1. EdwardAnderson

   9

   This is easily one of the most under-rated games I've had the pleasure to play. All in all, this is a really impressive game and I'm sad that I let the negative reviews on metacritic stop me from buying it earlier. It's an absolute gem, that strongly built on the first game in every way.
   
   I found the huge number of heroes and different paths to take their skills really quite enjoyable. Then there are the vast number of magical items you can find, craft or buy. The effect on the battlefield is substanital.
   
   The battles are simply gorgeous, with easily the best graphics I've seen in this style of game. The landscapes play a good role in the game, but more could have been made of these interesting maps. There is much more detail on them than in Total War.
   
   There is a decent mix of units and cavalry charges are working nicely. There are some interesting choices to be made on how you upgrade your units as well, as you can't do everything!
   
   The diplomacy was a nice twist, not hugely complex, but yet more choices on how to customise your units, recruit unique ones, or gain other effects.
   
   The story was solid and drove the game well all the way to the end. The campaign map is much bigger than in the first game and boats a deal more complexity in gameplay as well.
   
   Research is similar to the first but upgrading buidlings is far more decentralised, it's not just at your strongholds that you need to do this.
   
   The game did crash a few times for me, but I didn't find it really hindered things, it was just a case of replaying the odd battle. Yes, this was frustrating but I found the battles fun so no big issue.… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 3 users said Yes.
2. Freestyla

   8

   Ka2 is a tricky beast to review as it's proved somewhat divisive amongst its fans due to abandoning the open ended nature of the ka1's campaign in favor of a more driven campaign with new mechanics to reflect it. If you're looking for a "bigger and better" version of ka1 or a fantasy total war, you're not gonna find it here and king arthur 2 suffers badly from jilted expectations because of it (as is reflected in most reviews i've read so far). This game is best viewed as a spiritual successor to warhammer dark omen amongst others due to a strong campaign and though you might have the odd non scripted battle with a rival power for the most part you will be walking from story objective to story objective.
   
   Reflecting this narratively driven approach, the armies you can control are designated by the plot and the old kingdom management has been scraped due to being incompatible with the way the campaign works (most of your money comes from spoils of war rather then being the result of your yearly revenue) and this is another change that has annoyed players who like playing the economist and enjoyed the logistical challenges of ka1 in where the strength of your economy translated into the number of armies you had and how powerful they were (which had the result of producing ka1's notorious end game difficulty spike). You also progress in tiers at certain story points which automatically upgrades your army, gives you new choices and allows you to fight previously unbeatable armies. The tier system has been met with mixed success, it's a great pacing tool imo that works with the campaign approach but others feel it's dumbing down from ka1. Yet despite what some players say, the game isn't dumbed down due to the removal of kingdom management, quite the opposite, well actually I'll let you decide for yourself: in ka1 once you had your eco growing it was easy to research and build everything, the only real factor was in what order.
   In ka2 money isn't free and every purchase must be carefully considered on higher difficulty levels.
   Does the 2nd really sound dumber then having the money to do everything you want? It's less total war and more dark omen but can't call the 2nd one dumber for it.
   
   It's not like you build less in ka2, quite the opposite, whereas in ka1 construction was limited to your 3 strongholds in ka2 construction is all about your provinces and the locations within them, which then give buffs and bonuses to the army of the liegelord which is actually a deeper system overall then in ka1. Expanding on how ka2 is actually more complex on ka1, you now have access to artefact forge and can combine obsolete or just unwanted items to make your own (a very fun addition), you are now free to level up your units however you choose (in ka1 you were limited to investing 4 points max in any 1 area, and as max unit lvl was 10 this would mean most players would have all their melee units 4melee/4defence/2 stamina and non melee would be 4 archer/4defence/2 stamina) and units go to lvl15, Most welcome addition of all is extended diplomacy options that allow for added immersion as you interact with other powers and gain significant benefits from doing so too, enough to want you to be on good terms with them as they supply you with benefits, instead of merely conquering them (though that remains possible too).
   
   The battle system has been changed a bit too, there is now a "magic shield" to aborb or mitigate enemy spells and how much you want to invest in magical defences is a welcome strategical decision (you can just as easily focus on shattering the enemy shield with an offensive spellcaster, or find a balance between the 2, point being magic shield is a welcome addition to battles and adds a strategical layer) and then there's the addition of flying units who work well, moving and flying gracefully before swooping down on the enemy below or strafe with fire attacks in the case of dragons....
   I had great fun with ka2s tactical battles overall and see it as a marked improvement over ka1.
   
   Lastly I suppose I should speak about the visuals and "feel" of the game. Visuals are gorgeous for music, considering ka1's music was sublime, how ka2s music matches it is beyond me (I seriously love ka2s overworld map themes).. Not much to say here, ah yeh, some people complain this game runs badly on high powered rigs. I play this on my laptop and game runs fine (graphical settings on high) so can't really say anything about that.
   
   Bug wise the game has known 4 patches so far and personally, last bugs I had were gone with the latest patch. By comparison shogun 2 took me months before I could play it.
   
   In conclusion, the game is great if taken on its own merits. Expect fantasy total war or a bigger ka1 and you will be disappointed. Enter the game with an open mind or acknowledging that ka2 is more driven then open world and you will love this game.… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 3 users said Yes.
3. Triadx

   7

   Purchased this game on the Steam sales this last weekend, and have been hooked on this for a while now. For those of you who are familiar with the first King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame title, you won't find anything particularly new in this, in terms of core mechanics...which, for me, is a plus. I spent many hours playing the first King Arthur game. Drawn into the story campaign...and the fusion of Total War and Roleplaying Game elements kept me going for a long time, but never finished it since it was too much of a struggle due to the consistent barrage of the AI.
   
   The game however, is riddled with problems to this day (Patch 1.1.07). Far too many bugs are being discussed on forums, as well as, instability of performance, and just general glitches in both, Campaign and Battles.
   
   On a positive note. The inclusion of a narrator has improved the overall feel of immersing the player with the storyline in the campaign. Graphics are absolutely breath-taking (with some emphasis) to look at. Even though, I personally have performance issues on the highest settings, even if you set it to low, it still looks absolutely amazing...a joy to look at when ending your turn, moving from season to season.
   
   Overall, I still think this game is worth a purchase when it's on sale next. People with 32-bit computers should stay away since it's currently not working at all (Should change in the future, so try and keep updated prior a purchase). I give this a 7 out of 10...would give it a 8 otherwise if it was more stable.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.
4. Gene

   4

   If you want a fantasy Total War game do not buy this. The combat is anemic and simply not fun. Most of the nuance that made TW great is completely missing, No morale, routs, or fatigue. In stead you get anemic battles of attrition and "puzzle maps" where you have to slog your way through capture point to capture point. This is a puzzle based RTS with a turn based campaign map. I found myself auto-skipping most combats, but once in a while the game finds some lame story based battle that I can't skip. The game thinks I need to see this, I beg to differ. The campaign is sort of fun, but considering that I got this game with the intention of doing the battles, I just don't see the rest of the package being worth the money.… Expand

   • Helpful? 5 of 10 users said Yes.

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