Rating: 
Summary: Buying a second laptop for 'total War' game series.
Review: I bought one 'laptop' for the 'Total War' game series,loaded both 'Shogun: Total War' game series,and 'Medieval'. With a 40GB harddrive,you only get something like 13.9GB total capacity and 4.22GB free space. These games eat alot of space on your harddrive,so I bought something you can tuck away for a long period of time,and will not take to much storage space in the closet. I'm thinking about buying a second 'laptop' for the 'Rome: Total War' game series. The thing here is to never use the laptop for the 'internet',the 'antivirus software' always messes up your system over time,because it always leaves traces of it self after you 'uninstall' the software. That also goes for 'gaming software' as well. What's the point in 'uninstalling' a game if it is permanently installed in your 'harddrive'. Same thing with an 'antivirus software',one year is 365 days,meaning you have 365 copies of that 'antivirus software' imprinted on your harddrive,and if you choose another 'antivirus software',you will be creating another 365 copies conflicting with the former 'antivirus software' that's imprinted on your harddrive. That's why people have so much trouble 'installing' new antivirus's. Every day that goes by,you create another copy of what ever you installed on your harddrive. Also remember,the new 'ATI Mobility Radeon 9600'(128MB w/DirectX 9.0) for the 'notebook' comes out next fall,heard it's expected to put notebooks almost on a par with desktops for the first time as serious gaming machines,next year.
Rating: 
Summary: Lethalities
Review: I finally managed to get this game to work on my computer, and I am fairly pleased with it.I do have some doubts about realism based on the following battle that I ran: My side consisted of 16 English longbowmen units. The computer side consisted of 16 peasant units. I was the attacker. I advanced within archery range and let fly. Ultimately, my doughty warriors slew 1100 peasants and put the remainder to flight. I lost one man in the process. Yet to rack up this lopsided victory, my longbowmen had to fire perhaps 20 or more times (about 20,000 arrows). I'm not an expert on medieval warfare, but I would be surprised to think that only one arrow in twenty would hit a group of lightly armed men standing in close formation. I somehow think that the strike rate would have been higher. Anyway, I'm left wondering if the game designers watered down the lethality of what's been described as the "machine-gun" of the Middle Ages for some reason or another. I'm left concluding that because of my experiment above and because it seems just about impossible to replicate the battles of Crecy and Agincourt (massacres of French knights by English longbowmen). Oh, well.
Rating:
Summary: Hardcore strategy
Review: Opinions may vary. I am a strategy player since 1992 and this is the most detailed strategy game I have ever played. Basically the game looks like Risk; the table game you play with small symbolic troopers on a world map. But in this game you will have the chance to construct buildings in your provinces and as you build better buildings you will get better troops. The real excitement starts when you attack somewhere. When you choose to command the battle personally, the battle screen opens in which you will experience the most realistic battles ever created. It is as detailed as real battles -Your army routs if they see the general running, dead or captured -Your army routs if they are demoralized like when the enemy occupies a hill or attacks from flanks -Cavalry cant fight in the woods as it does in the open, giving it -2 attack and defence in forest. -Heavily armored units fry and get exhausted in the desert. -Archers cant fire well in the rain. So if your army is attacking and the defender has too many archers, you may choose to attack when it is raining. -Friendly fire is very realistic; you will have to stop archer salvos once your melee units engage enemy -You have the option of capturing enemy troopers and if you seem to lose, you can kill em. -While you are battling with a different religion, both you and them gain bonuses. -I have been playing the game for a year now and still I use different tactics in each battle. There is no such thing as repeating tactics. You have to recreate your moves. Bottom line: It is much more realistic than all strategy games combined. BUT!! PEOPLE WHO ARE USED TO PLAY QUICK STRATEGIES LIKE STARCRAFT OR AGE OF EMPIRES (IN WHICH BATTLES END IN 3 SECONDS) WONT LIKE THIS GAME AND WILL BE BORED. BECAUSE IN THE BATTLE YOU WILL PREPARE YOUR OFFENSE/DEFENSE FOR QUITE A LONG TIME. FOR EXAMPLE IT TAKES TWO MINUTES FLAT TO REACH ENEMY POSITONS. As for the "Risk-type" game screen: -Your generals have 5 characteristics:
Loyalty:How loyal is a general to you
Dread:How much fear does he cause (handy if you entitle him as the governor of a rebelious province)
Piety:How religious is this man. If he is very religious his jihads/crusades will gather vast people.
