It's been two years in the making, and while Medieval: Total War is a much more intense and strategically involved game then was Shogun: Total War, there are still enough problems to keep this latest game from earning a permanent spot on my hard drive.
Like its predecessor, Medieval manages to blend real-time and turn-based strategy into a gaming system that works. But this latest game, set in a period of time from 1087 to 1453 rife with war, adds much more variety in the unit types and factions a player can pick from. What makes this game so unique is the grand scale in which the battles take place, allowing players to control more than 10,000 men in a single army.
The game is broken down into two parts: The heart of the game plays like an involved game of Risk, with gamers moving units and taking over provinces on a screen that depicts countries and continents. This turn-based part of the game has been greatly improved from Shogun, making players manage a plethora of new details, helping to upgrade the Total War franchise from a simple game of Risk to the type of full-on strategy game you could spend weeks playing. The second element of the game is the battles. Unfortunately Medieval relies on the original engine for this phase of the game, so while it's still fun to maneuver your 2D troops around the 3D landscape the graphics leave a lot to be desired.
Multiplayer, for some reason only allows players to go head to head in battle. In other words there is no turn-based strategy in multiplayer, instead you pick your armies and duke it out.
Mar 03, 2012 When I found Medieval II: Total War, I was looking for a game a lot like the old Westwood games like Red Alert 2 or a game like Stronghold 2. This game is much better. Overall, a very worthwhile purchase for any war strategy/economy management game lover! PROS Excellent graphics.
When I heard that Medieval: Total War was coming out, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I thought for sure they would finally fix what I considered to be the biggest downfall in the original game: multiplay. To my chagrin, they didn't. Total War is a fun game to play alone and has great potential for replay, but don't count on it fulfilling your online gaming needs.
Overall rating: 8