The "Retro Game Reviews" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
This thread has been linked to the game 'Mount and Blade'.
I wouldn't surprised if you haven't heard of Mount and Blade, it's not the most famous game out there by any means. The original base game was released in 2008, so it's a very young franchise indeed, yet there have been 3 expansions of it ever since (Warband, With Fire and Sword and Napoleonic Wars). So it's been under the radar quite a bit, it's had very frequent sequels, it's made by a turkish company of 17 employees that no one has even heard of as well as only being released on the PC. It sounds like the symptons of a dying franchise. You may be surprised to hear that this series is the exact opposite. It's an up and coming series which is establishing itself in a variety of ways.
The best way to describe Mount and Blade in general is an RTS, RPG, FPS combo. It seems confusing to try and combine all of these genres, but it really is simple. Your created character travels a map in a similar fashion to the way you would order your troops around in the likes of the Total War games. Once you initiate an action (click and enter a town, click another army and choose to attack them) you're transported to a 3D environment which is created depending where you are on the map, again similar to the way the Total War Games feature various battlefields during the campaign because of the movement of armies. The real difference is that you get to fight as your character in these battles alongside any army you have or any allies you have made. If you have a mount, you'll be able to ride along the battlefield towards your enemies. Fire a bow, swing an axe, throw a dagger, you pretty much get an opportunity to participate in the what is the fun part of RTS games, well it is for me anyway. With Fire and Sword gives you the chance to try out early guns as well. We're not talking unrealistic trigger happiness, these guns give you one shot before you have to spend a long time reloading, and you can easily be killed while reloading, so it really takes tactics to use firearms well. It's great that guns haven't killed the game off, as it potentially could've made it far too easy to play.
The overall goal of the game is to conquer the entire map (in With Fire and Sword, the map is based in Eastern Europe, other expansions and the base game are based in different areas of the world). This can be achieved in various different ways. The usual route is to become allies with one of the already existing kingdoms. By gaining their trust, you can become a vassal and a respected member of their society. This is achieved by helping that kingdom out in various ways, by doing quests for their villagers, for other vassals, for helping that kingdom in combat situations and eventually declaring your loyalty to the king of that kingdom. From there, you're able to build your own statistics and level, and the ability to create your own fully functional army capable of seiging a town or castle becomes a reality. From there, you slowly conquer the rest of the map. Of course strategies, such as choosing the right moment to attack and breakoff from your allies, who to attack and when and the best viable location to attack. There is far more strategy than I am making out though as I don't think it's possible to summarise such a deep game.
I mentioned the growth of your character. This element adds another dimension which is a characteristic of an RPG game. Your character starts off with next to nothing, with little more than a mount, a few weapons, some weak armour and food. From there, you can build up base skills such as strength, intelligence, charisma and agility, which allow your many secondary skills to be upgraded. Secondary skills directly affect how your character works, with skills such as leadership allowing you to gather more men in your army. As mentioned, secondary skills allow you to influence your character, whereas the base skills just open up the avenue for the upgrade of secondary skills, which allows for a variety of different character skill trees. The other skill set is the weapon profiency upgrades, which allow you to become more capable at controlling and operating different weapons, such as one handed, two handed, firearms, bows and polearms.
The graphics of Mount and Blade With Fire and Sword are more than adequate for the games purpose. They really come to the fore during the battle sequences of the game, but the RTS map graphics are just as enjoyable. The sounds are very basic, with AI characters having a small arsenal of vocabulary to communicate with the player. AI characters interact through text, but you get a short audio snippet at the start of the exchange that is either a greeting or relates to the subject of the conversation. You can expect a few bugs here in there as this really isn't a game with much backing. It also doesn't cost too much to buy either, yet it is an addictive game, so I really don't think the few bugs are an issue.
In conclusion, I rate this as one of my favourite games on the PC. I class it amongst greats that have gone under the radar before, such as The Shadow of the Colossus. If you enjoy Total War games, this is certainly one for you. With the amount of mods being released for Mount and Blade, you'll be able to tactically approach your favourite historical battles, and now fight in them too. Of course you can just go for the main campaign and just conquer everyone. "It is not sufficient that I succeed, all others must fail" is a suitable quote from Genghis Khan for this game. You either conquer or be conquered.
The best way to describe Mount and Blade in general is an RTS, RPG, FPS combo. It seems confusing to try and combine all of these genres, but it really is simple. Your created character travels a map in a similar fashion to the way you would order your troops around in the likes of the Total War games. Once you initiate an action (click and enter a town, click another army and choose to attack them) you're transported to a 3D environment which is created depending where you are on the map, again similar to the way the Total War Games feature various battlefields during the campaign because of the movement of armies. The real difference is that you get to fight as your character in these battles alongside any army you have or any allies you have made. If you have a mount, you'll be able to ride along the battlefield towards your enemies. Fire a bow, swing an axe, throw a dagger, you pretty much get an opportunity to participate in the what is the fun part of RTS games, well it is for me anyway. With Fire and Sword gives you the chance to try out early guns as well. We're not talking unrealistic trigger happiness, these guns give you one shot before you have to spend a long time reloading, and you can easily be killed while reloading, so it really takes tactics to use firearms well. It's great that guns haven't killed the game off, as it potentially could've made it far too easy to play.
