This is a great game. It is similar to the total war series however has a more rpg element to it. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who likes strategy games. In addition it has very nice graphics of which just add to the overall game. Also the campaign map is not turn based, instead it is played out in real time which adds another element to this game that is not commonly seen

Great idea of mixing up Total War with Mount & Blade: It has TW battles and M&B "map" gameplay. When I saw it at first I though it's going to be one of the best games I've got to play... but after two hours I quit. It's a terribly implemented idea, everything in this game lacks in detail a lot of things. Even the camera is annoying, especially in battles, although there are 3 to choose from, all are terrible. The combat itself is like extremely poor Total War and the tactics you need to use are very basic ones (ie. just don't rush cavalry at spears) and you can easily win. In addition the morale system is totally broken, enemy's army can run away just before winning.

The addition of the grand strategy map was a nice touch, but only serves to solidify the feeling that this game is just a less-good clone of the total war series. Still, when looked at on its own merits, it is enjoyable enough.

Real Warfare2 takes the identical combat system found in the previous titles and puts it into a persistent overworld map. Though that's what makes it interesting.

Rather than your standard turn-based affair as seen in the Civ and Total War games, Real Warfare 2's campaign map is in real=time. You move your army around represented by an avatar where you can see other armies and faction characters and interact with them by moving to their position. If you ever played the Mount and Blade games it's practically identical. This definitely breathes new life into this genre and helps the world to feel alive rather than a static map.

Though the combat can be simple it gets the job done. Probably my biggest gripe is that there is no real unit variety between armies. The only real difference between factions is the color of their uniforms. It would have been cool if each faction had a unique style and feel to them.

Still it's an interesting take on the genre. Rough around the edges and a bit sluggish in performance but overall a surprisingly fun game.

A very intereting strategy game. The grand strategy map is a really nice addition to the game. Now the battles feel like Total War games, while the grand map feel like Mount & Blade. It is great since I believe people playing Mount & Blade would all want to at some point try something like this. For Total War fans, you get a pretty decent alternative to have a break from TW.

Real Warfare 2 is Real Good when in 2. I found the single player experience stressful and annoying because I'm terrible at these games (as much as I am attracted to them) and I can never ever figure out why. I decided to play this with an equally handicapped friend and we had a blast. Sometimes you can really experience what a game is capable of when you play against a human and this was the case for me with RW2.

This game takes the good Total War style combat of the prequel and adds a strategic layer to the game where you play as a Knight in the service of the Teutonic Order and carry out various objectives, gaining ranks and skills, raising and upgrading armies, trading, running towns, engaging in diplomacy etc. The strategic map is reminiscent of Mount and Blade where various armies and bandits march across the land. Once you meet an enemy force the game switches to a Total War style of battle. Both these aspects work very well and it's a great feeling to pick off small groups of bandits in between carrying out major story objectives in order to gain artifacts and coin and to gain experience for your army to make future battles easier. Great game.

Its better than the first game since there is a kind of turn base to it but is very difficult in the beginning for exactly the reason sorrowhawker put below. I would only recommend this game if your buying it in the 1c complete pack.

The graphics look nice, the controls almost work but some idiot who made the game decided in the combat screen "let's make the mouse control the camera like in the Shogun games so everytime the mouse is in the corner of the screen, it whips around the player from looking at their army, to looking at the trees and sky". IF only they didn't have the atrocious camera scheme this game would have been easier to enjoy when it came to combat. The combat is good, units are nicely rendered. The formations options are striking lacking. There are good choices for combined units, like when you have archers, footsoldiers, and horsemen, and how you can position them relative to one another. But for single groups, they are pretty much stuck in the same of a square or circle, either a fatter square or circle vs. a more condensed square or circle. No wedges, echelons, or anything funky like that. This seriously deflates the credibility of a game that touts its strong presentation and focus on tactical combat. Really? Seriously? NOT. Total fail.

On the graphics note, the game is poorly optimized. With max or low settings it mysteriously has a jagged, unpolished feel. Given this is the 2nd game this is unacceptable. The game also overkills with HDR/Bloom/Shader junk making it look like a blurry dream sequence. I didn't know medieval Europe was so frigging hazy and gleamingly blurry back then. I didn't know that trees glowed back then.

