Pretty good game, has taken the series one step into farther into the future. However, I liked the setting of the first one better, and even though the world is bigger in this one, the landscape seems a little bland. Overall, it's a good improvement to the series. 4/5

"With Fire and Sword" is a professionalized standalone modification of "Mount and Blade: Warband". It replaces the generic medieval setting of Warband with a fictional historical setting of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century. The setting is based on novels of a Polish author from the late 19th century. Apart from a historical map, the game also introduces historically plausible missions, which will force the player to to choose sides between the competing factions.

Unfortunately, the gameplay options have been reduced. It is not possible to build one's own faction, or to even play a female character, and the character generation has been simplified. Therefore I wouldn't call "With Fire and Sword" an expansion to Warband (it adds to the story, but cuts off several gameplay elements), neither would I call it a sequel (the mod from which it originated was at first based on "Mount and Blade", then ported to "Mount and Blade: Warband", so at best we have a form of parallel development). The game should be called a "professionalized mod", this would also prevent disappointment from players who expected an actual sequel or expansion, done by the original developers.

Arguably the biggest change in "With Fire and Sword" is the introduction of guns into the battles. Soldiers are now much, much more vulnerable than before, and this calls for a completely different set of tactics than those that worked well in "Warband".

In the end, "With Fire and Sword" is a mixed bag. The historical setting and the introduction of guns are a refreshing change, but the game does not play significantly better than many other well-designed mods for Warband (which are available for free). If you liked "Warband", then "With Fire and Sword" is certainly worth a look, but don't expect more than it is.

I didn't really enjoy this game because i am more of a sword and armor person. the graphics are bad, but you can ignore them. The reason i gave this 4 stars is because of the multiplayer with friends. I must have a sunk a good 30 hours in on it alone. It's really rewarding when you can coordinate your team and get the right balance to win a match. it's even more rewarding when you just win out of pure luck. Overall i would recommend this game but i would also get warband.

I am a huge fan of the M&B games. This one is good, but adds an element to warfare that is completely different than Mount & Blade or its expansion, Warband. Guns make speed very important. Standing still is out of the question in this game. It is more demanding on the computer for graphics. I think it makes a nice addition to the M&B game for those that want the gunpowder experience. I still enjoy the hand-to-hand combat of medieval warfare and find it more appealing from the first two titles than this one.

WFIS is an interesting shake-up of the classic Mount&Blade gameplay. I'm not a fan of the real world setting personally, but your mileage may vary. More importantly, the addition of firearms really changes the combat mechanic. Make Warband your first M&B game, but WFIS is great when you want to shake things up a bit.

Really interesting add-on that lets you use guns a lot more. New kingdoms to boot give the game a new feel, and the new map looks nice as well.

Has some cool new features to interst old players of MB.

I recommend this to anyone looking for a new challenge in the MB universe.

its a glorious game if you like pistols and muskets! i love the swedish musketeers on this game mostly because of the uniform, anyway, it doesn't live up to its name in mod terms because they're not many mods for it where as mount and blade warband does. still its a fun game.

I'm a sucker for nonlinear action or action/RPG games and absolutely love the Mount & Blade series. This third instalment of the series brings the additions of Firearms and battle formations to game to help you in fight to control Eastern Europe. These two new elements really add to the game play and gives it a different feel to the first two games. If you enjoyed the first two games in the series get this one you won't regret it.

This is a pretty good game. It has both RPG and strategy game elements to it and there are a good number of options of things you can do. The combat system is also pretty interesting. It's certainly not a historically accurate game as it is relatively easy for you and your little band of guys to basically conquer most of Eastern Europe and you obviously won't get AAA-quality graphics but just those looking for a bit of fun could do a lot worse than this game.

This is honestly not worth your money. Just get mount and blade warband and download a mod that adds guns as this is just a poor effort and seems unfinished.

It was a very nice idea to include some "shooting" action on the series. It really brings a different experience, although you could shoot with bows & arrows on it's predecessors. There's a big big difference between a crossbow and a rifle. Get the point??? Now GET THE GAME and join us online!!!

The game is fun for a while, but I'd recommend it mainly to people who are enthusiastic about the time period it is in.I'd go for Napoleonic wars if you simply wish to fire muskets,cannons,mortar, although this has a large variety of melee weapons and guns.Also be prepared to be shot alot in multiplayer, so you will need patience, i find melee much easier in the mods multiplayer.

