. My 9600 Pro ATI has not been able to play this one very well. I was able to max out the graphics on ROME but am on the minimum settings with this one and still suffer from screen slowdowns. This is only happening when a building comes into view (no matter how small). Attacking or defending settlements is a major strain for that reason. I have all the latest drivers but this issue still persists.Even in the campaigm mode I have noticed lagging effects but by far the most serious issue is the crashes to the desktop which can happen with alarming regularity. This issue is so common early in the game that it is a test of patience to keep playing. One I have lost several times. I cannot believe that the campaign mode has changed so drastically from ROME that my drivers and hardware are the issue. I suspect that it is a conflict with my ATI G,Card. The notes do state that ATI cards have issues with this game and give suggestions on how to overcome them but have not worked. I haven't seen a patch issued for them either so for me it is just out of luck. Given that they have had numerous kicks at the can to get this thing right I wonder how long it will take for them to finally give strategy gamers what they want. I would settle for a diplomatic engine that works or at least makes sense or the ability to disable certain annoying gamespoilers. KUDOS for the graphics but thumbs way down on the bugs in the campaign mode.

Plays great, but a bit too familiar

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: December 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Medievel 2 continues the Total War series of strategy and simulation games with a freeze-frame of Eurasian warfare in the 11th to 16th centuries. The game starts with free-form factional fighting with the player ruling either England, Spain, France, the Roman Empire, or Venice, before being occasionally interrupted by revolutionary changes such as the Mongol invasion, the invention of gunpowder, and the discovery of the western world. Though conflicts occur on several planes, including cultural, religious, and diplomatic, this game- as with all the other total war games- is dominated by battle. The pacing is still just as frenetic as in previous games- every turn there's a battle to be fought, a shift in alliances and a slew of new buildings completed. But ultimately Medievel 2's similarities with the previous Total War games is its ultimate imperfection... Medievel 2 uses basically the same engine as Rome: Total War did. It shows, and it makes the game less revolutionary than it's pre-release hype would have suggested.

The battle system is similar to the one in Rome, but with some striking differences. While the soldiers aren't really any more detailed than in previous games on an individual basis, they are much more individualized within a unit. Customized armor and equipment make each soldier on the battlefield unique, and individual soldiers move and animated much more independantly. This makes battles a bit more chaotic since troops don't robotically stay locked in neat lines anymore; get near to an enemy army and small numbers of troops on the border of a unit may stray out to pick a fight. The new effects and more elaborate castle defences make for vivid battles.

The campaign map isn't too drastically different from the one used in Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion, but one interesting change is that the continents now have land bridges allowing troops to cross from continent to continent without needing ships. This makes the cultures less isolated from each other. The factions are well balanced, yet distinct from one another, and there's just enough cash flow for the player to make a tense but winnable game at medium difficulty.

The lack of a truly new game engine shows most critically in the diplomacy and AI features. Diplomacy has all the same options, quirks, and bugs as the last installment did... near-defeated factions still demand payments while discussing ceasefire agreements and still never agree to become protectorates. The exact same diplomatic options are available; no more, no less. The in-battle AI similarly has many of its old bugs still unfixed, with temperamental cavalry that may run patiently alongside fleeing enemy troops, escorting them off the battlefield rather than cutting them down. There is also still no naval battle system; I really wish they would have included one.

All in all, this game takes Total War... a remarkably good game to begin with... up slightly to the next level, without revolutionizing it too profoundly. If you have run out of patience for your previous Total War games or had negative feelings towards Rome, you probably would find Medievel 2 dissapointing. If you were a major fan of the previous games you'll be satisfied, and if you've never played a Total War game this is an excellent place to start.

Mindless AI -- A Big Disappointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 16
Date: December 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I find myself looking at this game and wondering what the hell happened when it was produced. I just finished playing a battle where an English army with many bowmen defended against a French army of dismounted chivalric knights with some crossbowmen (sort of like Agincourt or Crecy).

But even though those battles were bloodbaths for the French in reality, the French didn't behave like their cyber-counterparts. The French advanced within range of the longbowmen and proceeded to allow themselves be shot to pieces without closing with the enemy.

I know that French knights were rather foolish. But I think the one thing that they never had any problem with was making a charge. But the cyber-French essentially pranced around and never executed the simplest of battlefield maneuvers (a frontal assault).

Frankly, the fact that this game got GLOWING reviews from all the gaming magazines makes me really wonder whether those reviewers pull their punches because trashing a bigtime game like this might not get their organizations the advertisers' dollars that they need.

Bottom Line: This game reminded me of "Imperial Glory," a pathetic attempt to recreate the Napoleonic Wars. Like that game, Medieval Total War 2 is a very good-looking package but has very little substance.

Cannot get the game to work!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 20
Date: March 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

They should remove customer support from their website. I installed the game on two different computers that both run Rome: Total War and Barbarian invasion without a problem (and any game out there) and I cannot get it to work.

I suspect the CD-Key they put in my package is the wrong one. I have tried everything I can think of and it still gives me an error prompt to install the correct CD to play the game. I have tried it with both CD's for the game.

