The best game I have played in months. The game managed to create the most complex yet most simple to navigate gameplay mechanism I have ever experienced.
While casual gamers will feel like they've been plunged into a maelstrom of names and dates, anyone with a love of history will appreciate the rigorous attention to detail and epic scope.
This game, the predecessor to Crusader Kings II, has far superior character portraits to CKII. Released 15 years ago, I still play this now and then (CK Complete, Steam version) . Can't say this about 90% of the games I have owned, including CKII.
I like that each of the Paradox titles contains the many aspects you'd expect **** strategy game (military campaigns, exploration, trade, industry, technologal development, politics, etc.), but that each game puts the focus on one or two of those. In Crusader Kings it is about diplomacy and keeping your family on the throne. Initially I was a bit frustrated, because it felt like I didn't have a lot of control to steer the game in the direction that I wanted. The more I played, the more I started to like this, actually.
All of this high polish is tarnished by the significant, game-stopping bugs that are currently present in the game. If Paradox is able to clean up these bugs, I could highly recommend this game.
Plays like a series of Shakespearean plays with every king having a character arc and every count's struggle up the ladder of power a fascinating narrative. [Aug 2004, p.62]
This game is definitely not for everyone since the lack of a tutorial and inadequate manual act as hurdles for anyone who is new to this type of strategy game.
A fantastically deep strategy game. This is good news for fans of this genre and particularly for fans of Europa Universalis. However, it brings little new to the genre and re-uses an old and tired engine.
Lack of any good documentation lead us to hours of agony and frustration just to get started. It's a compelling game, and it would have been worthwhile if we knew what we were doing from the outset.
The only downside of this game is the graphics but if you can get past that it is one of the most epic and realistic medieval games.. You will not like this game if you do not like random events because this is pretty much 50% of the entire game..
This is a Mac review of Crusader Kings. Seeing as my MacBook can't run Crusader Kings II, I decided to download the first game. I was not disappointed. Crusader Kings definitely has a high learning curve, but after farting around for a handful of hours I was starting to get highly addicted. It's an epic journey as you claim territory, make friends and foes, care for your vassals and kingdom, practice diplomacy, etc. You can really sink your teeth into this game and have an absolute blast. Get a cup of coffee, play, and have fun on your quest. Sadly, there are a few major downsides to the Mac version which really kill the experience. The screen isn't optimized to go fullscreen so you're stuck with black bars at each end of the screen. I also had issues with the game crashing, and it happened every hour or so of playtime. Overall the game itself is a gem, WHEN it works. I can't say that these issues happen to all Mac users, but this is my experience with the game. I would've given the game a solid 9 out of 10, but the crashing and annoying low res box-screen ruins it.
It was the first game with such a setting. It`s really hard to learn how to play it. You will do at least 3-5 complete restarts before you catch the way it should work. For me the main problem is balance, as there are a few regions with extra income. Thus if they won`t be devastated by a neighbor, the empires which control them are highly likely to win. The battle engine is completely broken. Ok, I may be used to the fact that muslims had better weapons and technology in the earlier medieval period. However, even your army with double troops will be losing dozens of times to your rival from Europe with equal technologic level. No matter who will command it. This fact fully ruined the interest for me. In addition I prefer battles and varied control over the battlefield. Unfortunately paradox don`t know how to create such games even now.
This looked like an interesting game at first but let's say it's for a very specific audience. I am fond of Civilization and Total War series, and even Diplomacy these are probably the closest games, but this one just concentrates on different things. On intrigues, on deciding WHO will be this or that minister. Rather than thinking on what to do with your empire you think what house to marry your daughter into. You will put one of your vassals into prison but then release him instead of killing because this gives more reputation or whatever. All this kind of diplomacy and micromanaging small worthless personas (all of this is simulated in extreme detail) is just NOT FUN, at least to me. This game shows the life of a king from its dull and dirty side and this is not what you would want to see in a game or what you would want to play it for.
SummaryCrusader Kings is a strategy game based on the award-winning and highly successful "Europa Universalis" engine. It focuses on the feudal kingdoms of medieval Europe in the time period of 1066 to 1453 A.D. The map covers all of Europe, stretching roughly to the Urals in the east and including parts of Persia and the Arabian Peninsula as w...