Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
Kingston Technology 2GB SD Secure Digital Card
Braun Oral-B EB17-8 Refill Pack
|
|
|
|
Medieval II: Total War (PC DVD) | 
 enlarge
| From: Sega
Category: Video Games
List Price: £19.99
Buy Used: £4.50
You Save: £15.49 (77%)
New (16) Used (9) from £4.50
Rating:  77 reviews
Sales Rank: 758
Platform: Windows Xp
Genre: historical-strategy-games
Media: Video Game
Number Of Items: 1
Age: 11 - 18 years
Operating System: Windows XP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5050053015761
ASIN: B000ENN9AG
Release Date: November 10, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
| |
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
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
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 The best war/strategy game - but beware the system specifications November 16, 2006
Will (UK)
57 out of 63 found this review helpful
As with most Total War veterans I've been waiting for the release of this game with some anticipation. I won't go into the quality of the game, other reviewers have taken care of that, and any criticism of Medieval 2 as a game is churlish. However, and this is quite a big however, beware the minimum system specifications! I built my computer (on a budget) ostensibly to play Rome TW (amongst other things), approx 12 months ago, and it handled everything the game could throw at it. AMD 64 3200, 1Gb dual channel RAM, 256 Mb PCI express graphics card, etc. When I first started using Medieval 2 on the above machine battlefield movements were at best `clunky' and the response time was rather slow, and frustrating. Perhaps I'd been spoiled by being able to play Rome at its top setting seamlessly. After some research on the web, it would appear that all TW games are usually memory intensive, Medieval 2 being no exception, and therefore the greediest. Anyway I've whacked on another 1Gb of dual channel memory (so four banks of 512K), and it now works beautifully. Unless you have at least 1Gb of memory I wouldn't even bother with Medieval 2, you'll have more fun playing the previous TW games. I hope this helps any potential purchasers...
A real leap forward in realistic gaming November 13, 2006
Exvirilis
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
For reference, my PC is 2-3 years old - I have a 3000+ Athlon, 1G of Ram and an ATI. I have played all the total war games - Japan, Medieval, Rome and now this one
Extraordinary.
I have had this game now for one weekend and have had to come up for air to go to work.
Installation - faultless. The game comes on two discs. No problems loading up.
Campaign:
Very similar to the Rome:Total War campaign map. Seems like there is more graphical detail though. It's easier to choose appropriate terrain, although there is still the issue that you think you're on high ground, but when a battle comes you find yourself fighting uphill. No biggy, but slightly annoying.
The main change from Rome is that now your settlements are either cities or castles. Cities produce more cash and have walls, but are not as easier to defend as castles. Castles have great defensive walls but do not produce as much cash. It's a small change but actually does change gameplay significantly - you now have to think more strategically. In addition, cities can only produce infantry - no cavalry or decent missile units (although they can produce ballista and later, artillery). This means that you can't get away with having just cities - you need castles for those units.
The change also means that after a battle, you have to get your cavalry and missile units back to a castle to retrain. Difficult sometimes. It means that you need castles on your borders. Once you expand territory, you then need to think proactively about changing castles to cities that are secure within your borders.
There's so much more I can talk about but no room - the merchants are new. Assassins and diplomats work in a similar way as before.
Battles:
Wow. Just wow. I know gameplay is everything, but let me spend a few moments talking about the graphics. The difference between this and what has gone before is amazing - I keep losing more men than I should in battles because I spend so much time zoomed in watching close up melee battles. In particular the cavalry units. If you still have the original medieval on your pc, load up a battle from that and then one from this. Just gives you an idea of how far they've come.
Ok, now the gameplay. It's much more realistic. Some things I've noticed -
Tiredness and morale seem to play a bigger part. You really can't just run your cavalry everywhere and expect them to fight. That may be just me though - I never played on hard settings. I'm a coward like that.
Battles with rebel armies in your territories - seem to be harder than before. You can't just roll over them with a few decent units as you could in Rome - more thought is needed. They don't seem to run away as willingly.
My old trick when I'm besieged of luring besieging armies towards walls so that the towers and missile units on the walls can pick them off with arrows - doesn't work anymore. Enemies are not just going to sit next to the wall dieing off in great numbers. They'll sit out of range, even with no commander. Much more realistic.
