Straight Jacket Type Fun
Medieval 2: Total War
I think that after having Medieval 2: Total War for a few weeks then setting it aside, that I can honestly say I am done with this series of games. I do not suggest these are bad games, not by a long shot, but I have just had my fill of what they bring to the table. Unless there are some improvements to the user interface and some more features added to the game (specifically some sort of campaign multiplayer co-op), then I do not see any reason, after four different major titles of the Total War series, to continue purchasing games in this series.
Perhaps I lack the brainpower or patience for these games anymore but when I have to start controlling 10 stacks of armies, dozens of diplomats, spies, naval vessels, princesses, merchants, and God knows what else the game needs to give me a better way to manage them all then one screen that covers half of my monitor. If you click on that picture I've provided below you'll see what I mean.
Now underneath all those menus somewhere is the game map. Somewhere on that game map are all those people who I'm supposed to control. But, how can I see the people without closing that right hand menu? And even if I do I still only see half of the total map. Also, what would be wrong with some sort of notification or message saying I had not done something with a particular character or army in a certain number of turns. For example, at one point I had a merchant who I completely forgot about for 15 turns or so and only saw him by chance on the map. Perhaps a better method be to have our units that have not moved on the big map either glow or blink or something like that. That way even a cursory view of the map before ending our turn would show us that we might have forgotten that lone diplomat we have moving across all of Asia.
Some of you might be saying, "Well maybe you should pay more attention," or "Maybe you just suck at this game," or even "God what a whiner!" and you have a point. Some of this seems like pedestrian whining. But I have noticed that these same limitation have been in every iteration of this game and it surprises me that no one else has maybe thought of these problems either in the community or the company. That suggests either (a) I am the ONLY person who has trouble keeping track of everything occurring on the map (and I highly doubt I'm the dumbest of the dumb) or (b) no one has brought it up or no one has the desire to help make this game a little more accessible. Shogun was very accessible. Medieval 2 is definitely not (except graphically of course, this game looks great even on my now admittedly sluggish 9800 Pro).
Lets be honest here, this games learning curve is steep. Veterans of the Total War series might quickly catch on but if you are new to this game the sheer scope of it will have you restarting your game many, many times before you become competent enough to run even one of the small campaign scenarios. Its unfortunate the tutorials do not include a longer discussion of the power of trade and commerce. Sure, you're given an in-game "advisor" but that chick starts telling you to build the same thing in every town despite the obvious fact, for example, that London definitely makes a better commerce region than say, Dublin. Or my favorite, "A church in this region might be just what you need." Uh, hey lady you see that I'm in Egypt, right and that these people are Muslims, right? You're a real bright one.
Perhaps a few options could be turned off and on at the player's request. For example, let them dump the Pope entirely. The Pope's a whiny, self-centered, egotistical, attention grabbing whore in this game who just wants to make life miserable by siphoning off your troops to go marching off to some stupid Crusade where nothing can be gained except watching your army eventually be lost on the way, desert the ranks, or get slaughtered. He's just another jerk looking for a hand out who just also happens to have the power of ex-communication if you don't play ball with him. And I'll be damned if I let my ego get usurped by anyone else's ego when I'm running my kingdom. The complete lack of the Pope is what made Viking Invasion so great as it let you get right down to the business of building things and then destroying other things with those things you built.
Also, what is the point of these merchants? Again, I will play the 'tard card if I'm wrong, but a unit that costs 500 florins to build but can only bring in, at best 50-100 florins a turn doesn't seem like a good investment. Especially since they often get bought out or killed pretty regularly by competitors or assassins.
Next, naval battles. Its time to let us have control of the fleets. Watching two little ship icons slam together and then pray they do all right is passé after games like Pirates! let us be swashbuckling swordsmen. Its time to open up that aspect of the game and let us do some real ship to ship battles. Hell it doesn't even have to be overly complex. For a reference point start with the game Ancient Art of War at Sea. Slap on some nice graphics and good graphic effects and I'm sure Gamespot and Gamepy will be throwing more awards at the developers.
Finally, its time to open up the strategic multiplayer aspect of the game. If games like Civilization can do it I don't see why not this one too. The tactical portion is already there so let two buddies go against the computer or even against other friends. Sure, most games couldn't be resolved in one night but big deal, SSI offered play by email options for years on their games and I'm sure this rabid community of players would fall over themselves to be given the opportunity to play against real opponents across the entire Medieval 2 world map.
Of course, the tactical portion of the game is still top notch. Its what sold me on the first game and it is what kept me coming back for more and is what gets the writers at the big game review sites drooling in preparation for another knob slobbing. And out of the box this time, unlike Rome:Total War, your general are not suicidal maniacs who go charging into battle at the head of the line but instead stay back and rally the troops where rallying is needed. Kudos developers. You took something that worked in the first Medieval, broke it in Rome, and fixed it again for Medieval 2.
Look, I'm not going to tell you to avoid this game but if you are expecting a lot of new features and enhancements in this game over Rome or the first Medieval then I'm afraid you aren't going to find it this time. Perhaps if they take the genre to something beyond the 16h century it might breathe new life into the series. But for now, with Medieval 2, it is basically the same song and dance that we've become accustomed too over the years. Its a fun song and pretty dance, but surely they can think of more moves than this.