The Total War games are one of the most highly acclaimed strategy games. Each game of the series has delivered immense battles with plenty of tactics and a deep strategic component where every move counts. While Shogun: Total War introduced the concept it was Medieval: Total War which made the series what it is today. The large scale battles where immense armies clash in a battle for dominance looked spectacular (although the armies were composed of 2d soldiers) and a lot of thinking was required both for the battles themselves as for the main campaign, where the player tried to conquer (most of the time surviving was hard enough) Europe. Rome: Total War upgraded the concept with some small tweaks to the way the turn-based strategic map worked, but most of the changes it brought were concerning the battles themselves. Most notably, all the knights, peasants, crossbowmen and other soldiers were finally displayed in 3d. This made the battles more spectacular to see (especially when zoomed in), but it revealed a new problem – all the soldiers were clones of one another and they all used the same animation set. Creative Assembly decided to fix this issue as well as iron a few other quirks for Medieval II, the game that would bring massive battles in 3d back to the Middle Ages.

Medieval II is (as all Total War games) composed of two main parts – the turn based strategic map and the real-time tactical battles. The strategic map is where most of the time will be spent in the main campaign. You have to manage the regions you have control over, build up your armies and develop your settlements.
A new addition to the series is the introduction of two types of settlements. Cities are your main source of income and they are generally culturally more developed. The second type of settlement is the castle. They are generally better protected and offer a wider array of troops available for training, but they generate less income. In the early stages of development it is possible to convert one type into the other, but you always lose all the buildings exclusive to the previous type. The choice of settlement is up to the player, but several factors have to be considered. For one, defending a city is always harder than defending a keep. On the other hand an empire can’t survive financially with only keep build and no cities anywhere to sustain the economy. This added economic dynamic gives a lot of depth to managing border regions where an attack is always imminent.


The Papal state is another are that has seen improvement. Whereas the Pope’s only function in Medieval was to call crusades on Islamic and excommunicated countries, his role in Medieval II is more important. He is still able to excommunicate nations that go against his will, but this time around you can actually influence the way he works. If you are lucky enough you may even have one of your own priests raise up to papacy – he won’t be your puppet, but he’ll be more than happy to help you out with a crusade against one of your enemies.

The map of Europe is in full 3d this time (similar to the map from Rome: TW). It is filled with bustling cities, fortified castles, armies and agents. These agents work for the various nations. Some of them have a pacifistic purpose, such as the priests who help raising the level of religion and the emissaries, who make intra-nation communication possible. Princesses can also be seen around the map and they have a similar purpose as the emissaries with the difference that they can be married to foreign princes to bring the two nations closer together. The last pacifistic agent is the merchant. This new agent is tasked with making additional income for his nation by selling resources available on the map. Assassins and spies make a return and help defeating the enemy with more subtle methods. The Papacy has another means of dealing with foes – the inquisitors. These pesky priests roam the land and burn anyone who is not pious enough. It doesn’t surprise that often the best general you have is the least pious one.

To survive more than a decade you’ll have to start expanding sooner or later. Rebel provinces are a good start, as taking over those cities and castles won’t put you at war with anyone. Unfortunately for all the soldiers in your service you’ll occasionally either attack or be attacked by a neighboring nation. Blockading ports and roads is a standard tactic to weaken the enemy before going against him with your full force. The AI knows this well and you will often wonder how the enemy managed to attack you just when you were least expecting him. Regardless of your actions you will eventually be put before the decision to either fight or die. At that point you can let the computer simulate the fighting or you can…

Battles were always the most enjoyable parts of Total War. Seeing armies composed of thousands fighting has been spectacular before, but the level of detail you see in Medieval II is simply amazing. For the first time in the history of the series the soldiers aren’t clones anymore. Instead they are built up from several randomly changing parts, giving each soldier an individual look. Their movement is also improved, as no two soldiers will move alike, much less fight in the same way. The combat animations are very diverse and you can actually see individuals fighting each other when you zoom all the way in. This improved display of fighting makes the battles even more fun and observing your knights run down archers brings even more satisfaction than before.

The tactics of these battles are based on the rock-paper-scissors principle. Cavalry is excellent against archers and the regular footmen, but they are extremely vulnerable to spearmen. Spearmen don’t stand a chance against archers and the archers are toast the moment they engage melee combat. Building up the perfect army is thus impossible as every type of unit has an effective countermeasure.


Controlling large amounts of soldiers would be impossible if they weren’t grouped up by the hundreds. As it stands you select the flag hovering above a group and than command the full group (you can’t control individuals).  You can order them to move, sprint (charge), change formation and use their special ability (fire arrows for example). There is more to winning the battle than sending your army against the foe however. Morale plays a big part and soldiers will often lose heart seeing their comrades killed. Having the general nearby will give a boost however. Units also tire and well rested soldiers fight better than those worn out. All of these factors tie up and make the battles extremely tactical, as one wrong decision can turn the tide of battle for the worse. Contrary to this it is also possible to win a battle with a weaker army, just by timing your attacks well.

Siege battles are an important part of battles as well. Taking over a well defended fortress is near impossible and for that reason the game offers the option to starve the enemy out (on the strategic map). If the defendants chose to counter attack they are free to do so, but such a battle will have to take place outside of the castle, making them lose their advantage. The AI will sometimes decide to make a desperate run out of the castle, which results in the annihilation of the entire army, even though help was on the way.
Bookworms will appreciate the historical battles available from the main menu while those looking for a quick battle will love the multiplayer and custom battles. Our cries for a multiplayer campaign were left unanswered yet again however.

I’ve already mentioned that the soldiers no longer look alike. This wouldn’t count for much if they were low detail though. Fortunately Creative Assembly improved the rendering engine and made the battles more detailed. Still shots don’t quite capture the beauty of the massive battles or the level of detail seen in the combat animations. Seeing a volley fire arrows flying across the night sky is breathtaking, as is the painful death observed on the receiving end.

The computing power required for the battles is surprisingly low. My completely average dual core Centrino running at 1.66Ghz with a measly 512mb of memory and a GeForce 7300 managed to run the game with no issues. The loading times were a bit long and the turns took a while to complete but other than that I was able to enjoy the game with almost every detail enabled (save for the shadows which seem to cause a massive performance hit on GeForce cards).

Playing the game on a high-end computer is of course problems free. Having all the details set to max with blooming and shadows enabled makes the battlefields truly come to life. The grass fields look amazing (the grass is similar to the one in Oblivion) and the draw distance is second to none.

Sound is an important aspect in every game and it can play a big role in strategy games as well. The strategic map is equipped with all the necessary sound effects representing the ocean and the agent speech. There are even video clips for most of the actions your agents do (similar to what Shogun had). In the background you can hear medieval music played on lutes and similar instruments of that time. In battles the sound effects play an even greater role and the authors knew this. Before combat starts there is no music and you can hear every move from your soldiers. The moment somebody starts attacking war music kicks in and it keeps playing until the bitter end (for you or the foe). To tell the truth, I can’t find anything bad to say about the sound in this game.

The CE box is a rather strange one. It is still a rectangle, but it looks like a stretched cube. Once opened you realize that there is a reason for its shape – it acts as a pedestal for a pewter figurine of a medieval knight. Behind this pedestal there are two DVD cases, a map of Europe, several medieval themed cards and a poster with the tech tree from the game. The first of the two DVD cases contains the two game DVDs and the manual while the other case has the Making of DVD and the soundtrack CD. A great package, especially because the CD has some really epic songs on it.