Product Details
 | Mount & Blade: Warband |
| List Price: | $29.99 |
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Product Description
In a land torn asunder by incessant warfare it is time to assemble your own band of hardened warriors and enter the fray. Lead your men into battle expand your realm and claim the ultimate prize: the throne of Calradia! Mount & Blade: Warband is the eagerly anticipated expansion pack for the game that brought medieval battlefields to life with its realistic mounted combat and detailed fighting system.Features: Graphical overhaul: Support added for HDR FSAA depth of field soft particles tone mapping and many other effects. New models with greater detail and high-quality textures. Multiplayer battles with up to 64 players. Multiplayer modes include Deathmatch Team Deathmatch Capture the Flag Conquest Battle and Siege. A campaign allowing you to become the ruler of a faction and convince lords to become your vassals. The ability to upgrade your companions to vassals by granting them lands. The ability to marry a lady of the realm for romance or cold political gain. Try to win a lady s heart through poetry or bravery. Improved mechanics for soldier morale: Soldiers will break and run away if their morale gets too low. Pick any projectile off the battlefield for use as additional munitions. New motion-captured combat animations. Numerous improvements to the combat system: Your shield will still stop arrows even if you are not actively defending. The ability to play multiplayer matches on random maps as well as hand-designed ones. Multiplayer equipment system: Earn money by fighting opponents or accomplishing goals. Spend gold on more powerful equipment using a carefully balanced system that will make combat more exciting without giving too much of an advantage to the leading team. The ability to use most throwing weapons in close combat: Switch to using a javelin as a short spear when the enemy gets close.Format: WIN 9898SEME2000XPVISTA/DVD SOFTWARE Genre: ENTERTAINMENT RatiProduct Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #3433 in Video Games
- Brand: Paradox
- Model: 00209
- Released on: 2010-03-30
- ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
- Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows XP
- Format: DVD-ROM
- Dimensions: .20 pounds
Features
- A mod friendly gameplay environment where players can introduce all manner of original content that allows for the altering of character appearance, advanced customization, differing rule/game types and more.
- A standalone expansion game set in the medieval centric Mount & Blade universe that does not require the original game in the series.
- Engrossing RPG play in single player mode that enables players to fight their way, by themselves or with AI companions, through medieval battle fields and environments to become king by their own hand.
- Large-scale multiplayer battles with up to 64 players. Multiplayer modes include Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Conquest, Battle, and Siege.
- State-of-the-art rendering technologies combine with a more informative interface, allowing new and advanced players alike to enjoy an unprecedented level of immersion.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Product Description
Customer Reviews
Warband is a good expansion, but I would suggest waiting for a price drop if multiplayer doesn't interest you
Skip to the bottom of the
review for a summary of things I thought were good and bad about
Warband. The update I posted before has been moved to the DRM section.
Mount
and Blade: Warband is a standalone expansion to Mount and Blade. It
adds several new features, such as a multiplayer mode and some changes
to the singleplayer mode. As such, I think it would be a good idea for
you to wait until the price drops if you bought the first Mount and
Blade, and you aren't interested in Warband's multiplayer. If you didn't
get the first M&B, I recommend that you buy Warband.
Graphics:
Warband's graphics are like M&B's graphics. However, there are
added options (such as antialiasing) that improves Warband's appearance.
Character animations have been redone. I like the new animations, as
they seem smoother. Attacks while on cavalry no longer go right through
your horse's head. However, the attack animations don't look as forceful
as the animations in the first M&B.
Certain old meshes, like the
horrible looking bandit vest, are still present in the game.
General
Additions/Changes: The gameplay has been improved with additional
features to spice things up. For example, players can now kick enemies,
making their foes open to an attack. Throwing weapons can be switched to
melee weapons with the press of a button. Enemies are more difficult to
hit because the hitboxes were changed to be more accurate. Lancing now
has the option of being like it was in the first M&B, or it can be
made more difficult to use. The new faction, the Sarrinid Sultanate,
have a very unique and interesting feel to them. There is a much larger
variety of banners to choose as well.