The overall goal of the game is to conquer the entire map (in With Fire and Sword, the map is based in Eastern Europe, other expansions and the base game are based in different areas of the world). This can be achieved in various different ways. The usual route is to become allies with one of the already existing kingdoms. By gaining their trust, you can become a vassal and a respected member of their society. This is achieved by helping that kingdom out in various ways, by doing quests for their villagers, for other vassals, for helping that kingdom in combat situations and eventually declaring your loyalty to the king of that kingdom. From there, you're able to build your own statistics and level, and the ability to create your own fully functional army capable of seiging a town or castle becomes a reality. From there, you slowly conquer the rest of the map. Of course strategies, such as choosing the right moment to attack and breakoff from your allies, who to attack and when and the best viable location to attack. There is far more strategy than I am making out though as I don't think it's possible to summarise such a deep game.
I mentioned the growth of your character. This element adds another dimension which is a characteristic of an RPG game. Your character starts off with next to nothing, with little more than a mount, a few weapons, some weak armour and food. From there, you can build up base skills such as strength, intelligence, charisma and agility, which allow your many secondary skills to be upgraded. Secondary skills directly affect how your character works, with skills such as leadership allowing you to gather more men in your army. As mentioned, secondary skills allow you to influence your character, whereas the base skills just open up the avenue for the upgrade of secondary skills, which allows for a variety of different character skill trees. The other skill set is the weapon profiency upgrades, which allow you to become more capable at controlling and operating different weapons, such as one handed, two handed, firearms, bows and polearms.
The graphics of Mount and Blade With Fire and Sword are more than adequate for the games purpose. They really come to the fore during the battle sequences of the game, but the RTS map graphics are just as enjoyable. The sounds are very basic, with AI characters having a small arsenal of vocabulary to communicate with the player. AI characters interact through text, but you get a short audio snippet at the start of the exchange that is either a greeting or relates to the subject of the conversation. You can expect a few bugs here in there as this really isn't a game with much backing. It also doesn't cost too much to buy either, yet it is an addictive game, so I really don't think the few bugs are an issue.
In conclusion, I rate this as one of my favourite games on the PC. I class it amongst greats that have gone under the radar before, such as The Shadow of the Colossus. If you enjoy Total War games, this is certainly one for you. With the amount of mods being released for Mount and Blade, you'll be able to tactically approach your favourite historical battles, and now fight in them too. Of course you can just go for the main campaign and just conquer everyone. "It is not sufficient that I succeed, all others must fail" is a suitable quote from Genghis Khan for this game. You either conquer or be conquered.
Page:
;¬)
DL wrote:
Sonic Chris wrote:
[i]Seem very defensive. I wasn't slating the game, just stating a lot of people haven't heard of it.
Got it the wrong way round SC, the point was to make you aware that at least the entire readership of PCGamer knew about it from the start ... but then perhaps ... (don't go there) ;¬)[/i]
I like you too much to continue DL.
:-D
Sonic Chris wrote:
[i]Seem very defensive. I wasn't slating the game, just stating a lot of people haven't heard of it.
Got it the wrong way round SC, the point was to make you aware that at least the entire readership of PCGamer knew about it from the start ... but then perhaps ... (don't go there) ;¬)[/i]
I like you too much to continue DL.
:-D
Sonic Chris wrote:
Seem very defensive. I wasn't slating the game, just stating a lot of people haven't heard of it.
Got it the wrong way round SC, the point was to make you aware that at least the entire readership of PCGamer knew about it from the start ... but then perhaps ... (don't go there) ;¬)
Seem very defensive. I wasn't slating the game, just stating a lot of people haven't heard of it.
Got it the wrong way round SC, the point was to make you aware that at least the entire readership of PCGamer knew about it from the start ... but then perhaps ... (don't go there) ;¬)
You seem to be under the impression that I'm calling this game bad...
Seem very defensive. I wasn't slating the game, just stating a lot of people haven't heard of it.
Rubbish
DL wrote:
Sorry all ... but if you subscribe to PCGamer then it isn't an unknown game! It's had some decent reviews since it's initial release ;¬)
Had it gathered more reknown, it would've done a lot better than it has. As it is, most people I know haven't heard of it.
Sorry all ... but if you subscribe to PCGamer then it isn't an unknown game! It's had some decent reviews since it's initial release ;¬)
Had it gathered more reknown, it would've done a lot better than it has. As it is, most people I know haven't heard of it.
Sorry all ... but if you subscribe to PCGamer then it isn't an unknown game! It's had some decent reviews since it's initial release ;¬)
Cheers pete :-)
Yeah Warband is pretty sweet, particularly if you get the Star Wars mod. But for campaign mode, Fire and Sword is brilliant. Warband's campaign becomes very, very tiresome. The AI are absolute idiots.
Yeah Warband is pretty sweet, particularly if you get the Star Wars mod. But for campaign mode, Fire and Sword is brilliant. Warband's campaign becomes very, very tiresome. The AI are absolute idiots.
Page: