No other game provides the level of immersion that this game does. Also, the combat system is just fantastic. This is my most played game. If you have ever dreamed about large scale battles, this is a must own game.

I bought this game very excited, because i was reading a loot of positive comments, but is slowly and too hard to kill someone when you're new.It don't have a good progression curve learning.

The original Mount&Blade was an excellent game but needed more width and developement as the character progressed. The trouble with the sequel is that, to me, the graphics look worse than the original and the movement and look of the characters in battle seem to give a far reduced sense of realism. In fact I found the deterioration in the look of the game so dissapointing as to to totally outweigh any improvements making it rather unplayable for me. Very dissapointing but luckily it was discounted so not much money wasted.

While the official campaign is not impressive the modding community is completely different story. The huge number of great mods will allow any player hundred of hours of great fun. This is one of those games that is far worth every penny you spent.

This is a great game. There are so many different things to do such as trade items, fight huge battles, do missions for kings, and become a king your self. I would definitely recommend this game. There is also a pretty decent modding scene for this game and I would recommend checking that out if you are looking for some extra maps for custom battles.

I love the realistic medieval setting of Mount and Blade games oppose to usual fantasy rpg game. Not to mention the superb combat system. Great community, loads of fun. Well worth your time and money!

A game we all waited for. At least the ones who adore role playing in the Middle Ages!

You can take the sword, bow or other weapons of this timeframe and fight in a never before(well, in Mount&Blade) seen playing style: a shooter with melee-weaponry.

But the best thing about this game are the mods. You can play online in persistent worlds with other players and acquire wealth. Or be a priest of Christ and battle the pagans by the word. Or hold the Nords(Vikings) in a cooperative multiplayer match and level your character with a web interface. Even trading and auctioning is possible.

The biggest drawback is the lack of strategy and the fact that this game is a big time sink. Nonetheless a good game, especially with mods.

Mount & Blade: Warband is a game with a lot of possibilities. The core game is already very good, with a very powerfull battle mechanics, but what makes this realyl a gem is the tons of mods available to it, ensuring that you won't get enough of it for a very long time. If the graphics might scare you: there's a mod for that. If the setting isn't suitable for you: There are several mods that change the setting from medieval times to the Wild West, Ancient Rome or even the Napoleontic area. As all these mods show, it's easy to change the game to your liking.

Better looking and more wide version of good old Mount&Blade. It doesn't bring so much new stuff though. So if you've already played a lot of the original game, I'd suggest you to go straight to the latest standalone, With fire and sword.

Although many people might avoid this game because of its graphics, and the fact that it has very little story to it, I believe it makes up for it in gameplay that is unique and satisfying, unlike any other game I've played. If you want a game that you can just pick up and have a ton of fun for a few hours, then this is a great game to look at.

Have you ever played Medieval 2: Total War and wished that you could take place in the epic battles you commanded from on high? To wade through the mud and blood and chaos of the battlefield swinging your claymore or charging with lance from atop a great destrier?

If so, look no further than Mount & Blade: Warband, where the bloody battlefields of medieval Europe (face it, it's Europe just redrawn and with snazzy new names) come to life and you command a company of Mercenaries onto the battlefield.

Will you serve a single lord and become his right hand?

Will you turn cloaks with the changing tides of war?

Or will you set your own crown upon your head?

I recommend this game, it's really good. And just how you can give orders to your soldiers is perfect and the way you do it. It's just simply awesome!

The added ability to go online and battle it out simply makes this game much better. The modding community is some of the best I have ever seen and keeps getting better and better! I can only recommend you buy this game! Awesome!

As long as you don't mind dated graphics this game is a blast! The mounted combat is easily the best part of the game, nothing quite matches making a massive cavalry charge with your army. Sieges can be a little annoying at times. Its not a perfect game, but for a medieval feel and fun combat, this game is a good buy.

This is a good wargame where you can control one character directly and also command troops in battles. There is a good amount of detail and realism. AI in battles is decent but it isn't really lifelike in some situations, especially with cavalry who sometimes chase one guy with 50 horsemen and never stop chasing. A merry-go-round with 4 horsemen in tournaments is fun to try. Just run the horse in a circle and if you get it right the AI horsemen keep doing the circle for as long as you like. At least the crowd is entertained. There is a newer version out already.

