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Medieval: Total War

EMAIL PRINT pc

8.4 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 30 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Creative Assembly

Genre(s): Real-Time Strategy

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: August 20, 2002

Summary

It opens with the preaching of the first Crusade in 1095. It ends with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. What happens in between is up to you. Guide your kingdom's fortunes through a period of brutal conflict and violent social upheaval. Lay siege to mighty fortresses as you command vast armies across the battlefields of Europe and North Africa. But be careful when forming alliances - and even more so when choosing enemies. For this is Total War: a world where empires fall even faster than they rise, and the penalty for fear is your life. [Activision]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Medieval: Total War - Viking Invasion Rome: Total War Shogun: Total War Shogun: Total War Warlord Edition

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

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

Adrenaline Vault

No other game can be properly compared to it.

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100

Computer Gaming World

Exceeds its predecessor in almost every way... A fantastic historical strategy game. [Dec 2002, p.114]

100

G4 TV

An uncompromising game in its presentation, scope, and challenge level. It's well-made, intricate, functional, and deadly, much like the weaponry of that distant time.

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PC Format

Strategy game of the year, perhaps of the millennium.

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Game Informer

The scope is magnificent, and like "Shogun: Total War," conflict has really taken on this type of epic feeling for me. [Oct 2002, p.93]

TotalGames.net

Almost perfectly executed, there is so much to depth to Medieval Total War that only years of play can adequately discover. But take our word for it, this is a cracker!

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PC Gameworld

An extraordinarily engaging gaming experience more suited to experienced gamers.

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Gaming Age

An absolute must-buy to any fan of turn-based strategy or real-time strategy. The mechanics are sound, the atmosphere is spot-on, and the scale of the battles is truly epic.

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Yahoo! Games

Best of all, AI plays the game well and playing as different kingdoms and religions makes for a different game each time you load it up.

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Electric Playground

One of the truly rare games which induces that special kind of gaming exhaustion caused by sleeping two or three pitiful hours at night (while you dream about the game) before getting up to do it all over again.

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All Game Guide

The tactical battle sequences have also been improved, giving players a wonderful war simulation promising months of gory action.

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Total Video Games

A pleasant surprise and proves to be one of the best strategy games on the market, with vast and epic battles complete with an impressive system that goes ten times further than the most.

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IGN

If you want real time strategy with more teeth you cannot ignore this.

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Gamer's Pulse

I called "Shogun" the closest thing I had seen to a perfect game, well Medieval: Total War improves on that achievement and delivers one of, if not the best strategy gaming out there.

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GameSpy

A very deep game, one that is bound to excite fans of Shogun along with anyone looking for another reason to stay up really late playing a turn-based strategy game.

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ActionTrip

A well-conceived and intelligent game...The idea of total war is taken to another level, as Medieval: Total War clearly shows that total war is not all about brute force - quite the contrary.

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GameSpot

Achieves that rare quality of having something for nearly all strategy gamers, and most will find a lot to like in it, for a very long time.

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GameZone

The game AI is quite good, and regardless of the difficulty level you select, you will find this to be a challenging game.

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FiringSquad

We criticized "Shogun" for a few quirks in the interface, but generally it was very clean. Now, those same quirks have bit its sequel in the ass with a vengeance.

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Gamers' Temple

Although the strategic aspect of the game is merely average, this game can be recommended based on the strength of its incredible real-time battles.

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PC Gamer

It's highly addictive (I've played at least 50 hours and still want more), and the variety of factions gives it a LOT of replayability. [Dec 2002, p.96]

Game Over Online

This type of strategy title is not going to appeal to everyone. It’s peaceful, pleasant; a sorbet pallet cleanser between action titles, if you find yourself looking for such a thing.

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GamerWeb PC

The overall graphics of Medieval Total War are nice, but nothing spectacular, although, it should be said that the absolute addictiveness of the game play will have you overlooking the lackluster look.

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Cheat Code Central

It's as good as a game as you're likely to get if you enjoy the Shogun style of strategy games with real time combat.

netjak

Boring landscapes, crummy models, and weak animation. On top of that, it chugs. It's the worst of both worlds, baby!

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 30 User Votes

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

Nick R gave it a9:
Great simulator , very fun. Large scope , wonderful graphics. I have not had any bug problems which seem to have plagued many people. Multiplayer is amazingly fun. Bullet Physics is awesome. Love that it is not run and gun but slow and deliberate tactics in gun battles.

Ted Bundy gave it a10:
Though it desperately could use a patch for modern systems, as it crashes on post 8 series of Nvidia cards -- it's still the best Total War game to date. Everything that was released after this became bloated, shined up and streamlined for the graphic whore children of today. The classic game board style, while not offering as many specific placements as the newer games, had a great design and Risk-like charm of its own that's sorely missing with all the newer mediocre games CA keep churning out. The AI was also superior to its sequels in the campaign map and with the XL mod, this game will last you for ages. If you have an older PC or video card, stick with this one.

Jonas H gave it a9:
The first turn-based strategy game I actually enjoyed. Even though I play Medieval 2 today, I still tend to play a quick campaign in this one once in a while.

Fred D. gave it a0:
It is a horrible game, it makes age of the empires seem good, the pawns are hard to manuever and the graphics are horrible.

Arto T. gave it a6:
The reviews are far too optimistic as games are usually reviewed asap from release... the problems of the game are evident with a few campaigns. While the Battle map (or RTS) part of the game is great, the turn based strategy part is full of problems such as lousy AI especially in economy which won't build much units to resist you, or build new techs, and diplomacy that simply does not make sense. Also archers are way underpowered, shooting at a mass of unarmored peasants with about 1 of 20 arrows killing.

John B. gave it a10:
The best ever game throughout history of PC games...

Mafia Guy gave it a 10:
This is excellent - a great game to play (for those that like to play strategy games)!

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Medieval: Total War

Game Info

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