If judged by the other games in the series, this has fallen a little short of the mark. While it does still seem like Warband or the original at heart, the addition of guns is a little ridiculous. Do not be surprised if you're killed in one shot by these and, while realistic, it doesn't exactly make for the most exciting fights.

All in all, if you get this in a bundle, fine, but it isn't really worth its full price on its own.

This game is an adaptation of a famous historical novel. This world is especially apt for the Mount and Blade game mechanics. It effectively balances the historical/literary plot points with the player’s freedom to act. Some quests can become repetitive but overall it is a fine addition to the series.

Fairly poor mount and blade game. Warband is certainly the best mount and blade game thus far. This game seems to lack content and the textures manage to be on par with the original mount and blade. There's a lot more focus on story than in the previous games and the use of gunpowder and firearms makes for a nice change. This game IS based on a book and somewhat historically accurate.

Overall this is worthy purchase if you're looking for a change from knights in shining armour.

This game is att very fun and adiccting game, that let you take the roll as a soldier in the middel 1600. You are in the middel of a war between diffrent nations, it's the 30 year war. It's a game for them ho like open world rpg ther your can controll big armys and take over castles and destroy village. Its a game that i rekommend for them ho like rpgs

Its mount and blade, with all the awesomeness that entails, but with some added features. for instance, guns and explosives have been brought out. This adds many elements to the game that make things much more interesting. Insta death, for instance :( All in all, a good game, but my personal favorite M&B is Warband.

While more of a mod for Mound & Blade, the new map and introduction of firearms really change the basic experience of M&B somewhat. The single player campaign still ends up being a neverending grind(though better than the base game in story) but the multi is a great change of pase from what you may have been used to in previous M&B games.

This game is most fun to just play on multiplayer with some friends but also to do the missions on singleplayer. To go on with your friends and to hold out in a barn with muskets shooting people down is a lot of fun. I would recommend to play this with other people because the multiplayer is one of the biggest parts of this game for me.

Mount and blade itself was an amazing game, but with fire and sword is a great addition to mount and blade collection. Introducing guns and other forms of firearms and artillery create a completely different game that only enhances the original game. Also the story is a little more interesting than the original game. The only downside that I saw in the game was that it is very difficult at first, especially if you are used to the original game, using the guns is kind of tricky at first. Overall though this is an incredible game and is a must have for any mount and blade fan.

It's a great new version of the good old Mount&Blade! Gun powder weapons bring a whole new aspect to the battlefield and makes the fighting little bit more challenging for the player. Bullets hurt a lot more than arrows. Also bringing the game world from fantasy to history is a good choice and makes the game more interesting. Highly recommended!

I very recently got into the Mount and Blade franchise, starting with the original game and moving into Warband and finally Fire & Sword. I think the entire franchise is great, and I love the idea of leading a band of mercenaries across the eastern European landscape, pillaging if I've not a lord to fill my coin-purse.

Unfortunately, I find that adding firearms to the game made for... a rather broken aspect of the game. With the charging lances of heavy cavalry falling rapidly to a few accurate ranks of musket-fire, the game really shows you why the knights of old went extinct.

All in all, I think it's a great game, not as good as Warband, but that's simply because I prefer the combat without firearms.

I love Mount and Blade and this one is also fantastic. However, it's not as good as Warband - the combat just doesn't have the same feel with guns involved. I'll stick with Warband, but it's still a very good game to have and multiplayer is tons of fun.

I did not enjoy this game as musch as Mount and Blade Warband.

I found the single player campaign to be a little tedious and not heroic enough for my liking (having a scenario realy limits the sandbox feeling). The firearms and grenades are nice additions but experienced players will need to change their approach to combat a LOT, losing is far easier.

The multiplayer part is quite good and enjoyable.

My suggestion id that if you enjoyed M&B or warband and want to try something different then you should try this out.

