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Samurai Meets Knight

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 52 / 57
Date: August 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The guys of the epic Shogun: Total War games have really gone for ultimate perfection with their European version. Medevil Totalwar is a truly worthy heir to Shogun (a game I recomend you try before MTW). Shogun made the gamer truly think like a Japanese Warlord. Something games like Warcraft, Starcraft, Age of Empires, ect. just don't do. It is the same for MTW in which the gammer must balance subterfuge,with all its sabatoge and murder,and the empire building grunt work of VAST armies battling over EPIC 3D battle fields(think Bravehart)! MTW takes what developers did with STW and adds SEVERAL improvements. Inquisitors from all the cultures search and destroy any heritics and any antisentement to your rule, much like the Shinobi of STW. Assassains kill rival generals and diplomats, like the Ninja of STW. But this is were things pick up were STW left off. Siegies are fought for real. Artillery pound castle walls to dust as up to 10,000 warriors, under your every order, battle it out on a real time 3D battle field were snow, rain, heat, wind, and down right nasty nature, effect the morale of your army. To control your land completely, your shores must be patroled for enemy invasion. To do this you have to build great fleets of warships, something STW completely ingnored in Japanese history. The Pope himself in Italy may call for money from you, or to crusade against other "hethen" cultures. Following his demands will ultimately throw you into the Great Crusades, but not following his holy order may also land you in some serious [trouble] when he calls for one of those crusades against you! Your blood line must be kept going if you want your empire to last forever! Marrying off your children will produce those needed heirs to your throne, but even more intrigueing is marrying them to rival factions. Doing this will open up those, "Huge...tracks off land!", when they die. It will also keep your generals from starting a civil war for your throne. Keeping track of heirs isn't automatic like in STW. If you dont keep youngins in the family a 70 year old king isn't going to have the energy to suddenly "make some heirs". Medevil Totalwar WILL be 200 times better then Shogun so if you liked Shogun you will like Medevil Totalwar. If you haven't experienced Shogun Totalwar you deffinatley should check it out. Medevil Totalwar IS going to be the best TBSG (turn based stratedgy game) and the best overall SG (stradegy game) for years to come. There is a true replay value on this one. Not even Richard the Lionheart could play this one once and master its epic size intregue and Medevil warfare simulation(that almost perfectly recreates the way war was fought all those centuries ago). Oh, and for the gammer with the "lagging software" MTW's 3D engine is absolutly incredible. The revolutionary engine makes it very easy for computers with only 64 Megs of RAM to keep up with the games HUGE battles. Battles that can sometimes take up to 45 minuets when all 10,000 max knights are running around out there! As you can see I give MTW 11 out of 10! Way to go Creative Assembly! You're the developers realy behind all of this awesomeness!

What You Want

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 41 / 45
Date: September 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Don't walk or even run to buy this game - sprint. I really have an aversion to throwing a casual 5 stars at a game, but this one commands the highest rating. For six years I have scoured the turn-based and RT strategy world, having played most of the popular standards (e.g. Shogun,Shogun:Warlord Edition,AOE, AOK,Civ 2&3), and have not found a more synthesized, well-designed, and most importantly, fun game. Why am I so stark-raving excited about this game? A short list:

1. Incredible detail and depth - dozens of military types and units, options for nation-building, trade, diplomacy, sabotage, seige, etc.
2. Excellent, adaptive AI. What we want....
3. Vibrant graphics - landscapes, buildings, tips/tools screens.
4. No sloppiness or cut corners: impeccable clarity of story, instruction and playability.
5. Detailed and accurate depiction of religious, cultural and societal distinctions (Muslim, Christian, Orthodox, European, Arabic, etc.).

But the most important strength: That undefinable, undeniable feeling of immersion that only the best games create. IOW, MTW takes you there - Medieval Europe. You feel the heat of the Algerian sun on your bronze Spanish helmet as you brace, spear in hand, as the Mamuluk camel warriors descend upon your unsuspecting platoon from out of the dusty desert hills. You hear and feel the tremble and terror of 180 fierce horse warriors outflank your archers. MTW taps into the reason most of us play these old world war games: It brings that sense of complete escape and excitement that makes the price of the game a sound investment.

