I noticed this was up for sale on Steam last weekend for the the price of £8. I decided to give it a shot and buy it, mainly because of the fact that I love RPG's if done correctly. Whilst Mount & Blade: Warband isn't the most polished game in existence, it sure as hell has enjoyable gameplay mechanics.
BUT IT'S BLOODY HARD!
Okay, so the game is set in Medieval times, so just like in the real world during that era you get swords, axes, bows etc. The combat, I think, is mainly focused on fighting whilst riding a horse. Battles mainly take place in large fields where two or more teams battle it out. It's effectively Team Deathmatch most of the time, but there is a "Siege" game mode type where you either have to attack/defend a fortress. There's a morale system which is pretty cool. I don't know what happens when your team has high morale, but apparently team members run away if it gets too low. You can even capture and sell off prisoners (and become one yourself). You can explore various towns, hideouts and castles, but there's no actual riding through fields yourself. You use a map and click where you want to go.
The story is awful, though that may be because there is no story. You are free to do whatever the hell you please. I haven't got far within the game to give you an accurate list of what you can do, but from what I've gathered you can build up an army, take over towns/cities/castles, have your own kingdom, and have wife's/husbands etc.
Graphically the game is not very good. Most of my characters have come out looking like
Keanu Reeve [comicbookmovie.com]s and most of the battlefields are just bland. There are some nice areas, but no eye-candy like the landscapes in Oblivion.
I felt this game needed more explanation than I would usually give as it's actually quite unique. My only problems with it so far is the difficulty (it's really hard, even with settings turned down), the controls (combat feels a bit clunky and awkward), the graphics (I'm hoping a mod will be released to update them), the voice acting (or lack of. There isn't any. It's all text), and the in-game functions (there's no "Load saves" button in the pause screen. You can't transfer all items to your inventory in one click like in my RPG's).
If you can find it cheap and are willing to ignore the flaws, then it's certainly a game worth getting. It's worth £10 at 'least.
More information can be found
here [store.steampowered.com].
Today's Toppers
Mount & Blade: Warband