There is an active community supporting this game. There are lots of unique mods and enhancements available. Make sure you keep your game up to date; in order to play on the servers you have to have the same game version. The ability to export/import your character helps in the event of a patch rendering your game save unplayable. The try before you buy download is pretty nice. You can get the full version of the game for free, but there's a level cap unless you purchase it for $15. If you're used to the freedom of Warband you may want to pass this one up. The storyline is about 20-30 hours long and ends abruptly so you cannot play your game after the last quest is completed. If you have the original Mount and Blade and want to try the multiplayer for a reasonable price I would recommend getting this. I have seen sales as low as $20 for both Warband and Fire and Sword.

What makes the games in this series stand head and shoulders above anything else I've ever played is the developer's amazing sensitivity to period architecture. When you walk around one of the buildings and look at it you quickly realize that the game is inspired by what you'd find in the 17th century, not by a fantasy computer game knock off. In the earlier Mount and Blade games you could tell that the designers really loved old castles -- I had assumed that this was because in Turkey there are many opportunities to see the real thing. But in With Fire and Sword they have captured the feel of Eastern European village architecture with a vengeance. When you play this thing you know you're there, and some of those villages look so convincing that you half expect Tevye to stumble out from behind one of the buildings singing 'Tradition'.

There's a lot that's familiar with how this plays if you've played the earlier games. Those, unfortunately, were set in a fantasy environment that lacked a lot of resonance, even if the models they were drawing on was obvious. That was a serious weakness in the earlier games. Here, however, you're firmly grounded in a real time and place, and what a time and place it is. If you haven't read the book, go out and rent the movie: not only will you love it, your girlfriend will like it too. And you don't know what swagger means until you've seen Cossack infantry march out to fight Polish winged Hussars.

The beauty of the game is that it allows you to live in Sienkiewicz' world, and it's a world that is as colorful, engrossing and complex as Tolkien's Middle Earth, only it's real.

The other thing that should be mentioned is that not only is the combat great, but one of the really unique things about this engine is the horsemanship. You end up doing a lot of mounted combat, and I don't know of any other game that handles it as well.

I wont lie, this game to me is horrible! I loved the first two mount and blades. However I cannot get over the fact that this game seems like it is going backwards. I feel as though this game could have easliy been modded by one of the many great modders for mount and blade warband. Now becuase I like Mount and blade I was going to give this a 4, however becuase I feel like this game didnt improve at all from warband I take 2 away. I suggest you get mount and blade warband and download some of the awesome musket mods and you will find there isnt that much different between this game and a good mod for warband.

Ein wirklich gigantisches Spiel - abseits des normalen RPG-Erlebnisses.

Man sucht sich seine Verbündeten frei aus, erstellt sich seine eigene kleine Armee und kämpft für oder gegen diejenigen, welchem einen nicht zusagen.

Unglaublich viele politische Ereignisse bestimmen das Spiel - und das eigene Verhalten nimmt großen Einfluss darauf.

Für RPG Fans eine völlig neue Erfahrung - auch wenn die Grafik vielleicht nicht mehr Up-to-Date ist.

eine ausführliche Review demnächst auf: www.game-kritik.net

Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword is a stand-alone expansion of Mount & Blade.

It has many aspects in common with the orignal game, but the setting is completely different. The open-world map now depicts eastern europe during the 17th century, not a medieval-like invented land. But the main difference from the other game is surely the presence of firearms. Muskets, carbines, pistols and grenades change dramatically the battles gameplay and force the player to study new tactics.

Although the system is almost identical, in taverns and towns you'll find new companions and NPCs and the factions are historically accurate.

En esta ocasión vamos a analizar la nueva expansión para Mount & Blade que nos ha dado Taleworlds, With fire & sword. Si queréis ver el anterior análisis de la expansión Warband podéis hacerlo en el número 6 de nuestra revista.

CONTENIDO

Mount & Blade podríamos decir que al menos de momento es único en su género y es por esto el gran éxito que está teniendo, pero deberían tener cuidado porque ya no es como en sus inicios que era solo para los pocos afortunados que lo encontraran, ahora ya lo distribuyen de forma mayoritaria, por lo que deberían cuidarlo un poco más, ya que gráficamente no es la bomba precisamente, y la banda sonora y los sonidos varios, aunque acorde con el juego tampoco presenta muchas novedades lo que finalmente puede hacer que la gente termine cansándose de él o que salga algún competidor que se lleve sus jugadores.

