Unfinished or not this game is still amazing!
M&B is very refreshing and has a replayable feel to it that keeps it from getting boring, which is definitely my biggest problem with games. Although I must admit that my time and money are short so I've missed a lot of titles.
M&B is very satisfying to play at any level, but gains depth, magnitude, and purpose as you grow more powerful and influential with the 5 factions that currently rule the continent.
I read Gamespots review, stating that it lacks direction, or is unfinished, too open, something along those lines. Some of the players also complained about no story, boring quests, repetitive dialog...etc, most of it is debatable. In my opinion it doesn't even matter if they're right or wrong. M&B's core gameplay, the battles, are outstanding. Anything else is just icing on the cake, and there's plenty of icing.
Here's some specifics on things I liked and disliked about the game.
Likes:
#1 Fighting: its not a grind, mindless click-fest , or stupid mini game. They're fun, exciting, and fairly realistic. You can take cover behind objects, dodge, miss, attack at many different angles, defend yourself with shields and weapons. There's some real physics here, you have to make your character do all of these things, not push a button and let some algorithm calculate the outcome. Its all easily done with the mouse and WASD keys. (and no It doesn't hurt…limpwrist) Your attributes, gear and skill points only augment your effectiveness during a fight, they do not solely dictate whether you will kick ass or get ass-kicked. I LOVE THAT!
#2 Battles are Unique: Lots of variety. Fight in towns, assault or defend castles, raid villages. You can have huge epic battles, small personal skirmishes, 1v1, 1v500 (good luck).. anything. Tournaments in the cities are fun, betting on yourself is a nice touch. The terrain, time of day, and weather change. The battles in this game will blow your mind and get your blood pumpin, especially when the stakes are high and your greatly outnumbered.
#3 Leveling your character: it's very satisfying. There seems to be no end in sight. Each level gives you points to spend on attributes, skills, and weapon proficiencies. You decide where they get spent, and unlike a lot of games there isn't only 1 or 2 viable paths to follow. It all depends on how you want to play. I had a guy that was a great horse archer, a guy who could lead huge armies, one who was a badass melee fighter. I'm now trying a more balanced character. All of them can kick ass…once I got better with the game anyways. But the important thing is that by now I normally would have been bored stiff, but I'm not, its actually getting better as I learn a few things here n there.
#4 Leveling your army. Muhaaaaa!! Just when you thought it couldn't get any better. You can acquire companions that level just like you do. Specialize em, gear em out. They'll compliment the skills your lacking in, allowing you to follow your own path successfully, very cool. You can hire new recruits and upgrade them as they gain xp from battle or training, or hire fully geared mercs. You can even hire prisoners released from enemy armies you've beaten or from the poor fools you've taken as prisoners yourself.
#5 Signing on with one of the factions is fun, and rewarding, it opens a whole new facet to the game. Get your own towns and castles, all able to be occupied, defended and upgraded. The other lords occasionally will ask you to join a campaign where you go around ganging up on the enemy, laying siege to castles and reeking havoc. Fun! When you get skilled and powerful enough you wont even need their help anymore.
#6 No Story. Good, I can make up my own, it goes like this: Young green horn goes out and gets smacked down by all the scum littering this fine nation. He's pissed and works real hard honing his skills fighting the gutterslime infestation, while also helping the good folk trying to make an honest living. After many victories, and honorable actions, his reputation and leadership abilities grow and he amasses a huge army of dedicated followers who start to kick some serious ass. One of the Kings recognizes this and offers him a vassalage, bestowing him a lordship and fief. His valorous actions climb him to the top and he eventually acquires his own castle and even becomes the Kings Marshall. After leading his fellow countrymen to victory after glorious victory, he now has conquered and united all of the lands and gets laid every day because chicks can no longer resist his long torso and shaggy beard. The end.
Dislikes:
I begrudgingly concede a few small issues.
#1 AI isn't the best: It's not bad either, I've seen a lot worse, but sometimes soldiers just stand around, or don't follow your orders the way you'd like. Sometimes the lords make bad decisions, especially when you're campaigning with them. They'll pass up a lightly defended castle to get slaughtered by some huge army or turn away from an important strategic target to kill a worthless caravan.
#2 Graphics are a bit out dated. Not big deal for me because I don't care… my 6800 couldn't take it anyways.
I think the biggest issue people have with this game is that it has the potential to go beyond crazy-insane fun. A lot of good mods for the older betas work towards it, and I cant wait for them to catch up to the latest version, but I'm not going to review this game based off what it could have been, just what it is. I'm just thankful that we have it at all. Think of what EA would have done with it after several years of development?
So I'm not going to complain about the could-haves. But damn would it not be cool if you could dump pitch on troops or man-up a catapult or ballista and fire at formations advancing towards your castle. Build up towns into huge fortresses, with towers, motes, working draw bridges, lootable treasure rooms and armories. Or smash them down with siege weapons. Set up trade routes, diplomatic agreements / treaties. Traverse large bodies of water with transports and naval units. And multi-player…holy &*#$ this game would start unfire if it had that. I'd Love to have my brother and cousin by my side, or run down my friends pathetic army.
Bottom line. M&B is great! A ground breaking, instant classic, must-have game. It just has a few minor issues and a bit too much wasted potential for a perfect score though. I'll save that 10 for M&B2 the game that's so damn good you'll poop in your pants.