Singleplayer: The
singleplayer mode has been improved quite a bit. Instead of simply
starting at a random area, like in the first game, you can choose one of
five castles (one for each faction); there is also a starting quest.
Factions no longer need the player's help in starting wars or making
peace; they will do all of those things on their own.
There is a
wider variety of areas. Villages and castles now have a more unique feel
for each faction.
The player can now become a king or queen, and may
marry a lord or a lord's daughter.
There are more characters and
scenarios in the custom battle mode. I do find it strange that you can't
just put your character in the custom battle mode, though.
Multiplayer:
I find Warband's multiplayer to be enjoyable. Like in the singleplayer
mode, you can give your character a unique appearance. There are a few
game modes to choose from, like deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the
flag, and siege.
Server hosts can set the number bots that will
spawn in the game. When you join a game, you choose between two out of
the five factions, which are either random or chosen by voting players.
Once you choose a side, you pick a class, which is different depending
on which faction you chose. Then you choose your equipment (which is
based on class) with money that you start out with and continue to earn
as you gain points.
While the multiplayer is fun, Taleworlds has
some work ahead of them. Weapon ranges are awkward: like in the first
game, your spear will occasionally go right though a player and not do
any damage. The factions are somewhat imbalanced, and some classes have
much more equipment to choose from than others.
I consider the
current multiplayer to be similar to that of the Stalker series. The
multiplayer for both games lack some of the great parts from the
singleplayer experience. In Warband's case, there are no stats and there
is a lesser variety of equipment to choose from.
I really wish
that Taleworlds worked on a cooperative mode instead of a competitive
mode; Mount and Blade seems like it would have been more suited to
keeping the depth of the singleplayer.
DRM: The DRM for
Warband is just like the DRM in the first game, which means that you
have to register you serial key online. However, this DRM is not as
imposing as other types of DRM, like certain types of Securom or Steam.
Instead of being completely unable to play the game if you don't
register, you can get to level 8 and play for 30 game-days in the
singleplayer. Once you register, you don't have to stay connected to the
internet to play.
UPDATE: I made a mistake on the DRM section of
the review. The boxed version installs Steam. However, the game itself
doesn't actually need Steam to run, so once you register your copy with
Steam/Warband's DRM, you can play without Steam. If your key that you
got from the box doesn't work, there is another method of playing
without Steam that is below. I apologize for my mistake.
Go to
the Taleworlds forums if you want to remove Steam. The information
required is at the bottom of the first post in the thread called 'Forced
to Run Steam - Not Amused'. Unfortunately, I can't post a direct link.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
Good: Multiplayer mode, improvements to various aspects of the first
game (single player, graphics, gameplay).
The Neutral: The new
animations might not be for everyone.
The Bad: Game might not be
worth the price if you're buying it for the single player. Certain old
meshes are still present. The multiplayer mode needs to be balanced.
Some problems still persist from the first game, such as weapon ranges.
The lack of a cooperative mode is somewhat disappointing.
Overall,
I liked Warband. It's not drop dead amazing, but it is a good expansion
to a good game. It seems worth the price to me, though.
For fans of Mount & Blade
This game is for fans of the
first game that wanted a little more in the game. It is basically an
improvement of the first Mount & Blade. If you haven't played the
first one then you should definetly try this out. This game is amazing
when compared to what else is out there. There is so much to this game
and it is really immersive. Here's a couple of the cool things about
this game...
-You actually fight the battles out instead of just
letting your armies go at it like in other games
-You can become many
things including a lord, a sword for hire, merchant, etc...and none of
the options is ever closed off to your character.
-You not only fight
roving bandits, deserters, and other armies but you can actually lay
seige to castles and ACTUALLY BE A PART OF THE SEIGE. This means that
you build the seige weapons and utilize them during the attack on the
castle.
-The combat is more responsive than the first game but you
may have to change a couple of the options to make it work like you want
it to.