It's hard to review Mount & Blade Warband because on one hand you get many new features, both gameplay (finally multiplayer!) and graphical but it also feels very much like a bit freshened original Mount & Blade.

That said, if you're just starting your adventure in Calradia, or want to play around with a finely-crafted melee system (both on foot and on a horse) while also getting tons and tons of user made content, this is the game you should buy.

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 $30. Mount & Blade: Warband is well worth it.

Mount&Blade is just one of those games where you don't care that the graphics look like those from a 2007 PC-game; because this game provides what

Mount & Blade Warband is a game unlike any other I've played before. It's a unique experience. Though there are some negative aspects I can only recommend it!

PRO:

+ realistic, medieval setting. No magic!

+ Single Player: open sandbox world. You are not the chosen one. Just one out of many. And you have to find your way

+ Combat System: From sword to shield to bow to riding: The combat system is the best I've ever seen in a computer game. You need some time to get into it.

+ Multiplayer: The main reason why you should buy this game.

Contra:

- outdated graphics

- combat animations are great. But in Singleplayer when there are banquets everything is left to your imagination

- multiplayer sometimes not balanced

- some bugs

- Translation especially German is bad.

The Mount & Blade version to buy if you only got one to chose, for greater mod support then With Fire and Sword. But preferring Warband or Fire and Sword in their vanilla form is mostly a matter of taste. Here my favorite is Warband, but mostly because I much prefer medieval combat. But I admit for multiplayer Fire and Sword might come out a better choice due to be the latest of the two, so got some extra mode not available in Warband, like captain mode, which add npc follower to each players to command.

Mount and Blade warband is a very fun and uniqe game wich offer both strategy and fun,challenging medival style combat.

The multiplayer is very fun and quite hard.

And finally there is a good community and build in mod support. +++++

Mount and Blade is a unique game. I've not seen its like so far. It's a mixture of RPG with action game. You take control of a soldier (man or woman) in a fictional medieval setting, in one of 5 kingdoms. You use your mouse to coordinate your character's attacks with medieval weapons (sword, bow, axe, lance,etc). You can fight either mounted or on foot. You also have a group you fight with, the warband of the title, you loyal followers or allies. The game is very open-ended. Your character improves as he or she gathers experience and he or she also establishes connections to the local powers (nobles, guilds, etc).But there's no established story or objective, per se.You do what you want, when you want. It's very sandbox and allows for multiple re-runs of the game, when you try other objectives or to rule different kingdoms (or conquer the world).

I'd recommend this game to any A Song of Ice and Fire fan. Anyone who read about the tournaments or wars in those books would want to play this game. There's even an ASOIAF fan-mod.

The game gets 4 stars and not 5 because you really can't coordinate well what your allies do once the fight begins. There are some commands,but the game never teaches you that (you have to learn by yourself). And even then the commands aren't that good or followed well by your lackeys. Also, it'd be interesting to have more combatants taking place in the battles that are more numerous, but I understand the computing limitation.

One of the best games I've bought this year. You've got the freedom to pillage, burn and murder to your hearts content. Or be a noble, kind soul. Personally I like running knights mounts through with a lance and then chopping them to pieces with a two hander. All the while I keep the archers up on a hill raining down death to my enemies. Great fun!

Fast, funny and pure action!

The singleplayer campaign is quite funny, but with time it gets a bit boring, the multiplayer part of the game is absolutly amazing. Big battlefields with alot of players, changing game experience due to different game modes and gamplay stiles.

Very excellent sandbox game with some great features.

over all there is the great combat from the horse! just fun!

negative point is the graphic of the game...somewhat old.

also it hase still some rare crashes.

This is a game that can really suck you in, if you let it. You start out very simply, and work your way up to commanding larger armies and doing things of greater importance, though this can take awhile, especially if you choose (as I did) to not start the game as nobility.