So, I've only been playing for a weekend. Clearly there is more to discover, but for those who have played and enjoyed the other total war games, there really is no question - you must get this game. For those who have not played the total war games before - there is a lot to learn. You have to invest a lot of time in learning how everything fits together, but definitely worth persevering. I have no hesitation in recommending this game.
Superb Sequel November 14, 2006
Mr. Mat Gray (Southampton, Hants United Kingdom)
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
This is a very special game. The battlefield graphics are splendid, even when turned down to medium (to prevent my graphics card from overheating!). The units are less generic looking, the weather effects realistically affect visibility and movement, the vegetation now comes with blossoms of varying colours (possibly a bit excessive - but really attractive), and the towns are utterly stunning in their detail.
Its almost as though Creative Assembly have a few graphics technology secrets up their sleeve..I've played a number of other new games lately that stutter with far less impressive graphics.
The campaign map is similar to Med I and Rome TW, but with a number of new additions: Merchants (these secure resources in foreign lands, and generate florins per turn), Priests (combatting medieval heresy and witchcraft), Princesses make a return (great for marrying in good generals from other factions, and for performing other diplomatic functions). The campaign map is so compelling in itself, I often just automate the battles, as I'm eager to get on with town management and diplomacy!
The balance between intensive 3D battles, and turn based strategy is, as ever, perfect...both aspects feel closely connected - you can actually see your experienced, expensive, armoured knights paying for themselves in battle...the general's pre-battle speeches are as stirring (and often, amusing) as ever, and the unit abilities are brilliantly displayed in realtime.
This game really is a masterpiece...and an absolute steal, as, unlike some movie DVD, this will potentially provide years of entertainment.
Awesome November 19, 2006
S. Eagers (Surrey, England)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
I am a firm collector of the total war series, and this is by far the best so far.
Here are some of the many good points
The graphics have improved - there are now differnt soldiers with different armour in the unit
The fight scenes have improved - now your units can unleash combos and units that have been damaged have blood on them
The seiges are more fun - Flames and pain all round
The generals speeches are funnier and more entertaining
The are a wide variety of factions that you can play as including, England, Scotland, France, the Turks, Sicilian and much more.
Some of the bad points
Campaigns require that you unlock other factions by killing them on the long campaign.
It takes a while to get better units if your a quick gameplayer do that you finish before anything good comes along.
And thats about it.
This is a truly awesome stratergy game that lets you use thought and recklessness equally to achive world domination.
Buy this game, and you won't regret it if.
More of the same - brilliance that is. November 14, 2006
Mr. N. Haynes (Blighty)
18 out of 21 found this review helpful
I must confess at the start of playing this game to have been a touch disappointed by the similarities to 'Rome'. Sure 'Rome' was one of the best games ever and if it ain't broke don't fix it, but after waiting so long I'd hoped for a few more enhancements, and a speeding up of game play.
That said this game is stunning to look at, the city controls and worldmap far more involving, and the religious elements surprisingly enjoyable (though frustrating when you go and get excommunicated just for being attacked by the French who happenned to control the Pope at that point!). The introduction of Priests,Inquisitors and Merchants adds a futher (often frustrating) element to the gameplay adding to a far richer (though initially slower) experience than its predecessors.
The battles themselves feature incredible graphics and whilst there are still glaring defects in the AI at times (eg. when 1000 invading troops smashed through the gates of my city which was defended by less than 100 longbowmen but then stood outside on the plain without ever trying to take the city), there is a far greater subtlety in unit strengths and their ideal uses.
A previous review referred to his disappointment that the turns were now numbered as opposed to reflecting years. Whilst I can understand his viewpoint for me a far more frustrating element is the limit of something like 230 turns to achieve your objectives. Whilst as in previous versions you can continue after this, to achieve your objectives it leads the player to a far from subtle smash, grab, plunder and kill hostages policy to assemble the requisite territories in the time limit; I can't help but feel that by doing that you'd be missing out on the wealth/culture/religion/diplomacy strategies that make this overall experience so rich.
Certainly a very worthy successor to its brilliant forebears. Now excuse me - I've got to go and assassinate the French king, hold off the Portuguese who have broken our alliance and are marching on Rennes and try and form an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire to try and hold back the Danes all while trying to convince the Inquisitors why one of my generals should not be burned for heresy. No rest for the wicked......
|
|
|
| |