The biggest problem with the game is the fact that out the door there is nothing you are capable of doing and nothing you are equipped to handle. It seems the war is raging just fine without your help. Your puny army is nothing compared to the titanic sized armies of bandits and robbers. Yes, petty robbers travel around in the hundreds and are ready to pulverize you. The game shows the player how strong another force is that is roaming on the map. It is very similiar to Mount and Blade without the ability to get down into combat yourself. When you view the other force with your mouse I noticed everyone was rated "invincible" to me. Also, the main campaign gives you your first quest to destroy a force that is invincible. Okay, lets go hire troops. Oh wait, that's right, they didn't give you enough money to hire anyone, not to mention you are missing certain skills in certain skill areas to hire soldiers. Whoever thought that "you had to be rated THIS or THAT in THIS or THAT skill to hire these guys" was a total moron. Mercenaries don't give a crap what the skill level is of the leader, nor do they ever really find out. All they care about is coin. But not in this game apparently. "OH sorry if your Leadership ability was just 145 instead of 144, then we will take all of that gold you are offering us". I went after an invincible army and did pretty good but you know, I lost.

I give this 2 stars only because of the passable graphics, decent tactical combat presentation and nice attempt at the strategic map. I liked Mount and Blade (after a fashion) and it was nice to see something try to utilize some of that game's better qualities and touches. But in Mount in Blade, you didn't have such a pain in the arse time recruiting people. Also, you didn't have 600 person sized armies EVERYWHERE vs. your 100 guys right out the door. No, you didn't have those ratios. In this game you do. So all you are left to do is muddle about aimlessly looking at the glowing trees, overly gleaming grass, staring at the sky, etc. Someome said a good way to start the game is to make money through trading. Good luck with that if you don't get thumped by the plethora of giant armies of robbers rolling around. Also, good luck spending 12-20 hours exploring the fracken map to see which towns/cities buy/sell so you can find the best deals. Oh yeah, don't forget to find a way to magically level your skills so you can recruit more guys. The developers need to go back to the drawing board and learn2makegames. Making your game inaccessible to the gamer that bought it is stupid. "Duh huh um gee whiz like maybe we shoulda not made all dah guys 'invincible' to dah human playor den maybe peepol wuld like the game and peepol wuld wunt to buy it". If the developer wants to make money that spawns another sequel or keep them in business, simply read this review and take my advice.

The one thing they didn't borrow from Mount and Blade, was the utmost important thing they should have: its accessibility.

The sequel to Real Warfare: 1242 and XIII Century. For the first time in this series, a strategic part has been added akin to that customary to Total War games. You are no longer just playing a series of real-time skirmishes but a grand campaign set in Eastern Europe, including parts of Scandinavia.

The game remains technically weak compared to the Total War series, though. Graphics are still a few years behind with massive bloom used to cover up the lack of polygon count and texture detail. Still, it's not really ugly to look at.

As the game is fairly new, compatibility is not a problem. Works fine on my Core i7 PC running W7x64. Worth a look for fans of the Total War franchise and those interested in Eastern European medieval history.

Nice tactical battles with splendid graphics (I also enjoyed the prior installments of the series.) Now merged with a campaign on a strategic map a la Mount&Blade.

I enjoy the lavish unit detail and historical setting as much as I despise the remaining sporadic stability issues on the strategic map. Not to stop you from buying, but to stop you from becoming frustrated, because nobody told you so. The game needs a patch and more attention by strategy aficionados as well!

At the very least though, you can say the developers listened and learned. The original game was little more than a series of tactical battles connected by an over-arching narrative. This time around, they’ve put some extra effort in and made it a lot more free form with the inclusion of a campaign map. In terms of visual style, it looks like something pulled from the later Total War games, but in terms of gameplay it plays a bit like Paradox’s Mount & Blade –with you only controlling your character and a single army as you fight across Eastern Europe.

This time around, the main storyline deals with the iconic Teutonic Order, and how they waged war against the Baltic peoples of Prussia. Since this game has RPG elements, you actually take the role of a disgraced Knight, fresh from the Holy Lands and atoning for his sins by serving the order in their new campaign of conquest. From a single Castle and its holdings, to an entire state you go from battle to battle as the Order spreads across North-Eastern Europe. As commander of your own personal army, you can travel across the campaign map, collecting taxes, fighting brigands, trading, and of course fighting the good fight.

this is a really good strategy game, probably in my opinion as good as if not better than the total war games.

theres plenty to do, and has a bit of a storey line as well.

if you like real time strategy games as well as a battle and management, trading and upgrading troops, this is the game for you.

i am really enjoying it.