Medieval: Total War is a worthy follow-up to its predecessors, Shogun: Total War and Shogun: Warlord Edition (both of which I played and enjoyed for months). The next generation truly is better looking and more talented in this family tree.

Amazing detail

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 30 / 30
Date: September 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing computer strategy games for more than 20 years, played my first one on a green-screened Compaq with 64k of RAM, played them by the dozens, and for my money, this is the best one so far. The amount of detail is incredible, the battle scenes feel amazingly real -- you feel transported to another place and time. The strategy, role-playing and tactical aspects of the game all work together pretty flawlessly, creating a credible feel of following your regime through hundreds of years of struggle. There are some downsides -- some of the strategy aspects and diplomacy don't seem to affect gameplay much, for instance -- but the incredible attention to detail is amazing. I played Shogun Total War and thought it was cool, but this really takes the game to another level. Requires quite a bit of computer horsepower to run, by the way, when you've got 2,000 or more men battling it out. Some amazing battles, with the tide shifting back and forth, the issue undecided for hours, sometimes, the weather changing, etc., rallying troops, sending for replacements, making desperate last-ditch bids in the final minutes with your king. If you like wargaming, strategy games or if you're a history buff, this game will keep you interested a long, long time. Lots of replay value -- I've played probably 100 hours and feel like I've only scratched the surface. Haven't tried multiplayer yet. Anyway, this is guaranteed fun. The learning curve is somewhat steep, but I find the interface really intuitive. Great stuff.

An outstanding combination of Risk and Braveheart

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 44 / 52
Date: October 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

On one level, Medieval: Total War is a lot like Risk. You conquor territories, build armies, build buildings so you can raise more tax revenue and create stronger units, assassinate and/or negotiate with your rivals, etc. etc. This aspect of the game is highly entertaining, sort of like a much simpler version of CivIII. Where this game REALLY shines, however, is when you start fighting your own battles. The level of detail is astounding: you can see your individual soldiers and even watch arrows (or boulders if you're using siege weaponry) scythe down your foes like wheat. You can hear a block of hapless spearmen scream like little girls as you flank them with your heavy infantry and grind them into pieces. You can laugh like a maniac--hey, I did!--as a bunch of moronic peasants try to take on your cavalry units and end up in a big bloody pile in the middle of the battlefield. You can even knock the snot out of your opponents' fancy-schmancy castles using a variety of neato weapons ranging from simple catapults to huge cannons and then, after you've beaten down a few walls, you can send in your troops to massacre the cowering survivors! Life really doesn't get much better than this folks, I tell ya. This is quite simply one of the best strategy games I've ever played and the fact that you can SEE your enemies scattering before you, whining about how badly you're beating them, is just icing on the cake. The game does slow down a little bit once you have large numbers of men on the screen (bump the resolution lower if it becomes a problem) and occasionally locks up but is otherwise very stable. One thing I would suggest--especially if you're going to be playing this game on anything but 'Easy'--is fighting a few practice battles before starting. It helps get you used to the different movement and formation commands as well as how to summon reinforcements, etc. etc. Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure your king has lots and lots of heirs. Don't throw away an heir in a hopeless battle and always proposition a neutral or allied princess you see in your territory--the earlier the better too (more chances of creating little bambino's to run your empire after you're gone that way). Believe me, nothing sucks more than playing this game straight for days and then losing 3/4 of your empire to rebels because all your wife gave you were daughters. Other than that, all I can tell you is that (paraphrasing Conan who was paraphrasing one of the Khans, I believe) 'there is nothing better in life than to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.' ;) Enjoy.

