The first Medieval 2: Total War review is up at personal whipping boy Strategy Informer, and it’s glowing, naturally. It is a very descriptive review with only one major error (Princesses aren’t new, since they were in the first Medieval: Total War game. I’ll leave off any commentary on Mr. Priest’s writing.
My copy should arrive by the end of the week. Which means that the weekend will be completely consumed with sacking Constantinople over and over again.
“There are 21 factions to pick from; first starting out you’ll only be able to choose from a few of the selection. ”
Well this just sounds like a pain in the ass. What’s the rationale behind forcing you to play a nation you don’t want…to get to the one that you do. Stupid. It better be easy to unlock or have a cheat code.
Oh well, good thing its not an EA game or you would have to pay a dollar for each faction.
I can’t speak for Creative Assembly, but I believe the thinking is three-fold:
First, by allowing unlockable factions it forces a player to either play a campaign to its completion or expand in different directions.
Second, the opening factions are probably the more conventional countries that people are already familiar with (Western Medieval armies and the like) so players will have a chance to learn as they go in the campaign instead of finding themselves frustrated by playing Russia or the Ottomans.
Third, if the major Western powers are the starting nations, then they get to interact with the Pope a lot, just like in Rome:Total War they wanted to show off the Senate mission system by forcing you to win as a Roman faction first.
I’d prefer to have everything available from the beginning, but you can be sure that a hack will be available almost immediately, as it was for RTW.
Compared to MTW version 1, this is a giant step backwards. On my new Toshiba P5 dual core laptop it runs so slowly that the map and unit moves remind me of the space invaders on a 1975 arcade game. Jerk . . . jerk . . . jerk . . . that’s the graphics for you. Quite pathetic. Total waste of money.
I’d sooner blame your laptop than the game. Although it *is* more graphics intensive, a decent computer can still handle it. ;)