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Medieval II: Total War

EMAIL PRINT pc

8.6 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 39 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 140 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Creative Assembly

Genre(s): Real-Time Strategy

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: November 14, 2006

Summary

Medieval 2: Total War boasts an impressive array of new graphical and gameplay enhancements, including the capability for a massive 10,000 dynamic characters to be taken into battle at any one time. On top of this, The Creative Assembly have implemented a fully redesigned multiplayer mode that offers a dynamic multi-battle campaign bolstered by an unprecedented level of visceral combat choreography that reflects the brutality of medieval warfare. Set in the most turbulent and bloody era in European history, Medieval 2: Total War allows gamers to lead their armies across the battlefields of Europe and the Holy Land before discovering the Americas and doing battle with the fearsome Aztecs. Medieval 2: Total War offers a vastly enhanced terrain model to create new graphically rich environments portraying breathtaking cliff top castles and enhanced settlement features that are unique to each civilisation. [Sega]

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GAMES: Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms Medieval: Total War

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What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Times Online

An exceptional game that brings history alive with enormous flair and clarity.

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PC Gameworld

What’s really most interesting about all of these changes, however, is that you now need to pay attention to all major aspects of the game to win, even at lower difficulty levels.

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Games Master UK

A kingly mixture of action and strategy - not only a top RTS but the PC game of the year. [Christmas 2006, p.76]

PC Gamer UK

Mesmerisingly challenging... If there's another wargame that blends geopolitics with tactics this brilliantly, or portrays war so memorably, then I'm unaware of it... The new king of wargames. [Dec 2006, p.56]

Pelit (Finland)

Take the contents and theme from Medieval. Mix them with eye candy from "Rome," add some spice and you have a winner on your hands. [Dec 2006, p.82]

Strategy Informer

This is the latest and most outstanding title in the Total War franchise, any history RTS buff or fan of the series would be psychotically imbalanced should they choose to pass on this.

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Game Informer

There is a metric ton of game to be enjoyed here, and I heartily recommend it to anyone with a lick of interest in the subject matter. Small annoyances, like a mediocre overworld interface and the occasional unit AI breakdown in the RTS battles, are nowhere near enough to diminish this game’s overall genius.

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Next Level Gaming

As a word of warning, if you were not ready for a long haul then I would recommend playing the shorter campaign; the big one is an epic.

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PC Zone UK

While the slightly glitched real-time battles may not be all that much different from Rome's, and naval battles and new multiplayer options are still conspicuous by their absence, there's simply no way that any selfrespecting strategy fan can spend this Christmas doing anything other than rampaging across the world on a whirlwind of medieval conquest.

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PC Gamer

A bigger, prettier, and more addictive game that leaves even the series' most recent efforts in the dust...If you think "Rome: Total War's" battles looked good, especially for the number of units on-screen at once (i.e., thousands), Medieval II will blow you away. [Dec 2006, p.28]

Eurogamer

Though familiar, MTWII is breathtaking in its depth, fiendishly challenging in all the right ways and a big old phlegmy spit right in the eye of anything else foolish enough to claim ownership of the strategy crown.

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PC Format

A bewigged, flouncing, educational "Rome." Wonderful stuff. [Christmas 2006, p.88]

GamePro

Best viewed as a refinement on an already phenomenal product.

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Games Radar (in-house)

One of the best strategy games of the year, and arguably one of the best ever.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

Grand, ferocious and full of drama, the battle elements combine with Medieval’s excellent take on diplomacy to create a fully-rounded experience – one that will pay off for years to come.

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Boomtown

The best PC strategy game I've played for ages, since Rome: Total War in fact. Even if you aren't entirely happy about the period covered, it being something of a retread, there's so many new features and depth in this release to make any comparison with the first Medieval: Total War rather pointless.

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ActionTrip

The variety of units is amazing and it's easy to get caught up in multiplayer skirmishes. Granted, infrequent AI bugs may cause a few annoying moments, but that can easily be fixed with an update in the near future.

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Worth Playing

The beautiful visuals and the turgid music and sound coalesce to create epic battles.

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Sydney Morning Herald

Breathtaking in scale, Medieval II will keep you glued to the screen.

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GameSpot

"Epic" doesn't quite begin to describe the scope and scale of the latest Total War game--there's a lot of strategic depth, with plenty of amazing combat to enjoy.

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IGN

It's true that the developers really missed an opportunity to rework the interface but the graphics upgrade and new campaign options are more than enough to satisfy the legions of Total War fans.

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Gamers' Temple

What strategy gamer wouldn’t want to lead thousands of armored knights onto the field of battle?

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Game Chronicles

The gameplay and graphics are really very good and the value is through the roof here.

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GamingTrend

The relation between the actual battle in real time mode, and managing an empire in turn based mode, is pure bliss.

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Computer Games Online RO

Fans of the Dark Ages will definitely get a nice playing experience, and for them as well as for the rest of the RTS fans, Medieval 2 can easily be considered one of the best games this genre has to offer.

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FiringSquad

It’s probably the best game of the series despite its more modest score. It is more challenging, the battles are more interesting and balanced, and the graphics and sound are fantastic.

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Play Magazine

There's no better entry point to the "Total War" series than Medieval 2. [Jan. 2007, p.94]

PALGN

Medieval II: Total War would’ve easily been much more memorable if it wasn’t for a few questionable balancing and AI issues that sadly knock its spot from receiving a better score. It is still the most rewarding and exciting Total War experience though.