Fun, yet frustrating to say the least....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 35 / 40
Date: September 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Make no mistake, this is a great game in every sense of the word. Being a huge fan of Shogun Total War, this was the only strategy game I really wanted and I'm mostly pleased. The graphics look really good, although the map screen can be rather crowded or look too "busy". The sound is ok, voices take a back seat and music wise it's rather sparse. The front-end presentation is brief and kinda weak. As for the gameplay, it really does expand greatly on Shogun's features. More varied units to train/build, more playable factions, more complex castle seiges, more espionage intrigue, stronger alliances; in other words, lots more options and features. However, it is far from perfect and there are some things that bother me about the game which is why I give it only 4 stars.

Some things I've noticed since playing it:
* I usually play the European/Catholic factions, and I noticed that if you don't keep an eye out for Egypt, they can be like this games version of the Hojo Clan(Shogun fans know what I'm refferring to)
* I played it on easy and expert. The only noticeable difference is the amount of money you get at the beginning, while the manual stresses that the difficulty level affects the loyalty of conquered provinces.
* This brings me to my biggest gripe, even on the easy level it was EXTREMELY difficult to retain consistent loyalty from conquered provinces. I understand Muslim territories won't accept Catholic rulers, but considering I had these provinces for decades, had about 1,300 men garrisons guarding them, and took into account tax rates, natural disasters, and deaths of my ruler(which can all affect loyalty) I still had trouble maintaining loyalty in certain provinces.
* This brings me to another sore point. To maintain large garrisons in rebellious provinces takes up a lot of your money(florins). You can find yourself running out of florins right before your total conquest, if you even get that far.
* Which brings me to another sore spot. This game ends no matter what at 1453. So if you choose to win through domination(take at least 2/3 of the provinces) or glorious achievements(have the highest score over other factions by accomplishing certain tasks), you better do it fast cause the game gives you only a certain amount of time to accomplish it(1 turn counts as a year, whereas in Shogun, 1 turn was a season which gave you 4 turns a year basically).
* There seems to be some bugs in the game. There's a recurring situation where, in the same turn, I had a Muslim province at 100+ loyalty, which is good. I went to check on other provinces, then came back to that same province(in the same turn) and noticed it went down below 100 loyalty(which makes it a prime candidate for rebellion). It's that inconsistency I'm talking about that make it frustrating and annoying sometimes. For those who like total manual control rather than letting the pc take over for you, this can be a real headache.
* Calling up a Crusade or Jihad is really entertaining, and you have to be careful when and who you call it against. This new option is arguably my favorite of the game(however, I do recall being attacked once by the French, then I attacked back...yet the Pope ex-communicated me for aggression towards fellow Christians! The Pope tends to be over-protective of the Frenchies so be careful).
* There are some great units in here, but some of the best can be too costly to train and pay for year in and year out. Couple that with having to maintain large garrisons, and i find myself settling for cheap spearmen or feudal seargents instead of the cool but costly royal knight types.
* I've beaten the game on easy(one by total domination with Spain, one by 'lesser victory' or 2/3 domination with England, and one by edging out all the other factions through glorious achievements with the Italians). You get personalized endings depending on your faction, but it's just a static screen with a voice-over, hardly exciting. I'm thinking it's because I chose the easy level so I'm currently attempting total domination with Turkey on the expert level.

Anyway, that's just a few things I've come across while playing this game. I have yet to try any new cheat codes(although .matteosartori. for full map view works in this game too), multiplayer on-line, and have yet to use the auto-tax/train options; but nevertheless I feel this game is a worthy successor to Shogun, a must try/buy, and comes highly recommended for fans of real-time/turn-based strategy fun, despite any potential frustration and in-game bugs you'll most likely run into.

Very fun strategy game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 20
Date: August 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The stategic element of the game is very well done! The 3-D battles are merely a bonus. The turn based map can best be described as Defender of the Crown meets Civilization. There are pre-defined territories that are based on real medieval lands. The strategic gameplay is deep enough to be to be fun, but not so complex that it's tedious. There is really too much to talk about to go into detail, but it's really fun.

The 3-D battles are much more realistic than real time games like war craft and age of empires. Medieval takes things such as Morale, dicipline, leadership, weather and fatigue into account. The graphics are fine, but they are not great. Naturally, the each soldier is going to be kinda small in order to fit so many guys onto the field at once. But this doesn't detract anything from the game IMO, but it may disappoint those who just want eye candy. As one whose been disappointed with recent medieval strategy games, Medieval: Total War was a very pleasant suprise!