Una vez dicho esto pasemos a hablar de las novedades de esta expansión que por desgracia no son muchas. La principal y posiblemente la más aclamada sea la inclusión en el juego de las armas de fuego, ya sea pistolas, mosquetes, granadas, etc…, algunas de las cuales dado su gran dimensión también pueden usarse como armas cuerpo a cuerpo dado el caso. La ventaja de estas armas nuevas es sin duda la gran potencia que tienen, llegando a matar a cualquier enemigo de un solo golpe si consigues alcanzarle claro. La pega es la velocidad de recarga que es muy lenta, dándole realismo al juego y además evitando la posibilidad que seamos “dioses” invencibles. La mejor forma de usar estas nuevas armas es con las tropas, una buena unidad de arcabuceros pueden hacer estragos en cualquier campo de batalla.

La otra novedad que nos trae esta expansión es la adición de una nueva campaña basada en la novela de Henry Sienkiewicz The Black Hetman, todo ello ambientado en la Europa del Este del s. XVII, lo cual implica un cambio de mapa aunque la estructura del mismo será igual que la del Warband, así que no notaremos grandes diferencias que nos descoloquen.

También destacar que han añadido misiones que siguen una historia, que si bien no son obligatorias, es un buen toque que no limita nuestra libertad si no que le da una nueva forma de jugar.

Respecto al modo online no se ha añadido prácticamente nada excepto un par de modos nuevos de juego.

CONCLUSIÓN

Mount & Blade With Fire & Sword se basa en la idea de que si algo funciona por que cambiarlo, pero aunque de momento parece funcionar no sé hasta qué punto seguirá haciéndolo así que más vale que Taleworlds se ponga las pilas.

Respecto al juego nueva campaña, nuevas armas y muchas más horas de diversión.

Creative Future, buscanos en internet

actually if you had Mount and Blade Warband, this is just a small expansion. The difference would be in the art of musket / firearms fighting. They need different strategy and tactics to employ.

Unlike those easy setting for Mount and Blade vanilla, this one required many cunning trade mission to grow coins.

If you're new to the games, Mount and Blade is an RPG open ended with blend of tactical and strategy. You can go anywhere, buy anything, loot, or be a lord of a castle. It's really a good RPG - strategy game of the genre.

Feels more like an expansion than another game. There are great mods out there for Warband that are better than Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword.

I like the addition of firearms to this Mount and Blade game, It also felt a little harder to pick up the combat mechanics in this one. Still same concept with the open world not very much changes from the first two installments. I wish they would of gone with a completely different setting like feudal Japan because that would be so fun.

First of all this game is not, Mount & Blade Warband though there are some similarities. I initially didn't think that the addition of firearms would affect the game as much as it did but With Fire and Sword comes off as having quite a different feel to it than Warband. In With Fire and Sword, there are no more arenas to practice in and earn that helpful little bit of beginning cash and no more training fields either. Personally I feel that they could have left some training fields in, it would have helped to have an area where you could practice shooting firearms since it is a new element to the game. However I find firearms actually pretty easy to get used to even from horseback, their aim is tighter than bows or crossbows and it is not difficult to shoot someone riding toward you from horseback. I really like this game, don't dismiss it because of its differences from Warband, give yourself some time with it to get used to earning money in different ways and using firearms. I feel that With Fire and Sword is a nice compliment to Warband but I wouldn't have wanted it to be the first Mount & Blade game that I had played. They do not waste very much time at all on a tutorial in this game and having learned how to use swords, pole-arms and the like in Warband was a great help to enjoying this game. My recommendation is play With Fire and Sword, just play Warband first, and that will enhance the enjoyment of both games.

If You liked original M&B, You may be little disapointed. What is changed most in comprasion to original is weapon. You may use muskets, pistols and other firearms but also among enemies this kind of weapon is common. Parties of game are unbalanced. Swedish party has a many firearmed troops and in beginning they are unbeatable. Polish Commonwealth is weak and rest of team is based on horse-troops. It is hard to use them to storming walls and castles. It is also hard to join some party - You have to made very hard missions before You will be able to join some force. Originakl M&B was easier in this case. But rest is this same - You travelling, gather forces, stroming castles, making quests, etc.