The combat is involved and a lot of fun, and it's gratifying to watch your legions of men ride out against the enemy at the start of each fight. Castle sieges are particularly enjoyable. The multiplayer is good as well, although I found that fighting was less enjoyable for me without the context of the single player game.

My only complaint about this game is the graphics, which look about a generation old, and perhaps the slow pace of advancement. If you can overlook those things, though, this game definitely carries my recomendation.

I know for one I like chopping down peasants! and almost everything else. good to finally see a medieval sandbox game that let's you be almost anything. be a bandit or a king no matter what the game adapts.

a great game allowing you to decide who you are in the fields and not such as you can be a evil tyrant stealing from the poor or a noble lord sparing and aiding the weak as for being a commander, in battle you can go to the front line or command from the safety. all and all a great game

A wonderful medieval themed open world game. M&B is a great game out of the box, but really shines when combined with mods. Add the very fun multiplayer onto that(be mindful of ping depending on you location though) and you have a great game you will be able to sink many hours into

This is the most awesome sandbox game that i've played. The combat is like a first person Total War game. With many mods that gives hundreds of hours of fun and challenge, sometimes too much :-), to the single player. The multiplayer game is awesome too, with or without mods. Even as today, oct 2011, there are servers with 64 players.

Mount and Blade Warband is the longest played game I've ever had. It has nothing that stands up to it, it as in depth melee combat, knights on horseback with lances, archers and crossbowmen, javelinmen, swordsmen and all sorts of great stuff, and it's multiplayer! The single campaign is great as well, but it has a poor ai but it's still fun to charge at the head of a army of horsemen to trample down some nordic huskarls! Buy it, you won't regret it at such a cheap price. Seriously.

Mount and Blade Wargand had many great ideas, being able to control one character as your own is great idea for a third person medieval game. being able to go from pesant to mercenary to noble to king was also a unique idea. the only real problem i had with the game was not enough variety in the weapons (there is quite a bit but it would be great if there was more) same goes with the horses and armour.

This is what I would call a very retro game: Introduction, tutorial and visuals are admittedly below par (in a functional and not annoying way) but beyond that this is a game that has a place between jewels like MoO, UFO or some of the original Sid Meyer or Mike Singleton titles.

A couple of highlights: A sandbox where you may opt to be a bandit, trader, slaver, entrepreneur, mercenary, feudal lord, kingmaker, king or even emperor. Diplomacy, henchman and companions are not only important but actually fun (which many games featuring those horribly fail at). Even the AI, while not brilliant, is active, sensible and ‘confident’ enough to get along with the human player without obvious cheating. Each lord, lady or faction has its own goals and issues.

Fighting is difficult in a realistic manner – rely on your companions. Both character and player skills add up over time. You can always use tournaments, arenas and training areas to hone your abilities. While it may not seem this way during your first chaotic melees, troop types, tactics, equipment and personal skill actually matter – until then, advantage is in numbers.

And while these may seem somewhat generic at the beginning, people, places, factions, troops are actually quite different and you may even attach to that idiot merchant that always charges ahead of your swadian knights to get himself clobbered (fortunately companions never die), or maybe your peasant girls turned sword sister elite mounted archers. Maybe it’s Veluca or maybe Rivacheg where you will start your very own kingdom, who knows?

This one’s a pearl among contemporary games, and IMO the best Mount and Blade title, even though they are all pretty similar.

Great open game. You can really travel through the whole world and eventhough the enemy's remain the same strenghed (which is quit normal with humans) the numbers vary a lot making is sometimes very difficult to win a fight.

Also horseback fighting has never been so realistic in any other game.

This game is unforgiving. The enemies are tough, the AI is far from lacking, it's possible and very easy to screw yourself over. if you can get past the difficulty, what's left is an amazing experience that will leave any fan of medieval times and video games grasping for much playtime as possible. and that's exactly what you'll get. with all the different possible objectives in the game, on top of the skills system whereby you get proficiency for whatever weapons you use, the character creation system, and the straight-up RPG leveling system, every player who buys this game will have a differing experience. the actual combat feels as close to real swordfighting as any game has come so far, and things like archery and the different weapons help add to the variety and feel of the medieval warfare that you plan to wage. with the possibilities of raising an army of well over hundreds of people, to starting your own kingdom, to completely owning in tournaments, to doing all of the above, there is no way you're gonna miss that twenty dollars you spent.

