Thousands of troops gather on the wretched enemy soil.  The infantry clang their swords against their shields in an attempt to scare the oncoming enemy horde.  The archers aim their bows and fire, creating a storm of arrows.  Your cavalry advances toward the enemy flanks, charging them with their magnificent steeds.  10 Minutes pass, and all that’s left from the bulk of the two clashing sides are bodies.  Blood soaks the once emerald green grass like a carpet, and the ravages of war can be viewed at full force.  All of this, and much, much, more can be found in Medieval: Total War.  

Medieval: Total war is a game of strategy, tangling webs of alliances, politics, and most importantly, war.  It is about commanding hundreds of historically accurate soldiers into war, recreating battles that remind us of the scenes in the Lord of the Rings movies.  It has taken a big step from its original game, Shogun: Total War, where you control one of the power hungry warlords in feudal Japan .  By having added a ton of new graphics, and a plethora of units historical to medieval history, it makes the game seem realistic.  In the beginning, you select one of fourteen different empires, all having one goal.  The complete and utter control of Europe .  In the game’s Campaign mode, you must move your troops around like pieces in a game of Risk.  But this is only one part of the campaign; the other is when you actually command the troops in the battle.  Calculating the odds of how well your archers will stand up to an armored foe, and trying to capture the high ground before your enemy, will leave you immersed in the game world, hooking you instantly.  The strategic implements of the game are astounding, and forces players to create a strategy in order to survive the bloodbath.  For instance, if you’re the attacker, the game lets you choose when to attack, so you can try to make a heavily archer reliant defender to fight in the rain, making their projectiles much less effective.  

But when not fighting, your attention is turned on to other important matters.  Alliances and diplomacy can both save you and bring you into war.  By having a good amount of friendly neighbors, it can spare you from an early death.  Many new things have been added to this very expansive game.  The map, for one thing, is 3 times bigger then the islands of Japan in the original, which makes the game a lot longer to win.  Religion has been expanded upon and depending on how religious a county is will determine if there will be a rebellion if another empire of a different religion takes it over.  Counties will also need careful attention to the buildings they build.  The game has things like blacksmiths and royal courts, which allow you to build different types of units in the county itself.  Armories, and sword smiths will boost the attack and defense power of your units that are built there, and resources like Iron, salt, and gold can also be used to boost your income, or to allow better units to be created. Having this in mind, capturing key areas with special resources will benefit you, but will also be in the eyes of the enemy as well.  

Although a strategists dream, Medieval: Total War has little flaws that can make the game less interesting.  For instance, Castle defenses are horrible, and arrows seem to magically come out of nowhere from wall tops, towers, and gatehouses.  They cut down the attacker’s troops slowly, and don’t really provide much defense at all.  Another downside is that the attacker can cut down enemy stone walls with swords and spears.  That doesn’t really make much sense now does it?  It makes the castle assault portions seem like an enhanced version of Age of Empires.  There are no battering rams, siege towers, or (Gasp) burning oil!!  Aside from that, the graphics aren’t that amazing.  They can be deceiving when you zoom all the way out, but when you zoom in and look at your men, they look pretty bad.  

Besides the lack of key siege engines and godlike graphics, Medieval: Total War is one game any strategy lover must have in his/her collection.  It has death, destruction, massive armies, micromanagement, and strategic implements that make the game as excellent as a strategy game can get.  It takes the idea of having hundreds fight hundreds from its original game, and brings it back to life on a much larger battlefield.