At the very least though, you can say the developers listened and learned. The original game was little more than a series of tactical battles connected by an over-arching narrative. This time around, they’ve put some extra effort in and made it a lot more free form with the inclusion of a campaign map. In terms of visual style, it looks like something pulled from the later Total War games, but in terms of gameplay it plays a bit like Paradox’s Mount & Blade –with you only controlling your character and a single army as you fight across Eastern Europe.

This time around, the main storyline deals with the iconic Teutonic Order, and how they waged war against the Baltic peoples of Prussia. Since this game has RPG elements, you actually take the role of a disgraced Knight, fresh from the Holy Lands and atoning for his sins by serving the order in their new campaign of conquest. From a single Castle and its holdings, to an entire state you go from battle to battle as the Order spreads across North-Eastern Europe. As commander of your own personal army, you can travel across the campaign map, collecting taxes, fighting brigands, trading, and of course fighting the good fight.

I have the possibility to making beta testing of Real Warfare 2 Northern Crusades 1 week before the official release; I'll post during this week videos and screenshots of gameplay experience (with the authorization of Unicorn Studio).

I start with a introduction of what you will see after have started the game: the main menu is very similar to that of RW1242, with custom, online and lan battles. What change is the main campaign section where you are introduced in the strategic campaign of Teutonic order. This campaign has to be played before in the storyline mode for unlock finally the sandbox mode.

The first impact after the vocal introduction is with the magnificent strategic map: not only is enormous but has the detail of a tactical map, the rivers and the mountains are real obstacles to your army path, no zones of subdivision like in the strategic map of TW, you control cities,castles and villages for control the ground. NPG players move around all the map managed by the AI, robbers assault villages, merchants move from city to city, armed patrols search bandits, private and official armies move in search of battle and engagements. All of this managed by the AI on a splendid map which displayed Europe from east germany to the gates of Moscow and Kiev; the strategic map is in realtime like in Hegemony, but unlike Hegemony you can observe the time pass and the meteo offects: you can observe the sunset moving your army to east or enter in a fog zone; if you observe from high the map you can find your army covered by the clouds.

We go to the storyline of campaign: you're a young Brother of Teutonic order, just arrived from Outremer, your banner is composed only by 20 knights and 150 militiamen; you must present yourself to grand master of teutonic order, what territories are still very limited (the game start little time after Frederick II gave the permission to order to conquer the pagan lands in Prussia).

The grand master assign you as Komtur the castle of Thorn; at Thorn you will do the first experiences with the administration menu: going to locations as cities,villages or castles you can collect taxes, exchange to markets, manage location garrison, obtain informations, collect mercenaries,upgrade or reinforce your troops, and other things.

The exchanges in the markets are very importants because your troops, with the time consume foods, and need weapons armours and horses for the upgrades. YOu need also money and you can gain it collecting tax in your territory or selling captured to enemy goods.

Like all the games with RPG elements the experience is a important factor of game: you have three experience level in the game: PG experience (which permit to gain personal abilities), leadership and army experience (which permit to upgrade and increase your army).

THe storyline campaign is quests based, you receive missions from the grand master and you must follow them for proceed (time and mode at your decision); you can receive also secondary quests like help cities or villages in danger.

THe fist mission as Komtur is to defeat a prussian robber-noble which raids your territory; you will defeat him in a series of battles and at the end (perhaps) you will capture him; for save his life he will help the Teutonic order to conquest a prussian city, giving you access with a selected force to a secondary gate of city......

In the game is present also a diplomacy and economical panel: the economical panel give you info about economic resources, demands and offers of various locations; the diplomatic panel give you info about the world where you move: holy Roman Empire,Russians,Scandinavians,Lithuanian,Poland,Mongols and others move, managed by the AI, in this open world, they make alliance and declare wars each others, in the meantime you conduct your missions; in the storyline campaigns you have little diplomatic possibility because this is managed by the grandmaster but in sandbox mode this will have more importance.

We go to tactical part: the battle engine is the same of RW1242 with the introduction of sieges weapons; for who don't know the engine I can resume telling is similar but far more complex that of MTW2; the battle is managed at single soldier level (similar to cossacks concept of unit formation), with more than 80 factors in battles. Moral and ground are the decisive factors in battle. The sieges weapons have great range but little precision (and the rocks don't explodes :) , but roll ), so they are lethal only for campers players. The battle maps are randomly generated; no two identical maps exists in the strategic campaign.

The AI is very good both on the strategic map and the tactical map: on the strategic map I'm found myself persecuted by a prussian army which continue to try to battle with me. In the tactical map, the AI switch from offensive and defensive attitude following the situation, it try to take high ground and it has a good pathfinding.