Mount & Blade Warband is an open world sandbox rpg/action game that will provide 100s of hours of gameplay for people who aren't in need of scripted high graphic cut scenes to feel immersed. The game has a generic Quest system, and although there aren't that many different quest types - they work well with the world dynamic. As you keep building your reputation in the world, meaning with villages, cities, factions and lords, your choices will affect your alliances and possibilities.

I have replayed this game a lot of times, siding with different factions. Focusing on different skill aspects etc. And I must admit that even though the gameplay starts getting repetetive - meaning, you hack and kill a lot, it is truly enjoyable as you feel rewarded doing it. But this game is not for everybody. It helps to put some of your own fantasy into the game. It is basically a playground.

Also the game has a multiplayer mode that is very fun. I have spent a lot of time there, and I must admit that the MP function on this warband release have made me spend more time on multiplayer than single player. Join in with sword and axe... it's a blast!

Mount and Blade Warband is a awesome sandbox game set in the medieval times. The tutorial is admittedly bad and there is a slight learning curve, especially on horseback but once you get over that hump, its a fun immersive game. You can play however you want, whether you want to be a ruler or be a mercenary, its all up to you. The battles can be huge and the multiplayer is quite fun if you decide to download a few mods for the game. You can spend hundreds of hours in this and the community is fairly good. There are plenty of mods if you want to customize and is much better ,in my opinion, then Fire and Sword, the next expansion in the Mount&Blade series. Overall, its a great game and worth every penny.

An excellent adventure game in the mold of Pirates!, Mount & Blade Warband is an improvement in every way over its predecessor. You can play as a trader, an outlaw, a mercenary, or king over all the land! A thriving modding community makes this game an excellent value.

Mount & Blade Warband is a very interesting game for its mixture of role-playing, action and strategy.

The strategic map is a bit dull, but the battles, on the contrary, are quite exciting, full of warriors and knights. There is a good choice of quests and you're free to follow your path as you want. You can just serve a king as a vassal or you can become a sovereign yourself controlling cities and castles.

During the game you will pick up from dead enemies or buy many different weapons, bows, crossbows, spears, swords, darts, throwing axes, etc.

The game overall is very good and worth the money, although it can be a bit redundant on the long run.

Great game, however its not really a sequal to the original. Multiplayer is the real big addition. With the support of an excellent modding comunity behind it. M&M is an awesome game that keeps you coming back for more. Highly recommend playing the Profecy of Pendor Mod rather than pure vanilla. If you already have the first M&M and are not really interested in multiplayr dont bother buying.

By Michael Prideaux

Mount&Blade: Warband developed by TaleWorlds is a medieval fighting simulator which blends genres. Warband is the successor to their previous game Mount&Blade, adding a plethora of new features and content.

Players start with an in depth checklist of their character’s family, gender and upbringing. These seemingly small choices greatly influence the player’s core skills and abilities. The player customises their character’s appearance through a healthy amount of hair, skin and facial structure sliders. The players are then proposed six different travel options where they decide where their starting area will be in the fictional land of Calradia.

Players are then confronted by a civilian in distress of an attacker who after a short fight starts you on the Warband’s first quest line. Each of the six areas is governed by a large faction with their own unique design and personality. The Nords and the Sarranid Sultanate (desert warriors) stand out from the other faction’s basic knights and archers. This diversity in starting location can have a large effect on how you play the game and experience the.

Warband offers a sandbox over world allowing players to freely travel in any direction they want. The map is filled with large cities, castles, villages and other miscellaneous locations, which all offer different reason to drop by. Players start off trying to recruit soldiers into their “warband” through henchmen for heir in taverns or restless villagers looking for a scrap. Travel causes time to flow allowing hours and days to pass as the player moves across the map; they are however obstructed by friendly and hostile “warbands” who roam the map in search of battle and plundering.

