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Medieval II Total War: Kingdoms Expansion Pack Review (continued)
More User Submitted Medieval II Total War: Kingdoms Expansion Pack Reviews
Date: 2007-09-01
Expansion? Or expensive mods? You be the judge.
Firstly, I love Medieval. It's a very enjoyable RTS, and its historical value is not to be undermined. However, I was sold by the `IMMENSE' amount of `additions' to the game, and the hundred some odd new units. Yeah, well, marketing is really clever. Drawback? Will I buy another expansion to this series? Not likely. As previously noted, if you want a bunch of extracurricular side quest campaigns to play, then this is the expansion for you. For those of you looking for additional content added to the original game.. this expansion fails. The End.
Date: 2007-09-01
Four games in one!...
Okay, first off about the multi-player hotseat thingie..don't really know about it and not my cup of tea so in this review I won't touch on it because quite frankly this is a game I really wouldn't want to play with anyone else. It's a "me" game.
With that being said, this is a nice addition to the Total War franchise. Sure, there are mods you can pick up to tweak it, but nobody makes a mod better than the folks that actually designed the game. In each of the campaigns you have cool triggers that add a dynamic flavour such as Richard and Philip II reinforcing the crusades in the Holy Lands and the Baron's Alliance in the Brittania campaign.
I had some preconceived notions about Kingoms, in that I fully expected some dinky little maps and about 5 hours playtime per campaign. Ohhhhhh no sir, these are full fledged campaigns with lots of territories and tons of time to eat up. They are all quite large, but the Americas campaign map is vast and was extremly fun playing the Apachean tribes. Nothing says "yippie" when your apache dog soldiers are charging and doing that Indian war cry you've heard in every John Wayne movie.
There is no big upgrade over Total War II...ergo, there is no major graphic or engine overhaul, it's simply more campaigns to play - a lot more. One of the nicest things I liked on the new campaigns is that you get a few of the top end units to start so you don't have to wait years to see how that Greek Fire Thrower works or get the uberest Templar Cavalry.
I have had no technical problems on Vista 32-bit with Dual core 2.13ghz, 2gb RAM and NVIDIA 7600 video card.
Not much more to say that hasn't been showcased in previews and you can read from the description up top (which is accurate except the multi-player thingie which I really don't care about) other than if you liked Total War 2 then you are going to really love Kingdoms.
Pros:
- Same good looking graphics as Total War 2
- Sound is amazing with new songs for each of the factions and campaigns
- Tons more units
- Very big campaign maps
Cons:
- Ummm...perhaps the multi-player capability which apparently isn't that great.
Date: 2007-08-30
Not As Advertised
The Medieval Total War series always was, and continues to be one of the best RTS in the industry. I have no issues with the platform.
What I do have issues with is the false and misleading advertising that surrounded this expansion.
If you really want 4 new mods, of no greater value than those the community freely develops, then you should buy this expansion. If you crave the additional features, units, skill trees, etc then you should buy this expansion.
Unfortunately, a great many of us thought this expansion actually provided true multiplayer campaigns. IT DOES NOT.
PLEASE READ THE CHANGED PRODUCT DESCRIPTION IN THE AMAZON PRODUCT REVIEW!
This expansion affords you a "hot seat" which is basically various players using the same computer. Even this concept is poorly conceived as it turns a real time strategy game - valued for its dynamic gameplay - into a turn based dorkdom where the various players have to log into and out of the game. Did the people who thought this up even know how to turn on a computer? What a rip-off. This intentionally misleading approach renders what could have been an average expansion into one of the greatest disappointments in computer gaming since the days of DOS.
Last spring I marked this as a wish list item because it advertised "a true multiplayer campaign mode". I don't know at what point the brain drain eminating from the purchase of CA by SEGA borked this title, but the result is clear... a mediocre expac of MODs only, combined with broken scope and false promises. This is a horrible leap backwards in game concept. You might have to hotbunk as a Sailer on a destroyer or a sub, but do you really want to on your PC at home?
So buy this if you want to pay for mods, buy this if crave more skill trees and unit types, and buy this if you want to see a trully dis-evolutionary move in gaming...a bizare attempt to turn a computer game into a table top game. Simply amazing in it's ability to be miles wide of the mark. As the entire computer gaming market moves towards ever enhanced multiplayer abilities, SEGA moves MTW2 in the opposite direction...
It's simply breathtaking in its stupidity. I'd ask for a refund, but I've already opened the box...
Medieval II Total War: Kingdoms Expansion Pack Reviews Page: 5 of 5 Prev<< 1 2 3 4 5
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