Game review #1

Alrighty folks, I said when I started this blog that I would occasionally review games.
I'm not going to review anything mainstream, or something that's been on the news and game review shows. Why bother stating the same thing.

There shall be no star ratings from me. Just my honest opinion on what I like about the game, and maybe things I dislike.

What I will do is review some of the smaller company games, you know the type, games that less than 10 people worked on from start to finish.

Today's review shall be about... dum dum dum... Mount & Blade

Mount & Blade? You ask, what is Mount & Blade.

Well fellow readers, let me take you into the world of Mount & Blade.

Let's start off with who made it: Tale Worlds. Never heard of them either? They're a smaller independent company from Turkey. Last I heard, only 2 people are working on this game.... that's right, you heard me 2!

For a small casual game, I could understand only 2 people working on it. But this isn't your small casual game. This game is massive, and very very open ended.

Oh I know, some people will complain and argue that games like GTA and even Oblivion are open ended. This is a different type of open endedness... first off. Unless both GTA and Oblivion. You don't explore the world from a 1st or 3rd person perspective.

World travel is done on a map, and you can see armies marching around as you travel.
Enter a Castle, Town or Village, and you'll be brought to a 3rd or 1st person perspective. Get into a fight with another army, or even with a group of one of the many various types of bandits and this is where I find the fun starts.

Each battle is unique. You can say this for almost every game, but with Mount & Blade is different. First off, the landscape that you'll be fighting on is going to be randomly generated. That's right, no two battles will ever be the same because the land is constantly different.

Second, the battles can become massive! 200+ soldiers per side can be in one battle. Sure, they've put a limiter to how many can be on the field at once. But that just means you'll have reinforcements joining you as you lose men, and the same for them.

Third, and my favorite part... cavalry!
When is the last time you've played a game, in 3D where you actually had a cavalry group at your command? I love these guys. Obviously cavalry moves much faster than your foot soldiers, and with Mount & Blade, you can control each type of unit separately.

I personally love having a horse for my own character, armed with a lance and a sword/shield combo, I plow through opposing armies.

Yes, you heard me correctly... a Lance! Ever watched a TV show or a movie depicting knights using a lance? Same thing... get your horse up to speed, watch your character lower to lance and plow into someone... if the hit strikes, and the enemy isn't blocking, he's pretty well dead.

This works against every type of guy. But, each hit will slow you a little, causing you to raise up the lance and have to pick up speed, making you vulnerable to a quick attack from a close enemy.

So... the idea's you can make in this game are endless. You can hold everyone back, wait for the enemy to come close, and unleash everyone at once. Or send out a specific type... say, your cavalry to soften the enemy a little, then launch your archers, and finally for the kill, send the footmen in. Sometimes I mix it up just to see what happens. It's usually easy to get new men back in your army.

Speaking of your army... they can be upgraded! You're not the only character with experience gained from fighting. Even your lowliest footman can become a veteran spear fighter.... if he lives long enough at least. :)

So what's the purpose of the game? Well there's many. You can try to just survive... don't align yourself with any of the nations and see how long you last. You can be a robber, and attack trade caravans. Heck, be a trade caravan, making gold buying and trading between villages. The possibilities are whatever you can think of.

But the main primary purpose that Tale Worlds has made Mount & Blade, to recreate medieval combat as best as they can, and personally I feel that they've got it really close.

Even then... why stick with just Medieval combat. Mount & Blade is a moddable system, everything from nuclear wastelands, to Chinese history can and probably has been made for it.

Now, there are a few downsides to Mount & Blade.

First off, it's still in Beta, the final version is shortly coming out, but you can always play the Beta, it's freely available as a level limited version. And Tale Worlds is selling registration for full version at a lower cost than the final will be. Your registration from the Beta will work with the Final. But keep in mind, if you play it now, it's still a Beta edition, there will be little bugs and glitches. Sometimes... funny glitches. Read the Tale Worlds forum and you'll find some fun physics glitches that have happened.

Secondly, bugs... it's beta, expect some bugs, expect some bad values in say... moral deterioration of your army. These values are constantly being tweaked... I've been playing Mount & Blade for a few years now, and I've seen lots of changes and improvements thanks to everyone who has played the game and posted suggestions and comments on the forums.

Third, I found the learning curve to be moderately steep, the controls for attack take a bit of getting used to, but it's not horrible, just awkward when you first start playing, now that I've been playing a while, it feel intuitive. Just wait until you get into a one on one fight with the opposing army's officer and get into a sparring fight, as each of you swing and block, parrying each other trying to find an opening to land that final blow.

So, my verdict? Try this game out! Especially if you're a medieval buff like I am. Trust me, give it some time, learn the controls and I hope you'll come to love this game as much as I do.