Quests are handed out from lords, kings and guild masters all with varying severity, reputation and gold. These range from tax collection to saving stolen princes, all of which are accompanied by a lengthy travel time (travel can be sped up but players can easily be ambushed by bandits when doing so).

When attacked players are offered tactical choices of fleeing, a quick number crunch or an attack. An attack launches you and your band of merry men charging through an open landscape to be eventually met by other opposing forces, players can control specific units giving them vague attack, move and defend commands. The core combat features directional attacks and parries which prevents button spammers in their tracks. Combat revolves around players attacking from a certain direction which must be blocked by using the same one.

After a fight looting and prisoners can be taken with some small experience gain to boot, adding to the players inventory and experience bar. Warband offers a large selection of stat choice: strength to charisma, Core stats; horse archery to trade, attribute; single handed to crossbow, weapon skills. Each gains their own stat pools to spend on the ones you desire, allowing a deeply personal character.

Players looking to avoid the atrocities of battle can obtain large amounts of gold from trading, which players can exploit through buying cheap and selling high. You can alternately gain reputation from forming relationships with lords and kings or marrying into power.

Warband adds a selection of multiplayer modes to its mix, with core death match and nice additions like castle sieges keeping players entertained for hours on end, as they improve their characters equipment from round to round. Players start with choosing combat classes like cavalry and archers, and then proceed to select equipment with gold which is gained through killing.

Reviewer’s Comments

Warband is excellent game bolstering content left right and centre, however from the very start the game shows the lack of budget. The game while amazing sits awkwardly due to a horribly rough graphics, user interface and animation. Character models move stiffly across the barren landscapes during battles, all the while holding their sword bracing to attack. Combat works well but won’t give anything to players who associate with games that give you a high body count. Many fights leave you with only killing and handful of soldiers and awkward moments where you wish there was a counter attack. Tactical decisions are possible to take up most of the fight but lack any precision to be optional, causing most fights to be on large mob clashing into another. Multiplayers takes a similar stance to normal combat, however it includes long travel times after each death unless the aid of a horse is used.

The main downside to Warband is the presentation, the bad graphics and slow pace may put many off, and also a lack of narrative will cause many unmotivated players to stop playing. Warband sits above many other games with its unique play style, blend of genre and mountains of content. Warband dynamic and clumsy combat can lead to exhilarating situations of one versus one hundred, which will stick with a gamer for a long time to come; it’s an experience that should be tasted by all.

Additional Comment

Warband sadly doesn’t lean that far from the original. Working more as a standalone expansion then a sequel, but any person new to the series or looking for more Mount&Blade content should feel pleased with the game.

Presentation 4

Jagged and hideous models with stiff animations to top it off does nothing to appeal to players.

A lack of narrative leaves players searching for their own personal set goal

Gameplay 8

Exciting, clumsy and dynamic.

Creates epic moments and dramatic situations constantly online and offline.

Longevity 9

Brimming with an unending wave of content to complete and so many ways to do it.

Overall 7.0

© Copyright - Invision Game Community - 2011 - All Rights Reserved

If graphics are not perfect, multiplayer games are just awesome fun. Being part of the Noble Order of the Platypus makes fighting sessions for a unique experience.

Highly recommanded !

This is a good simulator of life back in the good 'ol days of castle sieges and kingdoms. unfortunately though, if you like to start off as a low character, then getting started can be a tad difficult. But the graphics in this game are HORRENDOUS! but if you are like me, and focus more on good gameplay, then u can easily look past the bulky pixels and play this true gem.

Mount and Blade Warband is a very fun game if you enjoy a third/first person action rpg that is not as open ended as games such as Oblivion or Fallout. The graphics are fairly good and the game runs smoothly. The learing curve could be considered steep if you are not somewhat used to this genre or style of play. Highly reccomended if you are looking for a good action rpg/adventure title.

Possibly my favorite game. Definitely a step up from the original. The combat system is easily the best medieval combat system of any game I've played. The difficulty settings let you very easily adjust from being able to single handedly take out an army, to having a tough time even surviving a battle in your favor.