This is very frustrating to say the least. Sega has the WORST troubleshooting FAQ's and online support of any company I have dealt with. I have tried contacting them multiple times by phone and email without success.

I enjoyed the series until this experience.

Rushed to product = pesants beat most units!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 12 / 23
Date: November 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Despite good reviews, I must let you know of a serious game bug before you spend unnecessary hours before they correct the bug. This is my 4th total war game and the latest one has some serious bugs. The most serious one being incorrect unit defense and attack values resulting in peasants beating most of the early infantry units such as town militia, spear men and etc. Don't take my word for it, if you own the game already, test this bug by playing a custom game; try peasants vs. spear men and the peasants always win. Peasants suppose to have attack value of 4 and defense value of 3 and the militia spearmen suppose to have attack value of 5 and defense value of 7. The units values are all grossly incorrect. I am really fed up with waiting for strings of patches to salvage this half-baked game.

Evolutionary but a lot of fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: April 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Medieval 2 builds on Rome: Total War, it looks similar and plays somewhat similarly, but is easily my favorite in the series. The simple joy of trebuchets battering down castle walls, sending enemy archers flying is complemented by the intricacies of dealing with the pope and crusades. In a nice improvement over previous titles, even a game that you seem to have won, having a large empire and plenty of cash can be challenging. The computer players are more aggressive and you will square off against equally large opponents; not to mention the arrival of the Mongol hordes! Definitely a must-have if you're a fan of total war games or just medieval strategy in general.

Great Game Fatally Flawed

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 18
Date: April 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I am a huge fan of the Total War series and could not wait for Medieval II to come out. I purchased it and loaded it onto my brand new Core2Duo machine that has a ton of resources (512 mb geforce, 2 gig SD-DDR Ram, core2duo proc etc)and guess what? IT WON'T RUN! And better yet, there is no support from Sega and their recommended help links offer useless patches. I'm not just blowing smoke either. While trying (again & again & again) to get it running I found several sites that have hundreds of the same complaints. I WASTED my money on an unsupported game that doesn't run on a brand new Intel chip set. I am hugely disappointed in Medeival II. I feel Sega quite simply ripped me off. THANKS FOR NOTHING SEGA!

Awesome but you'll need high end graphics card

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: March 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Utterly awesome. But you'll need a high end graphics nVidia graphics card. It will not work without one. Had to upgrade from my 440mx card to a 7300 gs nvidia. Slow to load and exit, but in between is pure delight. Even with cheat tips the first victory took over 24 hours of play. Highly recommend if you already have good graphics card.

Sieges are same old, other battles are beautiful, but alas, can't be fought at sea.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is Rome: Total War moved into the middle ages. That is, it has the good and the bad that Rome had, with minor polishes in graphics and strategy.

There are two gameplay features that were really grating in Rome. First, sieges are essentially the same every time. There are no significant differences in the designs of castles and cities in different locations on the map. That means you will always face exactly the same layout, with the same strengths and weaknesses. After about ten sieges, there is no more fun to be had. Since this has not changed since Rome, do not buy this game if you are hoping for different siege experiences.

Second, while TWs strength is the battles it lets you fight, the game does not allow you to fight them at sea. The land battles are as great as ever, and more immersive than they were in any previous TW (with the sieges as the major exception, of course). But we are still left 'autoresolving' sea battles, that is, rolling virtual dice to determine the outcome rather than relying on skill and grit on virtual waves. If you are hoping to fight battles using galleons and galleys, you'll need to find another outlet.

To sum up: I played one campaign and was too bored by the similarities to RTW to play a second.

Terrible AI

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 19
Date: December 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The micromanagement of the territories is a mixed bag compared to MTW1 as you'll find yourself spending hours just to properly maintain 5-6 territories. If you like depth - it's there.

My complaint is the AI in battle. Approaching enemies march right up to your archers and stand there allowing your archers to pummel them until they break ranks. Sometimes they don't move for the duration of the battle. Other times the opposition will appear in random spots, sometimes spawning right behind your lines. Have no fear, though - they'll just stand there and let your undefended archers attack.

Control of your army is a MAJOR step down from MTW1. When placing your units, the lines showing where they'll be set are dim and don't act intuitively AT ALL. Say I want 8 units of spearmen in long rows 3 deep in front of archers. Forget it. It'll think you want a big square of men in one unit, then a long line 1 deep in the next, then another unit in another large square far behind the original line. Sometimes the units will be on top of each other. I can't imagine why they got away from the placement system of MTW1, which worked perfectly.

It really makes no difference. The battles are so poor that your best bet is using the auto-battle function. Your archers will continue raining arrows into your own ranks as they engage the enemy - and you can't stop them. Try to move them but sometimes you can't. Sometimes your units don't respond to any commands.

Once I was attacked while seiging a castle. No one ever attacked. I had to go after them myself. I'd just bring archers in front of them and kill all of his men. I'd then find another group of enemies and do the same. There's no sense of strategy at all.

If MTW1 was a 10 (which it was), MTW2 is a 4. It takes so long to play besides, you'll probably play half a campaign and go back to MTW1.

Very poorly made game.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions