Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as they say!
Review: Personally I think they did a better job on the first one(Shogun: Total War). Medieval: Total War gets very boring after a few days of playing it. You can't win. Anytime you get about half of the provences the factions start coming back. This is so unreal. When did the heir of a kingdom come back, start an uprising, and with far more supior troops. I was disappointed. All the promo's got me to get the game as soon as possible. It wasn't worth the forty dollars plus tax I payed for it. There is however some high points to this game. The graphics are great. I also love the wide variety of different troops and ships. The subterfuge is great too. What good is it to marry off your daughter to a kingdom to ensure an alliance if you have to fight them eventually anyway though. Shogun is a far better game!
Rating: 
Summary: Good battle engine, limited playability
Review: First off, the real-time battle aspect of MTW is the best of its genre yet and it's worth buying for that reason alone. But don't be fooled by the claim on the box that battles can "feature over 10,000 warriors". The max number of men you can field in battle at any given time is actually around 950 (which means about 10 possible different unit types), and all other units are introduced to the battle one at a time thereafter as reinforcements, only after one of the original units is eliminated completely or retreats. As far as I can tell, it's also impossible to choose what order reinforcement units arrive in, complicating battle strategy somewhat.
One major drawback to game depth is that play is limited to 3 unconnected campaigns, each lasting a set number of turns, and game play ends when that number is reached. This seriously limits the amount of development that can be achieved with your empire, as well as the ability to choose a more casual system of development for the less-aggressive player--if you're not aggressive, you'll lose. Diplomacy is a rather trivial matter too, since ally nations are just as likely to attack you without warning as anyone else, making alliances almost pointless.
Also, the re-playability of MTW is seriously reduced by the fact that there are no in-depth editors available to customize games. A map editor allows the creation of battle maps for multi-player games, but all campaigns are set on a fixed map of medieval Europe that cannot be changed. Unfortunately, there is also no editor (as in Warcraft) for customizing the attributes of units and technologies, or for creating your own units or factions.
Probably the most frustrating aspect of play, however, is that technology developments and unit production are based on a fixed number of turns which cannot be changed. You can be the most powerful, widespread empire on the planet, with millions in the bank, a HUGE annual income, and it will still take you 4 years to build a tavern, no matter what. You're limited to building one tech at a time per province, and the set time required to build successive technologies is also so great that it's extremely difficult to complete all possible advances before the campaign ends, making the use of the most sophisticated technologies and units very limited.
That said, MTW is one of the best real-time battle games, and probably well worth the money for fans of the genre. Hopefully, future expansion packs will solve its shortcomings and expand play measurably to place it among the ranks of Civilization and Age of Empires.
Rating: 
Summary: Camera Management is the design center
Review: I bought Medieval and played Shogun's demo, and got the same strong impression: the game is too reliant on control of the camera as the action is too fast to both get the right perspective and issue orders. I played 4 scenarios and uninstalled it as I wanted to think about command troops in the field, not fly some camera about a battle.While there is clearly some value here that is not found elsewhere (I'm sure you'll find it in the positive reviews), I found better choices for the thrill of real time grand tactical sim in the Myth series (particularly The Fallen Lords... fewer units used to accomplish the same depth of tactical richness, combined with better camera interface) and in Sid Meier's Gettysburg! and SM's Antietam! Have fun whichever you choose. tone
Rating: 
Summary: Viking Invasion...the Expansion Worth Buying
Review: This expansion is awesome. As soon as I could buy it, I did, and I am absolutely thrilled and glad that I bought it. This expansion adds new units to the regular Medieval: Total War game and adds special attacks and units for the Viking Invasion part of the game as well. Flaming arrows and artillery for Viking Invasion as well as boiling oil for the defending army during a seige. The historical aspects are dead-on.
If you don't want to buy this expansion, then you better wait for Rome: Total War, which will blow all other strategy games out of the water.
Go out and buy this expansion now. You know Shogun and Medieval were great, and this expansion is no less than great.
Rating:
Summary: Total War Viking Invasion Exp Pack
Review: Personally I like the changes. It has improved upon what was already my favorite strategy/war game. The addition of a better pre-battle interface is nice, you can actually organize your forces better. I also like the additional unit types, helps add color and depth to the game. So far the Viking period has been a blast and the AI of the enemy generals is much improved over the the last game. They are crafty and the high level generals are definitely a challenge. Overall I can't wait for the next installment of Rome Total War. Drooling just thinking about it.
Rating:
Summary: strategy to the max
Review: Medieval: Total War is a perfect game for anyone who loves strategy and careful planing. This game is very detailed and requires you to have carful planing and rule your kingdom well. Stunning graphics and music are only a couple of the qualities this game posseses. Most people think that this game is composed of lots of battles and commanding armies. But really the battlefield is just a little bit of the game. Most of the game is managing your kingdom and carfully planing how you are going to overcome your neighboring kingdom. I loved this game because I love strategy games with carful planing. Only people who are willing to spend time peparing armies and governing provences should get this game.