Originally a mod from different company WFaS was picked up by Taleworlds and made into proper expansion. The initial release was flooded with insane amount of game breaking bugs but as usual they were eradicated with patches (mostly). SP offers more story oriented gameplay which is fun and interesting with lots of new or altered features. But where WFaS really shines is MP as it adds new depth to the MP known from Warband if maybe not yet balanced enough but that will surely improve over time. I definitely recommend it!

Although I wish they would have stuck with the old minion advancement, I must say that this is truly a fun game and worth purchasing. Its has hours and hours of core gameplay, which is my personal preference over the sharpest of graphics and such. I recommend this game to anyone who was interested enough to glance at it.

A gerat sequel to the other games, though it does remove some options from previous games. The battles are loads of fun and hopefully soon the modding community will start warming up. It has upgraded the graphics but not buy huge amounts, but still a hugely entertaining and enjoyable game. If you have played the previous games you have to get this one too.

the graphics have no difference with m & B warband.the biggest difference are you got guns now and to get soldiers you have to go to a mercenarie camp and its at the end of the medieval so its later in time. and if you are the lord of a castle you can talk the mayor to let new buildings get build and employ new people for al different jobs.

(sry for bad english i'm dutch)

The latest patch fix a lot of bugs and you can finally play as a female character if that's your stuffs.

A sandbox game with 70 soldiers to control on 3D battle with formation control and a lot more option for you as a commander to turn the tide of battle to your favor.

Get the tweak mod from taleworld website to increase the number of soldiers on battle till it bring your pc to it's knees.

http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?topic=101731.0

Once the developer released the source code to the community you'll be seeing fan made missions and mod on the website making this game to have a really high replay value!

If you're a fan of sandbox type of game then this is the game for you.

The game is cheap, with unlimited numbers of user made mission and mod to be expected in the near future. making it a really good bargain.

Mount & Blade - With Fire and Sword is the third title in the award-winning Mount & Blade series, known for its unique blend of first/third-person hack-and-slash sword-fighting action with strategy, character development and resource management.

For those who haven't played any of the games in the series, Mount & Blade offers a brilliant medieval fighting simulation, including mounted combat - something even advanced RPGs like the famed Elder Scrolls series hasn't achieved - without and magical elements. No healing potions, no protection spells, once you're hit, you lose health until you go down. Various weapons, limited only by the models and scripts in the game, are available, including bows and arrows, crossbows, thrown weapons, one and two handed weapons, spears and polearms, and lances for use from horseback. You can even use missile weapons from horseback with its own skill to track your ability at this uniquely-difficult combat discipline. Armour and shields of various types are all available.

This third title in the series moves away from the original concept a little, having a historical setting and real-world map. In this case, it's eastern Europe in the 17th century, the so-called pike-and-shot period. Gone are crossbows and replaced with early firearms. Pistols, carbines and muskets. Gone, also, are the thrown javelins and axes of earlier times, replaced with crude hand grenades, devastating area-effect weapons. Retained, of course, is the unique mix of foot and mounted combat with a variety of equipment. From dashing Three Musketeers-style characters with foppish outfits to the heaviest troops of the time, plate-armoured Reiters, you'll see men (and women sometimes) with all manner of gear and fighting styles.

The gameplay, though. With Fire and Sword is really just a mod for the original Mount & Blade. It was originally developed by some eastern European company and released in Poland and other eastern nations. It's since been polished and ported to Warband, but many of Warband's features are still absent. Gone is the weekly balance sheet, the ability to invest in a business in a city, marriage and feasts and all the political options Warband had. You're back to collecting your mercenary wages in person and your rent from any fief you own in person as well. New features, though, are mercenary camps featuring customisable troops for hire. You can hire troops from these camps and then, through a dialogue menu, change their equipment to suit your personal style. At a price, of course. Other new feaures are a story-driven quest series for three of the major factions - the Muscovite Tsardom, the Cossack Confederation and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - based on the novel of the same title as the game. You can also sponsor a caravan of goods to trade across the map, and this is really the only way to make real money. All equipment is insanely expensive and your rewards for fighting and taking prisoners are no greater than in the other games in the series. You'll make long thousands from trading, though, and this has attracted a lot of criticism.

