You owe it to yourself to try this game. Great combat but there is room for more!
So I gave this game an 8.5 because its a pretty good game but it does fall short in some areas. For the purpose of this review we will look at combat mechanics +weapons+classes, graphics, music, game mods+ game features and learning curve.
Combat mechanics:
The focus of this game is on the combat and it makes it clear to you from the first moment you enter the game. You learn how to fight in the tutorial and it is pretty easy to learn how to swing your weapon at some other blokes head. However, in order to be good at what you do, you need to have both a brain, no lag and exercise. Every simpleton out there can learn how to get a big sword and swing it hoping it hits something but better players will learn how to integrate dodging, parrying, counter, feint, jump and so much more into a combat style that resembles a musical masterpiece. This doesn't mean that you can manage to not even get touched, but a good player will get hit far less often and hit people more often, and better, than a weak player. But here's the catch... he has no advantage over you except skill.
You know how in other games people who play more are always going to win because they have better arsenal at their disposal? Not here. There is indeed a weapon unlocking system where you get access to more and more weapons at your disposal, but no weapon is superior to the other. Each weapon has 3 stats- dmg, speed and range; and none is superior to the other. For example, the knight class (yes, there are 4 classes, each unique) starts off with a longsword. Once you get 25kills with a longsword you can unlock the sword of war. Once you get 75 more kills you unlock the messer. The longsword is not weaker than the sword of war or the messer. They become better if you are better. A bad player with the messer cannot beat a decent player with a longsword. This entire game focuses on skills.
The classes too. You have 3 melee classes and 1 range class. Each class can kill any other class with any arsenal at their disposal only depending on skill. Nothing else.
Graphics: I give the graphics a 10 because they suit their purpose. It isn't supposed to be a Assasin's Creed game, it is supposed to be a wargame where you need to have enough graphics to correctly identify your target and your friends and it accomplishes that very well.
Music: There isn't much variety in music. The best music in the game happens in the final 2min of an objective mod in a map where the tension piles up to get the objective done. Then you have the epic music kicking in.
And while we're on it... lets talk about game modes and other mechanics the game makes available to the player.
There are a few maps in the game and there are several modes to play each map. There is deathmatch, team deathmatch, objective (my favorite), capture the flag and one more which I forget. They are all pretty fun but the number of maps is less than 10... but the devs promise to add more. Objective game mode is my favorite because you have 2 teams fighting one another to complete an objective... which is usually followed by another objective and so on... some maps have 2 objectives, other have 3 or 4. The dynamic of the game changes depending on the objective at hand and on what team you are playing. The general rule is that one is attacking and one is defending.. but there is plenty of things to defend and attack.
But that was the good part. There are bad parts too.
-no invite system
-no easy way to coordinate and form teams (which is really a shame)
-the servers are usually sucky...
-no horse combat
-range combat is really underdeveloped because the focus is on melee combat
-very few maps... and some maps could do with more enhancement
And a few things more. But all these are the main ones.
In regards to the learning curve... it is really up to you and how good you are. I've seen people become better in one game then they were at the start of it... I measured it by how I dealt with them when I met them in combat. I would win for the first few times and then lose more... and then I would wise up and beat him again. So there is a lot of progression. And don't be fooled in thinking that good players will always be good. There are people who are great on some maps... but suck at other maps. Why? because they haven't adopted a proper game style to suit that map. They suck at attacking or defending... who knows. They rush in and others won't join them. Some archer spots you and puts an arrow through your head and you don't see him while you battle some knight.
All in all, 8.5 is pretty good on my part. With the promise of much free DLC and content to be added, as well as new maps and mods, this game is a treasure trove at just 24$ or 18euros on steam.