Command:How good a general he is (in case you dont want to fight battles manually)
Acumen:How good he is in eceonomic matters You will assign titles to your generals or give governorships according to these characteristics. -Hardest thing in the game is to ensure loyalty of a province which is affected by the garrison size and the characteristic of your governor. You have to station many troops in your provinces to defend against possible rebellion or attack, so you cant push all of your troops to the frontier. Well all in all the game is perfect and against the common belief it has no bugs. The features that many people call "bugs" are only normal occurrences resulting from neglected determinants and dynamics of the game. There are vast variety of unique units, exclusive to each faction. While Turks have "Jannissaries" Germans have "Chivalric men at arms", but this is not equal in the sense of a footmen to a grunt in Warcraft. All units have their own weakness and no unit is an equivalent to any other in the game. If you have any questions about the game, please feel free to contact me, because I know a lot about the game..
Rating:
Summary: Worth the buy
Review: I am a huge total war fan, so for an expansion set of my favorite game to come out is obviously going to make me buy it. What is great about the expansion is that if you have played a lot of the Medieval: total war, you will notice liitle things that have changed. Of course you have the whole Viking Era, which is cool and all, but my favorite aspect of this is that three more factions were added to the original campaigns. I think it is always great trying out a new faction. Another cool new thing is that you are told in detail of your vices and virtues, which are rather interesting to say the least.
It's hard for me to give less than 5 stars for a game I like so much, I guess that is why it deserves 5 stars. I can't say I have any real upsets about the expansion...maybe price... But hey, I did buy it, so price didn't matter too much.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe I'm just hard to please.
Review: I loved Shogun and I really looked forward to this one. It is a chance to use the system that worked well for Japanese warfare in an historical setting closer to home (for me). The only problems I have with the game are with the strategic map. I cannot seem to stop rebellion no matter how hard I try. All the things that a player should do I have done. Still rebellion. The loyalty of my provinces are well above 100%, and STILL rebellion. On the positive side, you get to use all kinds of cool units. For example, although they are completely useless in battle, directing your cannons at the enemy is professional-dodgeball-league level of entertainment. The way the creators weave history into the game (with actual bonuses and penalties associated) is truly fascinating. Shogun made me want to purchase this and this makes me feel good about going out to get the expansion pac.
Rating:
Summary: Longbowmen
Review: WOw more can I say. You get to use longbowmen in battle. Medieval Total War is one of the most realistic high tactical games ever. Other games use individual people on a battlefield. In MTW, you get to use armies and regiments in formation which you can coordinate as a whole. The detail is incredible. However, the strategic element is a little disappointing. Apart from a tedious click job of emissaries and princesses. You can't bargin/threaten with your allies and enemies. You should at least be able to trade territories and help to coordinate trade or start new trading routes. However, in this game, if you are too successful everyone hates you and refuses to ally or partner with you. <...just like today?>
Rating: 
Summary: good game but too buggy...be careful
Review: of course the right rating would be 3 stars if the game works, but unfortunally this is the only game i've tried that crashes every 5 minutes...and there is no software or hardware upgrade (at the moment) that can eliminate the problem...
And this is a "relaxing product" for just 50 euro...be careful
Rating:
Summary: Best Ever
Review: The Total War series is the best strategy & tactics engine ever made. This is the top of the line. If you liked Empire Earth, Lords of the Realm, etc.; you DON'T want to miss this. You may be able to find it at a substantial discount at a used store (but you won't ever find my copy there).
Rating:
Summary: Great Game, Bad Price
Review: I love this game and I would recommend it to anyone, but the price is awful. This is a great strategy game involving Medival Europe. It is historically accurate and very entertaining. However, I have found this game at other stores for much less. I would tell anyone to look around and find a better deal. DO NOT BUY IT HERE!
Rating:
Summary: Great but the Price is bad
Review: This game is great and really brings strategy games to a whole new level. It is an accurate depiction of Medieval strategy and is a game any strategy lover should buy. The only problem is price. You can find this game for [$$$] or [$$$] online ...
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