Well once again, great expantion with new stuff to do.
User Rating: 8.5 | Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms PC
Gameplay: I've always enjoyed the expansion packs for the Total War series much more than the original games. So anyways in this "Kingdoms" expantion there are four new campaign settings. First up is a Crusades map in which a pair of occupying Christian powers (Jerusalem and Antioch) go battle the warriors of Islam and the might of Byzantium to establish the Kingdom of Heaven. the Americas make an appearance in the New World campaign which follows the footsteps of Cortez and the Spanish as they battle to defeat powerful Native American nations such as the Aztecs, Mayans and the Apachean tribes. In the Britannia capaine which is set in the 13th centuary the English and the Scots, Irish, Welsh and Norwegians for control of the British Isles. Last but not least The Teutonic campaign pits the pagan Lithuanians against Christian powers in a clash between the Old Gods and the New Testament. Other then the new fractions in the game, plus there are 50 new building types and over a hundred new units. game style as not really changed from the original much. The major change in the gameplay is the usage of priests, spies, princesses and assassins because they all have have a more political/religous part to play this time around. Of course there the new fractions that I mentioned earler to play in the multiplayer as well as maps. What I did not like was the AI pathfinding is still a bit wonky, both on the strategic level and the tactical level. On the overland map, armies will automatically choose to go the long way around when shorter routes are blocked by the enemy and cavalry will still run the wrong direction and stop short on charges from time to time.
Graphics: Well once again creative assembly has done well with the graphics. They are really colorful and detailed. I was suprised how smoothly everything ran with such a huge map and battlefield with sometimes thousands of troops running around.
Sound: Sound is pretty good in this game. Sound effects are really well done from the voice acting to the galloping of hooves. Of course the soundtrack is marvalus and suits the time period of the game.
Value: All in all this is a great expantion and is well worth buying and playings this game and will keep you occupied for a very long time. The thing I did not like about this game was it took a ridiculously long time to install. It seems like ages ago that I was shocked by a game that took up a full gigabyte on my hard drive. But other then that, go out there and get that game, for RTS fans and non RTS fans just play it, it's a great game. I give this game 8.5 out of 10.
