Straight Jacket Type Fun
Medieval Total War: Viking Invasion
In my book, there's nothing much cooler or tougher than a Viking. I'm not talking about the type who run over police officers in Minnesota but rather those from 1000 years ago who sailed the seas, discovered America, and more importantly, laid the smack down on the population of the British Isles for quite a long time. Now, Creative Assembly has given you the game enthusasist the opportunity to look deep into your blackened, porn obsessed soul, and find a deeper, darker side that encourages you to go over to your neighbors house, ransack the living room, steal all the food from the refrigirator, and throw their daughter over your shoulder and then disappear into the night only to do the same thing to your other neighbor another night.
Most of the times, expansions just flat out suck to games (Half-Life Blue Shift anyone) since they don't really add anything new to the experience you loved before or they even make the experience less enjoyable. A few new maps or levels and the publisher will gladly slap on their name and charge you $30+ for it and thank you very much, please bend over and take it. Admittedly, Vikings Invasion does that by adding some new units to the game for the existing campaign in Medieval. However, they also give you the Viking campaign which has quickly made me turn into, once again, a slobbering addict of the Total War experience.
The game shares much with it's original product Medieval, and the other game in the Total War series, Shogun. You have both a strategic and tactical side of the game. In the strategic you build forces and buildings, move units, spy on the enemy and watch the movements of your enemies. Also as in the other Total War series, that's just some filler for the really important stuff: killing your enemy by the cartloads on varied tactical landscapes. No game or series of games can even come close to comparing to the tactical acumen you have to posses to win at this game, not to mention some graphics that will continually have you panning the battlefield just to take in the entire picture. Yes all you Warcraft, Age of Empires, and Command & Conquer people please take notice and realize that you all are just a bunch of hyper-caffeinated click fests pantywaists. Do you even consider things like flanking, using forests for cover, archery ammo count or rear guard actions? Well, you probably do worry about rear guard action and how to get around it but that falls under don't ask don't tell.
What a beautiful day
For an ass whompin'! Taste hot steel Irish scumbags!
There's also been a few nice new additions to the game. The before battle menu has changed. You can now quickly save a game before going into battle, arrange the order of reinforcements, get a feel for what type of land you'll be fighting on, and check out the enemy so you can size up what they have compared to what you have. This is a fantastic addition and should be welcomed by the Total War community. But the real meat and potatoes of this expansion is the Viking campaign.
2:1 odds against me? Hey no problem!
Vikings Unleash the PAIN!
All of you who rip and burn MP3s over the 'Net are bonified wussies compared to the pludering and pillaging that Vikings did. In the new Viking campaign you strap on your horned helmet, pick up an axe and immediately get down to the serious business of plundering the British Isles. And I really doubt the RIAA or some music group would stand in the way of the Vikings either. "Hello Mr. Viking, sir, I'm a lawyer with the RIAA. Would you please stop massacaring those monks?" "Boy band music suck!! RAWWWWWWWWWR!!" squish.
Whereas in Total War you're encouraged to completely dominate another neighbor, vikings are actually given a bonus for completely decimating a region but then withdrawing. Other factions only receive half the value of a building for destroying it. The Vikings get the full value of the buildings they destroy in the region, making hit and run tactics not only quite enjoyable since my attention deficit makes me forget what I'm doing, but are much more profitable for the Vikings as compared to any other faction in the game. Also, Viking ships are not limited to one sector move per turn but can actually go three sectors, allowing for quicker exploration. Combine these facts, and this gives the Vikings an edge at the start of the game which allows you to keep your enemies off balance while you amass your forces in an attempt to take over the entire British Island chain. Or you can also choose to fight as the Saxons, Scots, Irish, or one of the other clans that formed before the Vikings landed and attempt to repulse the Vikings as well as your nosy neighbors. Help eliminate the threat of the Irish Potato famine by wiping out the Irish. Good plan!
Given the historical timeframe (before the year 1000), there is also no Pope to ex-communicate you, or Crusades to undertake which often felt like a bit of a drag on the gameplay in Medieval since ex-communication never appeared to work quite right. Besides which, the Vikings were pagans so you get to build pagan ritual sites like sacrificial podiums for virgins. And let's be honest, who doesn't want to miss an opportunity to do that!
Also, in the tactical aspect of the game, an army's leader is much easier to kill. This is a welcome addition since in Medieval it could often take two full strength units just to bring down one person. Now enemy leaders appear to surrender, or more imporantly, die a lot quicker.
When I look in the mirror, I see a tall, blond haired, blue eyed white human male. To me that has never really meant much. I could reach the top cabinet to get a bowl for my sister or mother and I had all the recessive genes giving me the blue eyes and blond hair. No big deal, right? Wrong! After playing Viking Invasion I now realize I have completely been denying myself the ability to reach deeper into my past and pull forth the chest thumping, horn blowing, sword swinging beserker rage that I so justly deserve to unleash upon this world! I'm glad I realized this now that I'm in my late 20s rather than having a mid-life crisis when I'm 50. Time to go pillage. -Sphinx
Bring me their heads!
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