Product Description

This compilation includes

Medieval II: Total War
Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms Expansion Pack

Medieval II: Total War is the fourth instalment in the Total War franchise following the million unit selling Rome: Total War.

An epic 450 year campaign challenges you to seize control of the medieval world. Fight across Europe, The Middle East and, for the first time ever in Total War, discover the New World and the fearsome Aztecs.

A redesigned graphics engine displays Total Wars signature 10,000 man battles in unparalleled detail, making Medieval II: Total War the most glorious looking RTS game of all time. Varied terrain and individual faces, armour and combat animations make battles more visceral than ever before.

However you must also build and manage your kingdom, balancing the needs of your economy, military and population happiness.

Experience religious fervour as you contend with the whims of the Papacy and the feared Inquisitors eager to quash heresy. Send your men to fight in The Crusades or wage Jihad as one of the great Muslim nations.

Medieval II: Total War is the greatest Total War game to date and sure to seize a position as one of the greatest PC RTS games ever made.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #319 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sega
• Released on: 2008-02-01
• Platform: Windows XP

Manufacturer's Description

Medieval II: Total War is the fourth instalment in the Total War franchise following the million unit selling Rome: Total War.

An epic 450 year campaign challenges you to seize control of the medieval world. Fight across Europe, The Middle East and, for the first time ever in Total War, discover the New World and the fearsome Aztecs.

A redesigned graphics engine displays Total War’s signature 10,000 man battles in unparalleled detail, making Medieval II: Total War the most glorious looking RTS game of all time. Varied terrain and individual faces, armour and combat animations make battles more visceral than ever before.

However you must also build and manage your kingdom, balancing the needs of your economy, military and population happiness.

Experience religious fervour as you contend with the whims of the Papacy and the feared Inquisitors eager to quash heresy. Send your men to fight in The Crusades or wage Jihad as one of the great Muslim nations.

Medieval II: Total War is the greatest Total War game to date and sure to seize a position as one of the greatest PC RTS games ever made.

Customer Reviews

Addictive
Having owned and thoroughly enjoyed the first 'Medieval Total War' my expectations were quite high for this edition. Some reviews had also made me a little worried about the progression in game play and concept, but this was all dispelled upon my first play. Rather than armies simply being moved from region to region, mountains and lakes have to be negotiated as armies shape their way through the terrain. These paths can also be used as important strategic strongholds, or ambush locations for other unsuspecting passing armies. The first edition lacked terrain on the main campaign map and this is perhaps the biggest change when first playing the game.

The main beauty of Total War II is how detailed both parts of the game are. For those who have not played the game, the game is broadly divided into two sections - firstly a map style campaign, similar to Civilization or the board game Risk and secondly individual battle scenarios. The game can therefore be played as both a strategy game and/or a battle one. Battles can be resolved automatically or commanded personally depending on how long or short you want the game to be.

In terms of playing time, the game does require a large amount of attention if you want to succeed as a ruler. Turns cannot simply be skipped in order to save money or for a building to be finished, as otherwise other `factions' will leave you in their wake. With experience and patience a huge European Empire can be under your grasp, but just when you think you have the game cracked, new and more powerful factions appear from the east, natural disasters strike cities, the plague sweeps through Europe and then America is discovered. Unlike many strategy games that become tedious and repetitive over time, these events help keep the game interesting.

The expansion pack features four mini-versions of the main game. Each is as detailed as the main game, but concentrates on specific areas such as Britain and the Middle East. These are equalling rewarding to play and I found the Crusades Campaign (which I still have yet to complete) perhaps even more compelling and addictive than the main game.

Overall Medieval Total War II is an absolute masterpiece of a game and coupled with the expansion pack it becomes the only game you will want to play for a long time.

Ambiguous Review
I must say right now, before I go on, one minor detail: my computer isn't fast enough to play the actual battles, which is arguably the most important part of the game- my 1.8 GHz Intel computer can only play the campaign map, and that is all I can review at the moment.
Nevertheless, the campaign map is really quite entertaining. The cutscenes, oddly, play flawlessly on my computer, and they truly are amazing. There have been no budget cuts when it comes to voice acting, or synchronising the animations on screen with the sounds that you hear. And the game itself is far more tactical; factions won't enter war with you quite so lightly as they used to (i.e. in Rome Total War) and the options open to you have tripled in size.

To really enjoy the game, I would recommend a computer with at least 2GB RAM and 2.2GHz processor. Even on the lowest graphical settings, my 0.98 RAM computer cannot cope with the battles. If you can fulfil this game's requirements, however, then this is a companion that your computer quite simply should not be without.

Two steps forward, two steps back...
This compliation brings together Medieval total war 2 and the expansion 'Kingdoms'. It includes a thorough guide for each and if my experience is anything to go by then it loads and plays without flaws or fuss. This is very similar in looks and feel to Rome total war but this later incarnation is more sophisticated and complex.

Rome is fantastic, quite possibly the best pc game of this genre so far which means Medi 2 (this game) has its work cut out if it is going to impress. And impress it does. On a 1650*1080 screen the units look absolutely amazing with layers and layers of detail. When units come together to fight on the battle field the little choreographed sequences look realistic and are thoroughly involving.

Cities and castles too look really amazing with all the walls and towers you could ever wish for. This detail translates equally well on to the campaign map where you now have the ability to zoom in and out of the action according to taste (Rome had a fixed camera viewpoint).

When cannons fire (over an increased distance) the earth shakes and caste walls are torn down...charge!!!

So is it a great game and is this version value for money. The answers are yes and yes. I have been playing the Mayans in south america and my jaguar warriors have been making short work of the pompous technological spanish...who needs guns, not us!!! The expansions in Kingdoms appear to be well thought out and add some diversity to what was already an amazing game.

However i have some criticicms that will not go away. For one, units now have the ability to ignore your orders as they please, so i now have to run around the battlefield like an old hen re-issueing ordrs to charge or engage. Tis is tiresome and detracts from the fun. it makes battles quite a bit more labour intensive without any increase in fun. At times when defending of engaging a settlement units get confused and start running around like headless chicken, the odd unit seemingly doing anything but obey the orders you just issued. They get stuck, confused and then just as likely mullered.

My biggest criticism concerns the campaign map where the movement of units has been lets say s-l-o-w-e-d- down. Click on a merchant and click where you want him to go. Then go off and make a cup of tea. With fresh tea in hand, as you are sitting back down your merchant is just coming to a halt. So you get frustrated click on the space bar and everything zooms around the map. This is silly, poor and needless. In Rome you have about 550 turns to complete the main campaign, in Medi 2 you now have just 225 so you really have to get your skates on. No summer and winter turns as in Rome (and that worked so well) in stead each turn covers about two years. Sixhundred turns at 2 per year would have been much better and it seems that the slow speed of characters moving around the map serves no other purpose than to hide how short the main campaign is and how few battle will be fought.

In conclusion this is an excellent game but my concerns are that the things that worked so well in Rome and were far from broke have been changed here for no gain. The game looks fantastic but it is alot less fun and as i have gone back to Rome i guess i have to say that for me Rome is the better game.