Firearms are well-implemented, with some very nasty damage potential, but you'll either need a lot of practice or to be pretty close to hit your target. Some well-armoured men can take more than one bullet, as well, so be careful when taking on heavy Reiters with your pistol. Only pistols and carbines can be fire from horseback and use the mounted shooting skill. Muskets can only be fired on foot, but do the most damage. A line of musketeers can mow down most infantry opponents, and in good defensive terrain can even stop a cavalry charge. Backed with halberdiers and pikemen they're war-winning.

Also still available is the bow, and you can do well if you specialise in this. Only the Crimean Khanate faction uses bowmen in this setting, but stay friendly with them and you can hire hordes of horse archers for your army.

Another handy new feature is forming a wagon-circle. This makes it hard for cavalry attackers to get to your men, and your musketeers can then pick them off as they mill around the wagons. Provided you plug the entrance with pikemen, that is.

Village attacks are much harder now that even basic villagers own guns. Crude matchlocks may be near useless in open war, but two dozen determined Russian farmers using them can see off your elite Reiters if you're not careful.

All things considered, With Fire and Sword is a welcome break from the earlier times of Warband and the first Mount & Blade, but I'm not sure it warrants its price-tag for what you get. There are mods out there you can get for free that do much the same as this. Maybe something to use your Blue Coins on?

Je n'ai jamais joué aux précédents "Mount & Blade" mais je dois dire que la version "With fire & sword" est jouissive. On y joue pendant des heures sans s'en rendre compte. Un jeu a posséder donc, surtout à ce prix là.

Par contre il y a une chose que je trouve particulièrement agaçante, c'est le "pathfinding" plutôt mauvais. En effet il n'est pas rare lors des assauts de forteresses que les soldats restent coincé au sommet de l'échelle complètement incapable de trouver leur chemin. Le même problème se pose lors des batailles où un soldat va se mettre obstinément à courir contre un obstacle au lieu de le contourner. Espérons que cela soit corrigé lors d'un prochain patch.

Simple yet quite unique gameplay. For those who haven't played the original mount & blade, they will for sure be amazed by the combat mechanics.

I honestly prefer the more straightforward medievalesque sword bashing approach of the original Mount & Blade, however this game is still a nice addition.

I am sadly surprised to see that sieges are still very basic (basically you have predefined place from where you can assault a castle rather than breaching the wall wherever you want and try to get in), cities are still nice but however there is currently no use exploring them.

On the pro we have a uniquely amusing fighting mechanism, be it for one on one fights or army vs army.

However on the downside the game graphics are seriously starting to be outdated. The scenario is rather frugal and the game complexity (or sophistication I would say) is downright low. If you are looking for a unique fighting game you are good to go. If you think you will find some RPG element in this game just don't buy it.

The Mount & Blade series have given me more hours for the buck, than any other game ive played, and this game is no exception.

Build on the Warband engine, but following the game rules of the original Mount & Blade does pull it down a bit, because u cant get vassels when u own a kingdom, and you cant get married.

5/5

First things first : this is not an easy game. For 14,95€ , you will have an excellent return on investment. The multiplayer side of the game will provide that. The feeling is extremely different from what was provided by Mount & Blade Warband. This game is as well more serious... A straight bullet, a pike front of your horse, and you're dead... And easier to pick if you're new to the Warband series : pick up grenades, a musket, and you have a good chance to win, even if it is by luck... You need just one good shot. I must confess that I was unhappy with the solo campaign, which I found a bit too difficult. Instead of being in the heart of the melee as it was your role in Mount and Blade Warband, you find yourself trying to hide yourself from your foes bullets. You feel yourself being less of an hero... The second -historical- problem is that the firearms are inaccurate and slow to reload, which breaks a bit the rythm of the battle... You'll have to get accustomed to that before getting happiness from this game. Anyway, it's a great game. Get a look on it !

3.5 out of 5 in its current state (v1.139)

Not recommended, especially for veterans of warband. Wait for a sale if you have to try.

Whoever rate F&S 5/5 definitely did not play through the game at all. Like many other veterans of Warband, I was very disappointed by this standalone expansion, the developers used codes from the original Mount & Blade for this expansion instead of the polished ones from Warband. Bugs and glitches still exist, and the good old tournments and royal marriages are gone.

Unless you really want to taste the gunpowder(be prepared to be one/two shot killed in the face even with 1/4 damage chosen in the option), do not buy this expansion, and be prepared to be disappointed if you do make a purchase.