-You set the pace of the game. If you like to play slowly and
be more strategic then you can do that by slowing down the combat and
spending your time in the world building up your army, then send your
army into combat without you. Or you can travel around known areas for
raiders and be in constant battle and even declare your sword for
another lord right off and go toe to toe with other armies and spend the
game taking cities and castles.
If you haven't played the first
game then I would give this a five star rating. Otherwise, this is
mostly the same great game with some improvements (basically an
expansion).
Purely addicting
This game is purely
addicting. The game delivers raw intuitive gameplay and provides an
interesting mix of strategy, RPG elements, and first/third person
combat. If you played the original, you are already aware of this fact.
Warband
delivers a much needed update. Not only has Taleworlds completely
redrawn the map of Calradia from scratch, but they've added a ton of
features. The game will play a lot like the original M&B, but with a
lot of added features. The biggest feature is the idea of marriage.
Players can establish political connections by taking a wife or husband.
This adds a new element to the game, and actually makes the player's
sex an interesting factor in the game. Male characters will start off
more liked by the nobles and have an easier time getting established
with the lords, but the female characters will have a huge advantage
late game by being able to marry a warlord.
Other features
include jailbreaks, which, while currently a bit buggy, add a new level
of difficulty to the game. When your companions are captured after you
lose a battle, your forced to sneak into an enemy castle and bust them
out. To add icing on the cake, you need to do wearing nothing more than
regular clothes and a walking stick. Once you fight your way into the
jail, your companions will help fight their way out. Its a cool feature,
but unfortunately there's a bug where your companions don't listen to
your commands at the moment.
Multiplayer is a whole new game in
itself. Once you think you've gotten good at M&B, you sign online
and get your bum handed to you in a hand basket. Player vs player fights
are immensely challenging, and very well balanced at the moment.
Multiplayer really goes to show that, although the game is intuitive and
easy to learn, there is a lot to master. Multiplayer is also very well
balanced. Unlike most games on release, where several tactics or
factions are strongly overpowered, all factions and classes are viable,
without overpowering others. Multiplayer also allows for battles on a
massive scale. Naturally, the game can have up to 64 players without any
tweaks. However, I've heard of a server in Europe that has increased
this to 244 players. Once better quality ISPs are made available, this
could become the norm.
Much like the original, the game is also
incredibly mod friendly. Players have already reported successful mods
like the infamous return of the "Fish Mod" from the original M&B.
Mods can now utilize Warband's multiplayer capabilities as well. Expect
to see some total overhaul mods in the future. Its like buying one game
and getting a dozen others for free.
That was the good.
Now
here's the bad
-Some bugs still exist in the game, but Taleworlds is
tirelessly trying to patch them up. >Most of the bugs that other
reviewers have whined about are already fixed<
-Boxed version of
the game will come with steam. If you aren't a fan of steam, you can
still use your serial key to download the game off taleworld's website,
and play steam free, but its a bit of an inconvenience.
Scorecard:
Graphics
5/10
Graphics are nothing to drool over, but will run incredibly
well on all systems. Keeping the graphics low key was probably a smart
move because the game is designed for massive scale battles (150 units
on the field)
Gameplay 9/10
Very fun, easy to learn, and
highly addicting. I've spent way too long playing the game already
Balance
9/10
Excellently done. Some small adjustments could be done (like
'sweet spots' in swing arks) but there are no Sagatts or "hammerdins" in
this game. Every unit has a strength to be used and weakness to be
exploited against.
Sound 3/10
Sound is a bit lacking, and very
little voice acting done.
DRM 9/10
Online activation is a
very non-intrusive form of stopping piracy. No root-kits or secuROM
here! Would have rated 10/10 if steam had not been included in the boxed
version. (NOTE: if you don't care for steam, you can use the downloaded
version instead and be steam free)
Overall 9/10 (not an average)
Definitely
a title to add to your collection and well worth the money. My friends
and I have already dedicated 100s of hours playing this game.
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