mount and blade my review :D
Mount & Blade may be the best game about medieval life ever made. Granted, games about the medieval era are few and far between, but they usually focus on adventure or strategy. In comparison, it's difficult to easily describe Mount & Blade, but it's a bit like a medieval version of Sid Meier's Pirates. It is part action game, where you can ride into battle, swinging a sword to hack your opponents. It's part role-playing, as you control a character that can level up, learn more skills, and even climb the ladder of feudal society. It is part strategy game, as you hire and train a company of soldiers that fight alongside you in battles. And it all takes place in an open world where you choose to be as noble or as dastardly as you want to be.
While obviously inspired by medieval history, the game is set on a somewhat random fantasy world full of kingdoms that spend a lot of time warring with one another; the setting could have been ripped from any generic fantasy novel. This lack of presentation is also evident in the early parts of the game; you're simply dropped into the world with little guidance or preparation. Still, if you stick with it you'll slowly discover a world full of tensions, trade, and warfare.
And so begins a long journey as you try and work your way up the social ladder of a feudal system. There are bandits, looters, and deserters to hunt down; you not only get money, but also loot that can be traded as well as experience points that let you level up your character and your troops. Your troops themselves start as raw recruits, but as they gain experience you can promote them to specialized roles, such as archers, spearmen, veterans, and lancers. The only downside with that is the more experienced a soldier, the higher a weekly wage he demands, so there's a constant need to generate income so you have enough to pay your troops. Even feeding your troops is important, as having a diverse amount of chow boosts their morale, and having no chow at all is also a big problem.
On a down note, the game's production values range from decent to primitive. Character models are awkward up close; you notice things such as necks sticking weirdly out of torsos. Yet in battle the fluid animation makes it almost thrilling to engage in a horseback pursuit. The fights themselves are the best looking part of the games, but the world map and the paper doll character interfaces are downright crude, looking like they belong to games 10 or 15 years in the past, though, on the plus side, everything loads quickly. Transitioning between battles, towns, and the world map only takes a few seconds. Sound effects are limited mainly to the clomping of horses' hooves and the clanging of swords. The music tries to inject some color and variety into things, but its synthesizer roots feel out of place for the subject matter
