Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #340 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sega
• Released on: 2006-11-10
• Platform: Windows XP
• Number of items: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
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

Computer Shopper
This is an excellent game and well worth the investment of time required

Manufacturer's Description
Medieval 2 is the latest and greatest game to be released in the best selling and award-winning Total War series. Set in the years 1080-1530 the most turbulent period in European history, the game combines a vast, deep-thinking turn-based strategy campaign with the most cinematic, epic and brutal real-time battles ever seen in the genre.

A vastly enhanced version of the Total War engine vividly portrays the pure bloodlust of Medieval warfare with massive battles of more than 10,000 troops splayed across new graphically rich environments. For the first time in the Total War series each troop is an individual, garbed with the rich heraldic colours and glinting arms and armour of the period.

On the battlefield they'll survey their surroundings for threats and incoming opponents and react accordingly. When engaged they'll string together a series of devastating moves as Medieval 2's new combat animation brings the conflict to life like never before. Total War has never been so ferocious or realistic.

The Medieval 2 grand campaign will hand you the reins of one of an emerging faction as you set about sweeping throughout Europe, conquering all before you. Expand your borders and develop your lands for wealth and prosperity by building cities or swell your army by constructing vast castles to protect your land and keep your rivals quaking with fear.

Use Princesses for diplomatic gain, Priests to spread the influence of your religious beliefs and Merchants to fill your coffers for your war effort. All the time the Pope and the Papal States watch over the Christian world, assessing the strength of your faith and making demands to prove your loyalty. Do you cater to his whims and avoid excommunication or plot his downfall and rig the papal elections to place your own Pope in power?

Customer Reviews

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.

Superb
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.

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.