Like Risk on crack!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 22
Date: August 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Make no mistake. This game is not Command & Conquer. I'd compare it more to Risk. In the Campaign mode, you have a map of Europe, you have to juggle such matters as infrastructure in your provinces, taxation, religion, trade, maintaining armies, marrying off princesses to assure alliances, keeping generals happy and loyal by giving them posh or glorious commands, all while fighting off assassins and heretics. Oh my!

Of course, when two armies occupy the same province bad things happen. The warfare takes place on full 3D battlefields where every possible condition, from high ground to wind, to concealment in trees, plays a factor. Battles are fought with up to one hundred different unit types including special units for each culture (the Brits get longbows, for example), and up to 10,000 individual units onscreen. The battles are spectacular, and using strategy to flank and ambush pays off in spades.

This game has completely sucked me in since it released. I can't really think of a more complete, fulfilling game. The only one on the horizon that I could see being as involving as Medieval: Total War would be the next iteration in the Total War series.

Buy it. With most games $50, $40 is a steal for the game of the year. If you are a doubter, download the demo first. This game is not a let down!

Dirty and gritty warfare never looked so good!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 18
Date: July 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Imagine 10,000 troops coming over the nearest hill. Archers, Footman, and many siege engines start flooding to your walls. Just as your army is assembling, your foes catapults deal a fatal blow to a nearby arrow tower, causing it to collapse upon a large gathering of your troops...and that's just the tutorial.

This game is nothing short of incredible. If you are sick of the rock, paper, scissors RTS games, that don't take any strategical thought into account, then this is your game. You have the high ground, well then your archers can fire further and your troops will fatigue less, as they are walking down hill. Badly outnumber by an invading Germanic army? Set up an ambush in so trees and ride your calvary hard to flank your enemy's ranks. Then after the battle, you can view the battlefield full of carnage because all the pathetic soldiers that fell to your army remain where they fell...all 3000 of them.

Seriously, with 200 different units, this is the game that actually takes knowledge of warfare into account, as well as more than a little bit of planning in the deployment of your troops. Though the game is not due until later this year, pick it up when it becomes available.

Amazing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 25
Date: February 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

before I tell you all how amazing this game is let me tell all you readers of these reviews that you CANNOT compare this game to anything ANYTHING. It is in a league of its own. The gameplay is terrific. The graphics are absolutely superb and contrary to popular belief it doesn't take months to complete. I finished this game in 2 weeks tops after I figured out how to control my armies and keep the peace. There are 12 different countries to play and 3 different times to play in. the Early, High or Late ages. The best way to win I have found is to play in the High ahe as the Byzantines but each to his/her own eh. This game brings out the Meglomaniac in you. There is nothing better than hearing the music in the background as your armies march into battle against undefeatable odds only to hear the words "their general has been killed in battle before the Pox could get him". Once he falls so does the army. You will be drawn into a world of strategy, empire building and best of all fantastic blood spilling battles. If you love history you will love crushing the Franch at Agincourt in one of the historic battles or routing the German armies. Get this game. Even if it requires selling your younger brother/sister into slavery to get the money. This game is a MUST.

It's time to get Medieval on your *#@

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: October 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game has stolen a large part of my life in recent months and is the most enjoyable simulation of Medieval warfare I've ever played. The world of Barbarossa, Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, Joan of Arc, the Mongol Horde, the Knights Templar and the Crusades, and the Inquisition are all richly recreated.

The level of detail is broad enough to engross the player without being so sophisticated to actually drag down gameplay into a decision-making nightmare. And, the combination of real-time 3D combat on very lifelike terrain with turn-based campaign management on a Risk-style game board is probably the biggest selling point. Unlike in RTS games (e.g. Age of Empires) where the object of the game is simply a frantic resource gathering and building exercise, in Medieval: Total War, you get to take the time to worry about all the details of your economy seperately, so that you can then commit your attention fully to your role as general. I cannot tell you how fulfilling it is to build your empire across Europe, North Africa, and Mesopotamia fighting every battle and building every province.