This is NOT your standard medieval rpg. There is no magic. With the difficulty at max, both you and your enemies will die in 1-3 good hits, even with very good armor. This does not mean, however, that fights are short. pvp duels can be upwards of 1-2 minutes by good players. This is thanks to the fantastic attacking and blocking system that simulates actual swordplay about as well as can be done with a video game.

I highly recommend the single player for its political intrigue, and ability for you, the player, to amass and lead your army to victory, the regular multiplayer for its skill based play, and the multitude of mods that make the game even better. This is a must-buy for anyone with an interest in medieval warfare.

Mount and Blade Warband is a great game, better than the original M&B, improving on it, and just a game where SP can offer a wide experience and lots of playing time. MP works just as well, and Mods extend the life of this game.

The very best MB so far. Vast improvements over the original and many originally modder's ideas implemented into the game. The most importantly however Warband brought us the multiplayer which is excellent if at times rather unforgiving (with steep learning curve) experience. For funs of the original this is a must. For others I would recommend it warmly too since it is capable of sucking everyone in for countless hours of medieval warfare and combat be it in vanilla SP, mods or multiplayer!

This game is a uniuqe experience, and there really is no other game like this - free roam medieval third person game. It's a cross between a pretty advanced strategy game and a third person RPG. You can of course play in first person if you want to. The combat is fluid and in real time, deadly aswell. One mistake and you could be dead, but the same goes for your enemies. What makes the game great also, is that it's pretty easy to mod. So there is a tons of mods out there that makes the game even better! Recommended!

You can't beat this game! The first one was great and this one gets better. It has first-person controls for melee action which is almost unique to this title. No other game with this control scheme has done as good of a job. Not to mention the great job that is done with the rest of the game. It is open world sandbox style so expect to have to make your own path thru the game. There is no hand holding here.

This is a game that stands out from the rest. It is incredibly open and has so much content. The best thing about the game is that it builds on from being nothing to conquering the wold land, though it takes a while to get there. You can play this 10 times over and get a totally new experience each time. The graphics arent the best but I dont think they are meant to be. All in all it is a must have for anybody who loves RPG games.

The second installment in the M&B series, Warband improves upon it's predecessor in almost every aspect. It's bigger, more complex, more user-friendly, and just as challenging. The troop movement and battle controls are unparalleled by any other game, and the pure amount of things to do is spectacular. Will you become a knight, leading your King to victory through a bloody war campaign, or perhaps a renegade raider, terrorizing the lands of Calradia, plundering and burning the world? Or maybe both at once. The only downside is the lack of confidence; Warband is a much more complex game than it lets on, and many are turned away after not being able to penetrate the deeper levels. However, whether you play for 10 hours or 100+, you'll have enjoyed yourself immensely.

Genre: RPG/RTS/Economy Sim/Medieval Sim

Mod support: High

Mod community: Huge

Overall:

Brilliant and expansive, Warband's only drawback is it's lack of confidence.

This game is honestly pretty good. The graphics leave a bit to bit desired but to me that doesn't matter. The PS2 feel to it only adds to it's appeal. The game is massive and has lots of content to play with. And the gameplay is just wonderful. Great melee and horseback combat. I'm not too far into in right now, but so far, I'm really liking this game. In my opinion it's not worth the full $30 price tag, but if you can catch Warband on sale, pick it up without hesitation.

definitely a worthy sequel, the modding community makes it so worthwhile, I've actually purchased this game a couple times for various reasons, I would purchase it again if I had to!

One unique game that you'll either love or hate. Luckily there is a demo that lets you try out the game until level 5 or so. I highly recommend playing the demo because the personal preferences vary so wildly since this is practically the only game of it's kind, though it is quite similar to the re-released version of Sid Meier's Pirates. Since most other reviews cover the basic premise of the game already, I'll just list my pros cons regarding this title focusing on single player since that was the primary mode of play for me. Pros: great sandbox environment where you can do what you feel like, fight in some tournaments or attack bandits. Eventually when you become powerful enough you can capture towns & castle, start your own kingdom or conquer the entire land toward the end game. Cons: grinding is necessary to generate the revenue and experience to get huge armies or to support massive garrisons to protect your empire. Recruiting lords also requires you build up relations with them, also a grind. So the game can get quite repetitive unfortunately, we can be a big turn off for quite a few players. If that becomes a problem you can always try multi-player though.

