Article summary

In a nutshell:
After the glories of Rome the Total War series is returning to the most turbulent era in Western history as you take control of the country of your choice in the golden age of chivalry and really big battles.

The lowdown:
Some games think they’re doing well if they have more than a dozen enemies on screen at one time. Medieval II: Total War has 10,000 at once. This is a remake of the best selling Medieval game using an enhanced version of the Rome: Total War graphics engine, which allows for twice the level of detail where every face is different and armour, shields and clothing vary from man to man. All the new features and advancements of Rome are also added into the game, including the 3D strategy map. On top of this it adds a vastly greater variety of new factions and units as well as the American continent to explore and exploit.

Most exciting moment:
The new graphics and gameplay features all come together for the new night time sieges, with tens of thousands of soldiers on screen at once as the boiling oil and the flaming arrows create a sight to make Hollywood weep.

Since you ask:
The game is, as much as possible, historically accurate, with in-game information available to explain about the Crusades, Renaissance and the discovery of the Americas.

The bottom line:
The largest scale Total War game ever created with the best graphics in a strategy game ever.
HARRISON DENT

Customer's review

Works fine on Vista

There is no doubt that this is a first rate wargame. I won't bother going over the good things which many have already done before me. I just wanted to redress the balance regarding Vista. I have been playing it on my brand new Vista laptop for about 3 months and it runs perfectly every time. So it is wrong to assume that you will have problems with Vista. As with all games there is always the chance that any particular set-up (given that no 2 PCs are identical) could cause problems. I don't think that users who have problems with their particular set-up should assume that it is buggy, because it is not.

Great game

overall a great game, keeps me playing all night :)
for some reason had problems using dvi connector and had to use vga cable instead and worked perfect.
And just saying it does work on vista no problems.

hoping for better

What people don't seem to mention is how much better the world map looks, compared to Rome and Rome Barbarian Invasion. You can zoom down lower to your castles or cities, and the trees sway in the breeze and the coast looks good, although I think they could have put more detail into the coastal definition, it's a lttle bit unrealistic. There's also very good sound effects like church bells, the wind, dogs barking etc.
I just bought Rome but can't be bothered playing it now, as Medieval is just better. One thing I found too hard was the initial campaign, where you have to hold Jerusalem and another city-state and hold them over a certain number of turns. I gave up with this and found a mod which enables you to go straight into the main grand campaign, playing as any nation you want, except the Mongols or another eastern hoard (forget the name now).
I found Denmark were always winning the overall power rating, (the game seems to be set to this) so I'm now playing as Denmark. The game opens up to include the americas, Aztecs anyway, but that's at a later stage in the game. These few negative points are far outweighed by what I think is an almost perfect turn-based empire builder.
The religion is a lot of fun as well, you can send you priest or imam to take out heretics or witches, and if you conquer a city, you have to be carfull that they arn't all heretics, like in Timbuktu, so it's better to ruin the city, and re-build it, and recruit priests, as the people will be much more content and less likely to revolt (except for Cordoba, which I abandoned).
The diplomacy is good as well, you can send your little diplomats to set up trade or alliance. I think the merchant function could be improved, as they just stand over a resource, and they have a limited life span. It would be better if they were able to build a little warehouse or mine over a resource, and be a family-dynasty which dosn't change over the game, unless the region is conquered. But that's not the case in this game, which is a pity.
The much older rivals to this sort of turn-based empire builder, such as Spartan, (and I think CIV, I could never understand what people see in CIV) has been knocked out of the race, me thinks, as the battle graphics and everything is just brilliant. You can zoom down to watch the individual soldiers hack it out with each other, but I tend to auto-resolve most of my battles, unless it's even/even odds.
Just discovered that Sega are building a new turn-based game called 'Empires' which might be good also. It's going to be set in the 18th centuary and feature full-on sea battles.. Medieval auto-resolves sea battles only. A bit off subject perhaps, but the old days of Egypt/Babylon/Persia, is not covered much in the genre. 'Have to wait and see what games come up in future, and hope that they continue to build on the improvements made in this game.

I'll just update this here.. it's possible to find out how to modify the files and totally cheat.. and that spoils the game.. the setting of the victory ... Denmark also spoils the game, and also untrue settings for Cordoba, - now hoping that Empire will be better.. I eventually just got fed up with the siege system on this game.. would be better with just open field battles to resolve things.. it's tedious having to lay siege to every city and work through the streets..
and dont know if the 19th century will be good for Empire, the ideal empire age is perhaps ancient Greece and Persia...

Mild Disappointment

This game (and this review is solely aimed at both the people who like historical accuracy in historical games and the Total War genre) is far superior than its illustrious predecessor. The era is plays in is more exciting, there is progression in units in all factions instead of just one, the campaign map is enlarged (slightly) and the graphics are both fantastic and great to view; certainly the vision of a knight stabbing a peasant through the chest is something above watching a Centurion bop a Spearman on the head and the former fall over. That alone gives it three stars. The fourth comes with the battles; the AI in the game is no longer manipulable to your own tactics, and the ability to take prisoners is gratifying albeit slightly silly. Four Stars.
But then it stops. As i mentioned before, i like a bit of historical accuracy; although the campaign map serves up a plethora of cities and geography reminiscent of the time, thats where it ends. Sure, you can assault a city like Milan and feel that it would largely be the same in real life; but assault the island-city of Venice, and you get a walled city with only a stream beside it to remind us of the Venetian lagoon. The same is with Rome, Paris, Moscow, Constantinople (that one stings the most) and Lisbon. In Rome:Total War, the family tree was there to remind us of the dynastic effect in history; although largely you couldnt change who would end up your family member(historical accuracy or not), you could change who would be leader. In M2TW, you cannot, although you do get the middling compensation of the leader being called Khan, King or Emperor.
What i expected here was a game that was fun AND suited my needs; true, it is fun but every time you play it, it shows the definite tinge of laziness in its programming. Its successor Kingdoms does better in giving us more cities to play with on individual campaigns, but unconnected and small. If that was introduced to M2TW, then i most probably would give this game five stars; its more realistic than letting the Holy Roman Empire have a hegemony over all of northern Europe or Denmark ruling the world.

Full of Bugs

Don't buy this game especialy if you have Windows Vista. Sega have shipped this game full of bugs and glitches. There is a patch availible but it weighs in at a hefty 600MB. A look at online gaming forums reveals there are a lot of people out there having technical problems. This is a shame as it seems it could have been a realy great game.

Medieval II: Total War (PC DVD)

Article summary

Customer's review

Works fine on Vista

Great game

hoping for better

Mild Disappointment

Full of Bugs

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