Poll: Review: Mount&Blade

[Sporenut]

Ok, so my last few reviews have been terrible. But here I have a game that hasn't been reviewed on this site.

M&B is a squad based medieval combat RPG which is fully moddable. (Example, I have a Star Wars mod)

First you have to choose what your father was, what you grew up as, why you left home to become an adventurer. This determines your skills (Example, if you father was a knight, you will be strong and have some skills in sword fighting and riding, but if your father was a thief, or a poacher, you will be fast).

From there you go to character customization. You have to choose a style of hair, skin and facial hair, then you can adjust finer points, such as cheekbones, mouth to nose distance etc.

Once finished you find yourself landed right in the middle of a nation at war, there are the desert dweller Khergit horsemen, the viking like Nord axemen, the powerful kingdom of the Swadians, with the most powerful armored knights, the balanced kingdom of the Vaegirs, with the best foot archers and finally the Rhodok, best spearmen in the whole game, with decent crossbowmen.

You may choose to ally yourself with one of these 5 groups. This allows you to recruit their soldiers, have safety in their castles and be lords of their towns and castles. However, you can be "fired" for not following their main army.

I chose to be a horse archer and allied myself with the Khergits. Using cheats, which I will list at the end of the review, I got enough money and experience to recruit the best Khergit soldiers, and led them to war against the Rhodok. On your warpath, you have to besiege many enemy towns and castles, until you eventually wipe them off the face if the earth.

All in all, this is a good game, strengthed further by the modding system.
The game is available for a free trial download at http://www.talewords.com

Now here are those cheats I promised!
Ctrl+x while in inventory: 1000 denars (dollars, gold, whatever)
Ctrl+x while character or soldier selected: +1000 exp
Ctrl+t while in world map: Can see all armies and garrisons in cities/castles.
Ctrl+F4 while in battle: Randomly kills (or severely damages) 1 enemy.
Ctrl+H while in battle: Heals yourself (but not mount or army)
Ctrl+F3 while in battle: SUICIDE!

 

[Locastus]

Well, your reviews may be terrible but you do pick good games

I love this game. Very few titles manage to capture the exhilaration of decapitating a foot soldier at full gallop, but Mount and Blade does it well.

In a nutshell, I would say that this game is like being an actual participant in the battles of Medieval 2: Total War, but the best way to find out is to play the free trial.

Check it out guys, seriously, it's awesome.

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

Ok, so my last few reviews have been terrible. But here I have a game that hasn't been reviewed on this site. (Uh [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/5378-Review-Mount-Blade]... Actually [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.69977], it [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.80029] has [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.76634].)

M&B is a squad based medieval combat RPG which is fully moddable. (For example, I have a Star Wars mod.)

First you have to choose who your father was, what you grew up as, and why you left home to become an adventurer. This determines your skills (For example, if your father was a knight, you will be strong and have some skills in sword fighting and riding. but If your father was a thief, or a poacher, you will be fast).

From there, you go to character customization. You have to choose a style of hair, skin and facial hair, then you can adjust finer points, such as cheekbones, mouth to nose distance, etc.

Once finished, you find yourself landed right in the middle of a nation at war. There are the desert dweller Khergit horsemen, the viking like Nord axemen, the powerful kingdom of the Swadians with the most powerful armored knights, the balanced kingdom of the Vaegirs with the best foot archers, and finally the Rhodok, best spearmen in the whole game with decent crossbowmen as well.

You may choose to ally yourself with one of these 5 groups. This allows you to recruit their soldiers, have safety in their castles and be lords of their towns and castles. However, you can be "fired" for not following their main army.

I chose to be a horse archer and allied myself with the Khergits. Using cheats, which I will list at the end of the review, I got enough money and experience to recruit the best Khergit soldiers, and led them to war against the Rhodok. (You've just signed away your credibility. More on that later.) On your warpath, you have to besiege many enemy towns and castles, until you eventually wipe them off the face if the earth.

All in all, this is a good game, strengthened further by the modding system.
The game is available for a free trial download at http://www.talewords.com

Now here are those cheats I promised!
Ctrl+x while in inventory: 1000 denars (dollars, gold, whatever)
Ctrl+x while character or soldier selected: +1000 exp
Ctrl+t while in world map: Can see all armies and garrisons in cities/castles.
Ctrl+F4 while in battle: Randomly kills (or severely damages) 1 enemy.
Ctrl+H while in battle: Heals yourself (but not mount or army)
Ctrl+F3 while in battle: SUICIDE!

Still too short. Much like the last review, you're just not including enough information. I came out of this review with so many unanswered questions, and the only thing I got from this is that there's a demo out.

Note, that as a reviewer, you have to understand the experience from both a universal and personal level. By admitting to using cheats through your only run-through of the game, or only experiencing a fifth of the game's available army options, you're simply cutting down on the ways you can inform us (the readers) about the goings-on in the game.

You're scratching the surface here. You've started on the road to richer detailing and pulled away from Yahtzee-influences, but you still haven't gotten the depth part down yet. Honestly, keep reading more professional reviews and learning the tricks. Depth and detail are some of the core components of a good review.

Also, you're missing part of the point. A review should entice the reader on writing-style and want to be read without having to bribe the reader with incentive to read other than the writing and information itself.

I'd have to say keep practicing, but don't forget the a fuller understanding of the game and more detail helps the reader trust your opinions. Especially where reviews are concerned.

 

[Doug]

Certainly looks like an interesting game and I'll have to give it a shot soon. Paradox Interactive are abit hit and miss with their games, but they have been associated with Stardock and Galactica Civ's 2, so I'm willing to give'm a try.

 

[dirte]

I'm all about the DnD style games. i have never hear of this 1, i will have to give it a try. thx for the review.

 

[quack35]

I had a lot of fun with the demo, I think I'll try this one.

 

[Deadman Walkin]

A friend showed it to me and WOW. I LOVE that game, and for a type of game I don't usually enjoy they pulled this off amazingly.

 

[Deadman Walkin]

Ctrl+F4 while in battle: Randomly kills (or severely damages) 1 enemy.

Ctrl+F4? Isn't it Ctrl+Shift+F4? It is MUCH more effective and hits all enemies. I found the game fun without cheats. Until of course, that special surprise came on day 75. Thats when I HAD to use Ctrl+Shift+F4 if I wanted to survive.