This is an incredible game. Well. . . more like a stand alone expansion of the original Mount & Blade. It uses the same map and factions from the first as well as a lot of gameplay elements, but also adds in a lot of new elements of further involvement in the game world. It also features a reworked combat system that provides a little more accuracy, and gives us a basic multiplayer game mode.

With all of these features the game is pretty good, but where it really begins to shine is with the modding community. Modders have taken the framework of the game and have created several incredible game worlds for the player to experience, as well as multiplayer mods available that allow you to play with a custom built character that you can level up and purchase new equipment over time.

Mount&Blade: Warband is an incredibly open game. After starting off as a nobody, you and your army can go in a great many directions and there is an awful lot open to you. As you may have guessed, this is quite daunting, and there’s not much direction. If you like tracks to follow, or even just a quest marker here or there, Warband will feel a lot like going for a relaxing swim at the local pool and finding yourself with scuba gear on a boat off the barrier reef. Oh, and you need to put that gear on quickly, as you’re diving in 5 minutes, ready or not.

This game is overwhelming, but if you persevere and it manages to grab you, you will reveal an extremely well made sand box game.

Hmm, and interesting one, reviewing warband.

It's very fun, of course, as the first game was.

However it's also quite simalar to the first one in alot of ways. The game is basically the same, with a massive chuck of extra stuff added, so it feels like it should have maybe been sold as an expansion, rather than a new game.

That said, there is certainly a lot been added. New items, missions, a whole faction and a lot of new capability to play. Certainly an enjoyable experianc e, and if you dont have the original, it's well worth buying this one instead. If you have the original, you'll find this one simalar in a lot of ways, but still worthy of playing.

As someone who had never tried the previous game i was not expecting the sheer level of fun and depth this game brings.

Dont judge it by the screenshots or videos!

M&B:W gives you a full medieveal style realm to explore, divide and conquer at your will. Very realistic combat system. Brilliant AI and general difficulty that will keep you grounded and make victories that much more satisfieing.

Best way to describe it is like playing the role of a general within a Total War game. Except you must take care of yourself, your army and companions with a nice rpg system keeping everything in track. eg equipment,skills,politics,trade,fame.

If you have any kind of interest in the ancient or medieval time period, you will love this game.

If you want a multiplayer experience akin to an fps except with swords,horses, bows etc..you will love this game.

I could go on forever, but you get the point. Lots of gameplay time and replay value. Very much worth the price even at $30.

The biggest and arguably only flaw of Warband is the outdated graphics. Towns are especially lacking in quality and detail. Nevertheless, the extensive character development and skill set allow a great deal of playability. Combined with the deep combat, Warband will continue to distinguish itself from games with much larger budgets.

If you haven't gotten on this horse already, now is the time. I reckon you can get a pretty good overview on the sheer awesomeness of the game by just running through the other reviews. It is, a great game. You can not put it with any other games, it is a great mix of genres.

To be honest, you can not find another game like Mount and Blade. You will have ALOT of game hours with the Vanilla game. In Single-player and you will have a couple of good hours in Multi-player aswell. But sooner or later you will become curious and start exploring all the mods that are mentioned in the server browser. And that, my friends, is when you get hooked.

There are so many mods out there, Star Wars, Vikings, Ninjas, Pirates, Cowboys, Romans, pretty much anything that you'd want to be able to do with M&B has been done and is waiting for you to play them.

Buy it. It is worth every penny.

A combination of an RTS and RPG that works great.

Graphics: They look pretty good for the most part, considering the fact that there can be over 100 detailed units on screen at once.

Sound: The music is great, but some of the sound effects aren't very satisfying. There is also no voice acting, it's all reading what people say.

Gameplay: The best part, to fight you literally move your mouse in the direction you want to swing your sword or block. You'll be building a kingdom, taking care of your cities and villages, and leading hundreds of troops in third or first person.

