Rating: 
Summary: Just an awesome game
Review: When I bought this game I didn't know what to expect, I never played Shogun so this was a new experience. I was half expecting Europa Universalis 1 or 2 with a cross of Braveheart.... what I got was a unique game that is fun to play, offers a challenge unto itself and is rather simple to play. The graphics are alright, I think they could have spruced up the battlefields a little more, made the characters look better and all but that is made up for in the fact that the controls are easy but the system is indepth.I'm not going to say that there is nothing wrong with the game, it needs a patch out.... it seems to crash a bit, but the autosave feature helps out with that..... and the pope seems only to excommunicate my country, even if I am attacking to retaliate and save a region of mine from a seige, but my trusty assassin takes care of that for me. All in all, a great game..... maybe not for kids though.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, yet frustrating to say the least....
Review: Make no mistake, this is a great game in every sense of the word. Being a huge fan of Shogun Total War, this was the only strategy game I really wanted and I'm mostly pleased. The graphics look really good, although the map screen can be rather crowded or look too "busy". The sound is ok, voices take a back seat and music wise it's rather sparse. The front-end presentation is brief and kinda weak. As for the gameplay, it really does expand greatly on Shogun's features. More varied units to train/build, more playable factions, more complex castle seiges, more espionage intrigue, stronger alliances; in other words, lots more options and features. However, it is far from perfect and there are some things that bother me about the game which is why I give it only 4 stars. Some things I've noticed since playing it:
* I usually play the European/Catholic factions, and I noticed that if you don't keep an eye out for Egypt, they can be like this games version of the Hojo Clan(Shogun fans know what I'm refferring to)
* I played it on easy and expert. The only noticeable difference is the amount of money you get at the beginning, while the manual stresses that the difficulty level affects the loyalty of conquered provinces.
* This brings me to my biggest gripe, even on the easy level it was EXTREMELY difficult to retain consistent loyalty from conquered provinces. I understand Muslim territories won't accept Catholic rulers, but considering I had these provinces for decades, had about 1,300 men garrisons guarding them, and took into account tax rates, natural disasters, and deaths of my ruler(which can all affect loyalty) I still had trouble maintaining loyalty in certain provinces.
* This brings me to another sore point. To maintain large garrisons in rebellious provinces takes up a lot of your money(florins). You can find yourself running out of florins right before your total conquest, if you even get that far.
* Which brings me to another sore spot. This game ends no matter what at 1453. So if you choose to win through domination(take at least 2/3 of the provinces) or glorious achievements(have the highest score over other factions by accomplishing certain tasks), you better do it fast cause the game gives you only a certain amount of time to accomplish it(1 turn counts as a year, whereas in Shogun, 1 turn was a season which gave you 4 turns a year basically).
* There seems to be some bugs in the game. There's a recurring situation where, in the same turn, I had a Muslim province at 100+ loyalty, which is good. I went to check on other provinces, then came back to that same province(in the same turn) and noticed it went down below 100 loyalty(which makes it a prime candidate for rebellion). It's that inconsistency I'm talking about that make it frustrating and annoying sometimes. For those who like total manual control rather than letting the pc take over for you, this can be a real headache.
* Calling up a Crusade or Jihad is really entertaining, and you have to be careful when and who you call it against. This new option is arguably my favorite of the game(however, I do recall being attacked once by the French, then I attacked back...yet the Pope ex-communicated me for aggression towards fellow Christians! The Pope tends to be over-protective of the Frenchies so be careful).
* There are some great units in here, but some of the best can be too costly to train and pay for year in and year out. Couple that with having to maintain large garrisons, and i find myself settling for cheap spearmen or feudal seargents instead of the cool but costly royal knight types.
* I've beaten the game on easy(one by total domination with Spain, one by 'lesser victory' or 2/3 domination with England, and one by edging out all the other factions through glorious achievements with the Italians). You get personalized endings depending on your faction, but it's just a static screen with a voice-over, hardly exciting. I'm thinking it's because I chose the easy level so I'm currently attempting total domination with Turkey on the expert level. Anyway, that's just a few things I've come across while playing this game. I have yet to try any new cheat codes(although .matteosartori. for full map view works in this game too), multiplayer on-line, and have yet to use the auto-tax/train options; but nevertheless I feel this game is a worthy successor to Shogun, a must try/buy, and comes highly recommended for fans of real-time/turn-based strategy fun, despite any potential frustration and in-game bugs you'll most likely run into.
Rating: 
Summary: It does not run
Review: I enormously enjoyed Shogun. Unluckily Medieval does not run (i.e. I cannot start a campaign). Furthermore Activision support told me that they are never going to support my PC (a Dell Latitude with 256 Mbyte of RAM). An advice: don't buy it if you are not sure that Activision supports your PC
Rating:
Summary: What You Want
Review: Don't walk or even run to buy this game - sprint. I really have an aversion to throwing a casual 5 stars at a game, but this one commands the highest rating. For six years I have scoured the turn-based and RT strategy world, having played most of the popular standards (e.g. Shogun,Shogun:Warlord Edition,AOE, AOK,Civ 2&3), and have not found a more synthesized, well-designed, and most importantly, fun game. Why am I so stark-raving excited about this game? A short list: 1. Incredible detail and depth - dozens of military types and units, options for nation-building, trade, diplomacy, sabotage, seige, etc.