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Game Revolution

Despite some missed opportunities, Medieval II: Total War is still, hands-down, the best strategy game you can buy today. The scope is epic, the battles look legendary, and the increased use of non-military units and the smart incorporation of the politics of religion are welcome additions.

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GameShark

A success despite a few frustrations that pop up along the way and is a must buy for both fans of the Creative Assembly’s previous efforts as well as strategy fans in general.

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GamerNode

Overall, Medieval 2: Total War is an excellent real-time/turn-based strategy experience and definitely warrants a look, if not a sure-fire purchase, by fans.

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Game Over Online

The depth of the diplomacy, the many well-balanced factions, the intelligent layout of the interface, that all indicates to me a game design crew that really had its stuff together. While I don’t think as a game reviewer it would be appropriate for me to penalize a game for being too involved, I do think the pace of this game, the amount of plotting and planning versus the amount of payoff, is a little out of whack.

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Computer Games Magazine

Medieval II is a good game a couple of patches away from true greatness. As it stands now, it's a beautiful, well-crafted experience with some minor balance issues. [Feb. 2007, p.56]

GameDaily

There are still some strange artificial intelligence quirks in both the turn-based and real-time aspects of the game, and it appears that the Total War franchise is starting to steer away from more casual players who would prefer a little less realism in their game. Still, Medieval II presents a great challenge.

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games(TM)

This latest title in Creative Assembly's Total War franchise revisits the second game if the series and gives it a new lease of life thanks to a host of tweaks and revisions. [Christmas 2006, p.108]

GameSpy

Longtime fans of games like "Rome: Total War" may fault the game for not adding more, but if you're looking for a solid strategy title, Medieval II: Total War delivers.

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Edge Magazine

Aside from a very few niggling discrepancies, it’s an almost flawless experience – one which, having demanded a heavy investment of both time and thought, richly pays off. [Christmas 2006, p.83]

Play.tm

A wonderful achievement both technically and, more importantly, in the level of historical detail that it contains.

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1UP

A lot of bang for the bullion -- whether you crave a detailed toy-soliders-in-1197-AD simulator or a complex, rewarding Civ-style strategy game, this Total War is a total package.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 140 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chmero gave it a6:
Well, first of all, the problem in sieges where infantry will fan out when ordered to attack so only 5 guys at a time go at the enemy, archers on top of walls or inside the city fire 3-7 arrows and usually in random directions, making ranged combat while defending virtually impossible. I get the whole cavalary charge thing, makes perfect sense, but why the hell can't they take down routed enemies? I have to tell them to move past the fleeing enemy, and when they're on top of them, then tell them to attack so that they actually do anything. Also, cavalary has the same problem as infantry while inside cities, they fan out in a cloud when ordered to attack. Other than those bugs, the game is divine.

Iain gave it a10:
Pure fantastic strategy, need I say anymore...? Essential.

j p gave it a9:
Good game, bravo!, but no Rome:Total War.

Lysander S gave it a3:
Horrible. Compared to RTW, this game is terrible. Cavalry have become nothing more than targets for enemy archers to waste arrows on. No longer can you charge down an enemy. No longer can you charge down a ROUTING army. Cavalry are incredibly slow, and tend to glitch between having lances out, and having swords out. Then there's the fact that most units, ESPECIALLY in seiges, will ignore your orders, and a handful of the group will run in circles. The addidtions and changes from RTW can be counted on one hand. Useless princesses, which are like terrible diplomats, castles, which aren't exactly worth it other than for their millitary units, the pope, which is like a more annoying Sennate (SPQR). Diplomacy is terrible at best, but the campaign can be fun if you can learn to forget all of the horrible bugs.

Tom gave it a10:
People are complaining about 'buggy' cavalry, when really it is fixed. I was stumped at first, until i worked out the new formed/unformaed charge system. In rome a cavalry unit could be charging one way, and quickly turn around and smash into an enemy flank, without stopping. Is this realistic? in med2 a charge has to have time to gather speed, and stay fairly straight to be effective, and I much prefer this........ to the idiotic AI, simply put the difficulty to very hard/very hard, and you will have bigger armies coming at you while your supposedly 'equal' troops are inferior, and that erquires some clever tactics. good times, brilliant game.

Meatcritic gave it a3:
Unforgivable bugs make the game nearly unplayable. Veterans of Shogun: Total War will remember units ignoring orders issued to the unit group. Well, 3 releases later, CA still hasn't figured it out. AI is practically incapable of launching a siege, typically knocking down the first ring of walls and not bothering to move on to rings 2 and 3. Once repelled, the sieging attackers stop their rout just outside the city walls, making you hunt them down one by one before victory is declared. Cavalry doesn't charge or run down fleeing enemies; infantry units fan out into large clouds when ordered to attack, creating a front line consisting of 5-10% of the unit; AI battle strategy seems to consist of standing still, being picked apart by arrows, and trampled to death from the front, rear, and sides as you visibly march your armies around its forces. Difficult to believe the game underwent minimal (if any) beta testing. Sega should have released a flexible engine and allowed the mod community to design the rest. (Did I mention a bugfix mod exists solely to correct critical errors CA was too lazy to fix? One community member even sent CA a corrected version of the game files, and the developers still implemented the fix incorrectly in the patches.) Do not buy, and don't buy Empire: Total War until you've played a bit of the game and can verify the same mistakes aren't repeated for a 5th time.

Pete F gave it a9:
This game is great, it is adventurous and exciting, it captures your imagination and in the mean time lets you command and kill thousands of soldiers. My only complatint is the AI is sometimes retarted and the campeign can be slow. Besides that its like being right there in the heart of a battle.

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Medieval II: Total War

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