Rating:
Summary: Warning, Your computer has to be specially configured!
Review: I got a 'Sony VAIO PCG-GRV670 Notebook',Intel P4 2.6GHz Processor w/400MHz,1024MB DDR RAM Memory,40GB Harddrive,ATI Radeon 9000(64MB of dedicated video memory),got big surprise when I loaded 'Medieval:Total War',it crashed after two minutes. Took 'laptop' back to store, technician downgraded 'laptop' to '512MB DDR RAM Memory',guess what? 'Medieval:Total War' plays smoothly,no freeze-ups,no more crashing. If you have '256MB DDR RAM Memory' or lower,'Medieval' will crash,if your 'laptop' or 'desktop' is at '1024MB DDR RAM Memory' or higher,it will also again crash. What I have learned is this game can't take that much memory,its just to much! If your 'laptop' or 'desktop' is crashing with '1024MB DDR RAM Memory'(1Gig) or higher memory,I highly recommend you downgrade and set your computer at '512MB DDR RAM Memory',you'll notice it plays smoother,I was in turn shocked by the change in performance. Also remember to get 'ATI Mobility Radeon 9000'(64MB of dedicated video memory),great graphics card,it also helps,ready for 'Rome: Total War',yaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Bigger, better, and sillier!
Review: Like most reviewers here, I was a huge "Shogun: Total War" fan and thus was looking forward to Medieval: Total War. However, my first playings of MTW left me feeling a little disappointed. It looked great and I've never had any technical problems with it, but some of the same design flaws that took some of the luster off STW remain. The strategic part of the game, although not as shallow as "Risk," was obviously a secondary consideration to the game's wonderful 3-D tactical battles. MTW added more "gloss" to the strategy part with inquisitors, cardinals, and princesses, but these just add more micromanagement and I've won easily without using them. Diplomacy is just as weak as it was in STW- the AI seems to accept/break treaties at random. It just doesn't seem to calculate any sort of historical/religious, threat level, or total strength factors in making diplomatic decisions. Thus a one province AI faction will attack a weakly held province of a massive empire! However, the biggest failing of the strategy game is the new trade system which is nothing more than a HUGE player cheat. For some reason the AI was never programmed to use MTW's rather awkward trading system, but it's very available to the player and trade is a VERY lucrative. Therefore the player has access to literally tons of money and the AI just can't compete. I generally quit most of my MTW games before completion because the endgame gets so dull- my provinces all have fortresses or citadels churning out high level units with all the tech improvements while the AI is countering me with hillforts and low level units. (On a side note: I've never had a problem with the revolts that other MTW gamers complain about. Revolts are easily avoidable if you know what you're doing- build "happiness" buildings, keep a strong military presence, lower the taxes, and use strategic units such as spies and religious figures to keep the loyalty above 100%. Voila, no revolts.) The tactical battles are still the showcase of the Total War series with their 3-D battlefields, morale levels, bonuses for flank/rear attacks ect. No other RTS game really is able to show how a heavily outnumbered army could defeat a larger opponent like the Total War series. The battlefields of MTW are bigger than STW and thus allow more room for maneuver. Also the tactical AI has been slightly improved from STW, but an experienced player will usually still beat it. MTW also tried to beef up the castle siege part of the game, but it's just gloss and most players will rarely bother with it after awhile. My initial disappointment with MTW eventually wore off and I do appreciate the game's depth: campaign games, historical battles/campaigns, and quick battle modes. There's alot of replayability. Yes, the strategy element is not as strong as it could be and the trade system cheat is ridiculous, but it's still a fun game and the tactical battles are still fantastic. However, one final criticism is the silliness of the campaign game. The sight of Egyptians conquering Finland or the Poles in Portugal make the history geek part of me roll my eyes. Where STW allowed the player to unify Japan within a realistic timeframe, MTW has the player conquering the world with medieval armies. It took France over a 100 yrs to expel England from its soil, but the MTW player can accomplish the same feat in less than five and then go on to conquer England. It's just silly!
Rating:
Summary: The game that never gets old and tired
Review: The sheer depth and breadth of this game simply blows all other games away. It seamlessly combines both real-time strategy with empire building, and the nuances of the game means that you will learn something new almost every time you play it. If you like to become engrossed in your gaming then this is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Dont Buy this Garbage
Review: You've spent hours building a massive army...
You've finally forced the A.I. into a descisive battle... Your calavry is set to out flank the enemy Archers...
Your spearmen are set to take the charge of the enemy horsemen..
Your bowmen have taken the high ground, ready to rain death on your foe...
Crash..... This game is RIDDLED with random crashes. Go to fight a battle..crash..go to save a game..crash..go to load a game..crash.. Even after patching it, it crashes more often then the stock market. Dont buy it. It makes me a little unsure of buying Medevial total war if they left this product so under supported.
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