Medieval - Total War (PC)

I thought I'd lost this review to the mire of my hard drive, it's been flattened and rebuilt at least three times since I wrote it way back in September last year. Would you believe I actually wrote two versions, one for Ciao and one for DooYoo, now that's the sort of commitment to quality SlyClone aspires to! The Total War series of games have been the cause of many arguments within the Clone household. Mrs Clone not being particularly keen on Mr Clone spending vast swathes of time behind the computer and ignoring her. It is easy for hours to drift by unnoticed while you attempt to gain just one more territory or quell one more rebellion, or ...  Read the complete review

- - - - -A bit of back ground information - - - - - Well due it it?s obvious title, medieval is not set during the 1930?s, The game starts in the year 1087 and ends in the year 1453 each year is a game turn so you have 466 turns in which to conquer the world and of course, win the game. The game presents you with the opportunity to control one of a number of nations, be it the English, France, Egyptians, Spanish, Russians etc. this, set during a time of the crusades, the 100 years war, the inquisition, heresy and the rise & fall on Constantinople. During this time you?ll be expected to manage you?re economy, keep your commanders loyal by awarding peerages ...  Read the complete review

Medieval Total War is the sequel to the highly acclaimed wargame Shogun Total War. While Shogun was based around fuedal Japan in the 16th century, Medieval Total War concentrates on the more familiar scenario of Medieval Europe, from the mid 11th to the late 15th centuries. To say the game is big would be a massive understatement. You take control of the economy and military power of any one of a dozen states and try to plot your way through centuries of conflict and even sometimes peace. As King (or similar, you can be a Turkish sultan if you prefer) your aim is to giuide your fledgling state to domination of the whole of Europe. During your campaign ...  Read the complete review

I was a huge "Shogun: Total War" fan and thus was looking forward to Medieval: Total War. However, my first playings of MTW left me feeling a little disappointed. It looked great and I've never had any technical problems with it, but some of the same design flaws that took some of the luster off STW remain. The strategic part of the game, although not as shallow as "Risk," was obviously a secondary consideration to the game's wonderful 3-D tactical battles. MTW added more "gloss" to the strategy part with inquisitors, cardinals, and princesses, but these just add more micromanagement and I've won easily without ...  Read the complete review

Straight away you can see the changes between this and its predecesor. The graphics have had a major overhaul, more factions have been added, and missions have been added to try and prevent it just being the same old again. A big downside, unfortunatly (although the problem isnt with the game itself) is that unless you have a high end graphics card atleast, you may experience poor permance, causing you to turn off most of the shiny new graphics features that make this game different from the previous one. Although, once youve found the right balance between graphics and performance, this is a really enjoyable game. The story starts you as one of 3 or 4 factions (not sure ...  Read the complete review