2. Excellent, adaptive AI. What we want....
3. Vibrant graphics - landscapes, buildings, tips/tools screens.
4. No sloppiness or cut corners: impeccable clarity of story, instruction and playability.
5. Detailed and accurate depiction of religious, cultural and societal distinctions (Muslim, Christian, Orthodox, European, Arabic, etc.). But the most important strength: That undefinable, undeniable feeling of immersion that only the best games create. IOW, MTW takes you there - Medieval Europe. You feel the heat of the Algerian sun on your bronze Spanish helmet as you brace, spear in hand, as the Mamuluk camel warriors descend upon your unsuspecting platoon from out of the dusty desert hills. You hear and feel the tremble and terror of 180 fierce horse warriors outflank your archers. MTW taps into the reason most of us play these old world war games: It brings that sense of complete escape and excitement that makes the price of the game a sound investment. Medieval: Total War is a worthy follow-up to its predecessors, Shogun: Total War and Shogun: Warlord Edition (both of which I played and enjoyed for months). The next generation truly is better looking and more talented in this family tree.
Rating:
Summary: Once You Get Past The Problems, It's Awsome!
Review: After messing with direct 3d settings, and the help of a user forum I was able to make this program run the way it is supposed too. At higher resolutions the game is visually stunning and the sound is excellant. GET IT!
Rating:
Summary: If its performance you want, this isn't it!!!
Review: The demo played great on my system, so without much thought I bought the game. Big mistake, I am unable to play much of the game due to lack of playability because of poor performance. I meet all of the sytem requirements by leaps and bounds, but because of poor support from Activision and depths of the problems the game came shipped with I would wait before you buy. I am hoping this is merely a WIndows XP issue with the game engine and a patch will fix it, so hopefully Activision can get on the ball and get it done. I should have bought Battlefield 1942.
Rating: 
Summary: Update of review, still cannot recommend!
Review: I have added a second star to the rating because the the patch corrected the technical problems. Once I could play the game, I found it tedious. The battles are spectacular and feel right. The morale factors go a long way, but, the problems with the campaign eventually destroy this aspect unless you only play the battles. You oppose super kings and super rebels, but your rulers and generals are nearly always flawed. By placing the player above the king rather than as the king detracts from the campaign. In the battles, you, essentially, are the highest military leader on your side. In the campaign, well, you are like the ruling family's personal god. Then, of course, there are the over-powered Muslims and over-powered rebels and all the other nasty bits that detract from the game. The ongoing support for the game is pathetic. One patch! That is all for a game with as many flaws as this has. The concept of conquering all, or even 2/3's, of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East shows game designers who fell in love with their system but ignored history. With all of the effort put into this game by the designers, stupid errors liike this detract. I love the subject matter. The game does not crash, but this game is still too tedious to play considering the scope and the gross inaccuracies as detailed here and in my previous review. The most historically accurate game I have played for Medieval conquest and warfare is the original Lords of the Realm. The game had a reasonable scope; conquest of England during the period of the Baron's revolt in the 13th Century right before Edward I came to the throne. It was crude, but hit the right note. I cannot tell you how many enjoyable hours I spent in that game. Now, if Creative Assembly were to tweak M:TW with a mini-campaign system, say, covering a ruler's lifetime, with reasonable victory conditions, I might come back to the game. I expect that any further patches to the game will cost you the $.. to $.. to buy the expansion. I am still waiting for THE Medieval game to surpass the original Lords of the Realm. That franchise has faltered since the first. I do not hold out any hope for LOTR 3 based on LOTR 2 although that game was more enjoyable and closer to historical accuracy than M:TW.
Rating:
Summary: 'Instruction booklet included'
Review: Yes,'Warlord Edition' has a guide on how to move your Samurai,march and "run"(CTRL+R),"set facing/move with fixed facing"(ALT+Click),and "all units"(CTRL+A). If you bought the 'Shogun: Total War',you didn't get the instruction booklet. The instruction booklet is so important to understand how to operate the game,and in this 'Warlord Edition' the booklet is included. It will help you to understand how to operate your samurai in 'Shogun: Total War',and understand how to use your thrown room. Again for this 'Warlord Edition' you have to enter a 22-digit serial number,press 'Install',let boot-up (Install) to 100 %,and then press 'next' like 8 times. This 'Shogun' is like the first 'Shogun',only as lord Hojo you get 'crossbow men',and the Monguls have 'Thunder-Bombers',a really cool game! I also suggest that if you like this kind of war gaming,and your looking at 'Medieval:Total War',that you first buy the 'Official Strategy Guide' while it's still available,next year it probably will be 'out of print'. happy gaming!
Rating:
Summary: Can't run the game
Review: I have problem running the game, I ran tutorial fine, once I click the Start Game button I got kicked out to the desk top. I run a late model Dell with Window XP, other games I ran like Civ3, Shogun War etc had no problem.
Rating:
Summary: All I Can Say Is FUN!...
Review: Medieval:Total War is one of the funnest, most addictive games I've ever played. This game plays more to the mind than just going around and fighting battles. You have to strategicly place your armies in your states, and ally with the right countries to get anywhere in this game, and that's what I like. The Turn based system is excellent in this game;while giving you the freedom to move and build in a turn (year, in the game), it also is almost like real time in that after your turn ends you can see exactly where the other countries have moved their pieces (but, only in your "zone of influence", aka where you have spies/emissaries). The diplomatic system is excellent with emissaries and princesses that you can use to get alliances or marry off to forge alliances in blood. The real time battle sequences are stunning with excellent graphics (the people look a little corny though!), in real life environments. Up to 10,000 troops of all kinds of ranks can be on the battle field at one time, with the option of calling in reinforcements. All I can say is, BUY THIS GAME,ITS FUN!...
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