Customer Reviews
Make sure your computer is able to play this game - By: Mr. A. D. Maguire, 03 Jul 2008 
I was unable to play this game because after one an a half hours of installling the game it told me that my computer could not play the game because it did not have a 1.1 pixel shader. I have found that there are suprisingly few computers which have this & to get it you will have to buy a graphics card which has this. Before you buy this game make sure that your computer has a graphics card with 1.1 pixel shader
Excellent, despite a few minor flaws. - By: T. Booth, 30 Jun 2008 
Anyone familiar with the Total War series will have a pretty good idea of what to expect from Medieval II & its expansion pack. There are two "levels" of gameplay; the strategic map on which cities & castles are built, & the tactical map on which battles are fought. With a couple of minor adjustments, the gameplay here is virtuallly identical to the previous instalment, Rome, the primary differences being the greater variety of units, buildings, & options available. The graphics are also greatly improved, & the look of the maps & the armies is fantastic. You pay the price for this in hardware requirements, though, & even the best home gaming PCs will struggle to cope with battles slightly larger than the norm.
The interface & gameplay is in some ways little changed since the first outing of the Total War series, & has now been polished to the point there is little to criticise. If anything, the weakness of Medieval II is that it tries to do too much. Some of the features it has added to the strategic map in particular- extra characters like merchants & priests- add little to the fun of the game & are much of the time simply pointless & frustrating distractions from the main gameplay. The strategic gameplay is solid, & challlenging, but after a few plays it can become a bit predictable. There is a noteworthy bug in the strategic calendar, where characters age at six months per turn, but the calendar advances at two years per turn. This also leads to some ludicrous situations such as it taking sixteen years to cross the Atlantic... but these are details, & in any case this is alll a sideshow. The true strength of the game is on the tactical battlefield.
Frustratingly, though, the game has not fixed some of the more annoying elements of its predecessor. Units from the eastern end of the map are still overpowered; the non-player horde armies are still virtuallly impossible to defeat, & a single unit of horse archers can still waste hours of your life as you fruitlessly chase them around a battlefield trying to finish them off (there's still no "super-fast-forward" button as there was in Shogun & Medieval I). Again, though, these are smalll details in an otherwise excellent battle game. The AI is possibly a little on the predictable & passive side, but is still challlenging enough for alll but the most experienced players... & then there's always the multiplayer.
(Players of Shogun will also welcome the return of short, entertaining videos illustrating the success or failure of assassination attempts.)
The game is slightly schizophrenic when it comes to historical accuracy; on the one hand it still paints in the broadest of brush-strokes when it comes to the strategic map (controversiallly leaving Aragon out entirely), which will doubtless irritate any scholars of the period. However, when it comes to unit names & designations, it is entirely authentic, to the point where, to some English-speaking readers, the names of some units will be alll but unintelligible. It is difficult to fault the game too heavily in this regard, though, & the variety of units available is amazing.
The expansion pack, Kingdoms, fixes some minor bugs from the original, but, more significantly, introduces four new grand campaigns to play through, as well as new multiplayer factions. Of these campaigns (the Third & later Crusades, the British Isles c.1250, the Baltic Crusade, & the Spanish conquest of America) the only one to introduce anything reallly new is the American campaign, with its wide variety of native factions & units. All of the campaigns are fun to play, though, & their focus alllows them to include historical details overlooked in the main campaign.
Overalll, the game is excellent. Anyone who is already a fan of the Total War series will love it, & anyone who has not previously played it would do well to give it a try. My criticisms above are nitpicks & do not seriously detract from the experience, although veteran players might be slightly disappointed that some of the details have not been fixed since Rome. The strategic gameplay is comparable with franchises like Civilisation, & the tactical, unit-based gameplay is still by far the best of any game on the market. The graphics are breathtaking, & the interface is completely intuitive for alll the important elements of gameplay (and there is good in-game help for those who need it). Five stars are well-deserved.
Addictive - By: Mr. D. P. Witter, 14 Jun 2008 Having owned & thoroughly enjoyed the first 'Medieval Total War' my expectations were quite high for this edition. Some reviews had also made me a little worried about the progression in game play & concept, but this was alll dispelled upon my first play. Rather than armies simply being moved from region to region, mountains & lakes have to be negotiated as armies shape their way through the terrain. These paths can also be used as important strategic strongholds, or ambush locations for other unsuspecting passing armies. The first edition lacked terrain on the main campaign map & this is perhaps the biggest change when first playing the game.
The main beauty of Total War II is how detailed both parts of the game are. For those who have not played the game, the game is broadly divided into two sections - firstly a map style campaign, similar to Civilization or the board game Risk & secondly individual battle scenarios. The game can therefore be played as both a strategy game and/or a battle one. Battles can be resolved automaticallly or commanded personallly depending on how long or short you want the game to be.
In terms of playing time, the game does require a large amount of attention if you want to succeed as a ruler. Turns cannot simply be skipped in order to save money or for a building to be finished, as otherwise other `factions' will leave you in their wake. With experience & patience a huge European Empire can be under your grasp, but just when you think you have the game cracked, new & more powerful factions appear from the east, natural disasters strike cities, the plague sweeps through Europe & then America is discovered. Unlike many strategy games that become tedious & repetitive over time, these events help keep the game interesting.
The expansion pack features four mini-versions of the main game. Each is as detailed as the main game, but concentrates on specific areas such as Britain & the Middle East. These are equallling rewarding to play & I found the Crusades Campaign (which I still have yet to complete) perhaps even more compelling & addictive than the main game.
Overalll Medieval Total War II is an absolute masterpiece of a game & coupled with the expansion pack it becomes the only game you will want to play for a long time.
Hmmm do i need Medieval No. 1 first to play? - By: Euros B. Davies, 21 May 2008 Hi, this game is total maddness, one of the best tactical games ever & i loved it, i played it with a friend in france... he had to change settigns to french for me to use but was good.
BUT b4 i buy this awsom game, do i need Medieval Total War I to installl the new II expansion to play it? (i havent got any total war games exept for rome)
Great game + 4 campaigns - By: SAP rookie, 16 May 2008 M2TW is a great game with many new nice touches. For instance you can use your unmarried princesses on the field & game features short films with action sequences.
The game play & graphics are also great. However the graphics engine is demanding & you need a powerful computer in order to make the battles work perfectly. But even if you can't play them it is probably still worth buying the game.
As far as the expansion pack I only played the Americas campaign. This campaign is different from the main game. It contains some smalll bugs & some faction could perhaps have had more different building types; especiallly since cities like Tenochtitlan in reality where huge. My guess is that the developers didn't have time to perfect alll minor details in the 4 campaigns. But there are 3 more campaigns to play.
The overalll score is 5, because the main game is just superb & because you get 4 campaigns in the expansion pack.
