One of the standard problems that the harder-core Total War fans have is with the quasi-fantastical units - the flaming pigs in Rome, for example - but when you severely changed history, you need that imagination to cover the holes and populate that alternate history. What would Apache civilisation be like when they'd got hold of the Gold of the Incas, for example? Pretty much identical. Sure, you can make - as I did - the Apache run rampant over the continent, but fundamentally the Apache don't change by their experiences significantly. This is kind of one of the problems running through Total War games.
![medieval kingdoms total war attila campaign medieval kingdoms total war attila campaign](https://media.moddb.com/cache/images/mods/1/22/21249/thumb_620x2000/kingdoms2013-10-1013-36-22-98_zpsa0170d8c.png)
Do you want to join us? NO GIRLS ALLOWED. Which feels a bit cheap, as they're just the normal types with better stats as - well - if they changed their abilities too much, they wouldn't be the Apache anymore. They solve this by Total War's normal solution - we see it in old Rome games with the Legions and whatnot - of introducing the ability to make better unit types as time progresses. The problem with all these things which have been coded to create historical semi-realism is that it creates a limit of the tech-tree they can climb. So they're infantry only, and overwhelmingly a missile-based army. They don't have horses yet - historically, of course, The Best Of All The Animals were only brought to the Americas by the non-Americans. They don't get ships, making transport a bitch. They don't build walls, though can repair them in towns of places they capture. This is best shown by playing the Apache tribes. The problem comes in playing the New Worlders. The American Campaign primarily pitches the Old Worlders against New Worlders, with one having numbers and the others having technology. The problem comes when you're having a side which functionally isn't - what do you do? The main problem isn't actually balance. They're normally between two civilisations in the same broad "age", in Civ terms. Unlike something like Civilization, which can be about deeply asymmetrical warfare (tanks versus cavemen, if you're ultra-rubbish), Total War - while the tech differences undoubtedly matter - it's not quite as extreme. Most noticeably, the American campaign which is about the conquering of the new world. In fact, it's the usual bugbears which are highlighted at moments in the four campaigns. When the pieces automatically move around the map following orders, you really should be able to mouse-over them to discover what they were rather than relying on memory. There's some odd control stuff in Medieval II - charging doesn't seem as instinctive as it was in previous versions, and it remains so here. The AI won't satisfy the hardcore, though it does the job well enough in most situations. Seriously, read this againand return to my petulant whining. In fact, because that's so positive, I'm going to pretty much concentrate entirely on my reservations with extended play - and that they're relatively unreasonable reservations should say much. Everything I said in there is still true, and all good reasons why Total War fans should totally get this.
#Medieval kingdoms total war attila campaign full#
Since our first impressions a month or so back almost morphed into a full review - which is what happens when the preview code is of a full game, and basically fully functional - I'd recommend everyone reading that as well as this. Crusades (set around the third Crusade), Teutonic (last Pagan nation of Lithuania versus German knights), Britannia (the United Kingdom in a highly un-united state - rumble!) and Americas (some day you will find the cities of gold. Where most add-ons give one campaign, this goes for four.
![medieval kingdoms total war attila campaign medieval kingdoms total war attila campaign](https://fanatical.imgix.net/product/original/2aa95cd5-83d9-4278-b22a-7c4d73b9e833.jpg)
![medieval kingdoms total war attila campaign medieval kingdoms total war attila campaign](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uwl-Jlhzi7s/maxresdefault.jpg)
![medieval kingdoms total war attila campaign medieval kingdoms total war attila campaign](https://images.gamewatcherstatic.com/image/file/9/ec/69599/faclead.jpg)
With Empire: Total War announced, Kingdoms basically exists to help tide us over until Creative Assembly finish assembling their creation. Especially if you hear it's four kingdoms for fifteen quid from certain online retailers. kind of a total war."Īnd then you'd say yes. There's a pause before a sheepish admission: "Well. What kind of war, you'd ask, noting the hesitation. "I mean, there may be a bit of a war on but." Like - say - what's wrong with it? "Oh, nothing. If someone walked up to you in the pub and offered you control of a country for a fiver, you'd probably have some questions you'd want to ask.