A game like Medieval: Total War is too broad to properly cover in a short review so I will focus mainly on the AI of the computer and a few key details of the game system in both the campaign and battle scenarios.

Campaign:
The one thing about this game is that it is simply about war. The diplomacy system, and its lack of depth, clearly reflects this. You only have 3 diplomatic stances: war, neutral, and allied. For the most part, the term "ally" is a very loose term at best and you can never really know what your relationship with your friends are except by the amount of garrisons they keep camped outside your borders. In general, "ally" means that you are less likely to be invaded if that country neighbors your kingdom and that you can sometimes count on their support should your army invade a province that is accessible by their forces. But your relative command strength and the value of all your land holdings will determine how much security you'll have against rival factions. When you're at the bottom or the top, you'll be especially vulnerable to the machinations of greedy or jealous rivals. The aggressive monarch will ultimately persevere.

The game is always full of surprises, though, and no two games will ever play alike but certain patterns do emerge that are dependent on which era you select as the game's start date and these patterns usually reflect historical truth. For example, in the Early period the Spanish of Castile are weak and exposed to the culture of Muslim N. Africa (Almohads) and often cave in under Islamic expansion leaving all of Western Europe ripe for conquest. However, under a good commander, the Spanish can persevere and reconquer Spain and then drive into the Holy Land by way of N. Africa to become the first successful crusaders, beating the French which have history on their side. Truly, anything can happen but it takes cunning and strategy and not a little bit of luck to survive.

Overall, the campaign game is fairly simple and easy to learn although trying to keep track of your kingdom once it becomes impressively large gets to be a big headache as the game doesn't give out a lot of information display tools to help organize your realm. But the bottom line is money. The more of it you have, the more army you can support/create and the more likely you are to win.

Lastly, all your generals have certain attributes that increase or decrease based on vices and virtues acquired in the game either randomly or by battlefield actions. Command and Acumen seem to have the most important effect in the normal game with Piety, Loyalty, and Dread being of less important or no importance. I don't know if they become more important in the higher difficulties.

The Loyalty attribute of a province seems to be more important. If it dips below 100% you are almost certain to see the province revolt to either independent rebels or to the previous owners. This means keeping a garrison to cow the population into submission is just as important as defending your borders. Thus, it makes Blitzkrieg-style campaigns very unsuccessful.

A final note: A REALLY neat thing about this game is that certain units only become availible when the game reaches a certain date. For example, until 1205, the arbitrary start date for the High period, no Catholic faction can train Chivalric Knights or Crossbowmen. Thus, even if you have all the buildings necessary to train these units, you still will have to wait until the year 1205 or 1321 to be able to take advantage of these advanced building structures. Unlike in Civilization or Rise of Nations, you can't "out-tech" your enemy because you build faster.

Battle:
The only down side to the battle scenario is that tactics are fairly limited with castle assaults being the most limited. The developers took the attitude of using castle walls as merely fences to protect your soldiers from direct assault until the enemy artillery breaks open an opening. Your defenses are pretty much predetermined by the type of castle you have built on your province and will always provide the same level of defensive fire. You can't commit any of your troops (say, your archers) to the castle walls and the only artillery you can use as well against a castle are catapults or bombards. Siege towers and battering rams are apparently not supported in the Medieval world created by the developers. Save for the fact that in river battles your men can't cross anywhere except by storming the bridges, most of the fights that occur on open terrain are reasonably fluid. But it eventually becomes apparent that most battles are usually won or lost before they are ever fought, much to Sun Tzu's liking. Once you know the effects of terrain, weather, generals, and unit abilities, vulnerabilities, and counters, you can fight your battles with a clinical simplicity. Creativity generally doesn't work to your favor unless its about battlefield positioning.

Overall a fantastic game although you might want to download the updates as they improve a lot of the minor gameplay flaws.

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