Being a long time fan of the Mount & Blade franchise, I purchased this game the day it was released. So far, my impressions are mixed.

This game has a lot of potential. Like previous titles, you can journey through the lands, doing quests for the various faction Lords, and eventually build your empire. Several new features exist including the ability to send trade caravans between cities. And the firearms add an interesting new dimension to the combat. Also, the new 'Captain Team Deathmatch' multiplayer game mode is a lot of fun.

On the negative side, this game is based on the original Mount & Blade engine, and is missing some of the graphical polish found in Warband. Also, a collection of much loved features from Warband are missing.

Perhaps more importantly, this game currently has some major bugs - for instance, troops cannot be upgraded and do not gain experience. Furthermore, the NPC dialogs have a fair amount of spelling and grammatical mistakes. This title definately does not have the same amount of polish and attention to detail as the previous releases.

All said and done, there is still a large amount of fun to be had with this title, especially considering the price tag. I imagine the most serious of the current bugs will hopefully be addressed shortly in a patch.

Some might be deceived by the change of features compare to Warband (not possible to start a faction or to marry), but this standalone is anyway based on a mod that Sich made before Warband was out.

The storyline is rather engaging, thou you never know when those scripted events will happen, and you must carrefully work with a nation if you want to get the storyline from it, because once started you can never go back and start another storyline from another nation.

So far the game is still plagued by some minor bugs (stuck in dialogs, npc dialogs messed up leading to them leaving your party sometime for no reason, trop tree bugged but corrected by patch, horses getting stuck easily, siege messed up sometimes and so on...)

The addition of guns makes this game completly different from the 2 previous ones (not speaking of mods that already introduced guns before). Battles are much more difficult, and moreover polearms are better at fighting now, expect pikeman vs cavalry fights to be very deadly.

Generally WFAS is much more difficult, which is cool and fun. You have the real feeling you must work your way in this game, since it will not forgive your mistakes (especially if you play on hardcore and dont use cheats). Equipment is very expensive, but the new trade system, once you're in it can proove very lucrative.

Still many features are missing from Warband like the ability to collect tax, many survey windows that helps managing your party. I understand that because the game is based on the Black Hetman book, the gameplay is set accordingly, but the sandbox side of the game suffers a bit from this (not possible to play a woman and so on...).

Still annoying are those chariot camps were ennemy retreat when you are too powerfull in a battle. It is absolutly NOT POSSIBLE to get loot from those battles while they cost you much soldiers life (many dying by the time they get in range). I bet it works the same as villages in Warband were, it was already not possible to get loot when figting in them (which i found totally stupid, this should have been fixed long ago).

Those camps battle are really really frustrating tbh, even if you dont loose men, just because you dont get any loot.

Anyway i'm looking forward how this game will evolve (Warband was buggy as hell when it was released too), and future mods for it featuring all Warband cool

3/5 so far

Anyone who has played either of the previous M&B games will have a good idea of what to expect going into With Fire and Sword. The addition of firearms seems to have been a bit of a shock to the battle mechanics, as it seems so far that ranged weaponry now vastly outperforms melee weapons. On the other hand, this may be intentional, as firearms replaced swords and bows for a reason!

The game world is very expansive and lends itself well to open-ended gameplay. There are tons of things to do in the many cities sprawled across the map, and the player can make his own decisions on how to play. As one would expect with such an ambitious concept, however, the game is not free from bugs (as of initial release version). The response from developers has been prompt, though, which is a good sign for the game's longevity.

Battles are loads of fun with the right unit mixes, even if the troop commands are a bit cumbersome. The graphics aren't great, nor are the animations perfect. This game focuses on the gameplay.

This isn't a game that everyone will enjoy; but while it does have its shortcomings, it is certainly still fun, and the price is right. If you're on the fence, be sure to check out the demo.

After playing Mount and Blade Warband, I was impressed by the simple and fun gameplay. Even though this is not a visual stunning game, the gameplay more than makes up for it. Fire and Sword uses the same engine and same graphics as the previous version (alittle better than M&B) but the difficulty of the game has progressed somewhat in a good way. It remains a constant challenge! The aspect of guns in this version changes the game dynamics greatly and the new economic modual is great as well. This game is a standalone version and worth three times what you pay for! Great bang for your buck in any cae!

5 out of 5!