Modding: This game has one of the biggest modding communities ever. There are mods that add in guns, new lands, units, and pretty much anything you can think of.

This is a huge game that anyone interested in medieval times will love.

The most obvious difference to the original M&B is the addition of the multiplayer mode. Safe to say that it was a great addition. Fighting against your friends on horseback online has never been that much fun.

In the single player mode the differences are a bit more subtle as the game looks more or less the same at first glance. However once you get deeper into it there are quite a few new features, most important are the ability to marry and the ability to form your own faction and become king yourself. The overall principle is the same as in the original, but the new additions give the game a lot more depth.

Lastly if those things aren't enough there are a ton of mods outthere in the extremely active community which keep this game fun for months.

Pure and simple, this game is awesome. I started playing the original Mount and Blade and was addicted for a while. I decided to upgrade to Warband and wasn't disappointed. Many features are added or improved, as well as stronger graphics and animations. But ultimately, it's the modding community that makes this game so fantastic. The game is very mod friendly, the the various mods are simply brilliant. They are whole game experiences in themselves - their own story, new items, cities, factions, and of course troops. They offer new game mechanics. This is a game that will endure for a very long time. I have already several times moved on to other games, only to eventually come back to M&B to play for a few more weeks. I am looking forward to more stuff from the Taleworlds team.

Mount and Blade Warband is a one trick pony, but an entertaining one trick pony. Combat is the heart of the game both in the online and offline versions. Although the game is aging, the mechanics still hold up well and the melees are very satisfying. If you are looking for stellar graphics, story lines, or magic this is not the game for you. If you are looking to engage in some great Medieval style battles than Mount and Blade Warband is what you are looking for.

Mount & Blade: Warband is a broken promise. When Mount & Blade was released and development commenced on M&B: Warband, gamers were promised that development would not stop on the original Mount & Blade. That promise was broken. Further, Mount & Blade: Warband was described as "an entirely new game", when it is very obvious that it is that it is a standalone expansion at best and the same game with additional features at worst.

Is this a bad thing? Yes. What, exactly, did we get out of the deal? Well, a lot.

Multiplayer. More weapons and equipment. More advanced AI. Faster, more frenetic gameplay. More quests. More interactions with lords. The ability to become king. Subterfuge (beyond simply trying to install a puppet king -- that was also in the first). Enhanced shaders and graphics.

This is a broken promise, but at least it is a pretty good one.

For people who are new to the series, Mount & Blade is a strategy wargame which I like to describe as Sid Meier's Pirates! on land. In Pirates!, you "sail" into a "port" to hire men and then "sail" the "seas" looking for "pirates", "enemy warships", and "enemy shipping" to attack and capture goods from. In M&B, you "ride" into a "village" to hire men and then "patrol" the "plains" looking for "bandits", "rival lords", and "caravans" to attack and capture goods from.

If you loved Pirates! in any of its incarnations, you'll love M&B guaranteed.

Where Mount & Blade exceeds is in three regards: the open-endedness of the gameplay, the intensiveness of the combat, and the developer's wide-open support for modifications. A little historical atmosphere never hurt anyone either, although don't expect it to be a realistic simulation of medieval Europe thanks to the creative idea to make Calradia feature a variety of kingdoms stuck in one small valley that takes less than a week's ride from corner to corner.

The open-endedness is well above even that of Pirates! Though you can't quest to recover your emprisoned loved ones (although I'm sure someone will mod it in eventually), at the same time your early potential is not restricted simply to piracy or raiding. It is entirely possible to play the game without violence, just as it is entirely possible to play the game without regard to trading or commerce; Pirates! requires you to switch as needed to keep your profit earning high lest your men's morale falter. Mount and Blade: your men continue to remain thrilled earning lots and lots of profit, fighting and dying as medieval men are so wont to do.

The combat is the selling point of the game for many. It is thrilling, intense, and it only got better with Warband (and at least got a facelift with the final release of the original Mount & Blade). Instead of riding at the forefront and doing battle by yourself, entire columns of friendly troops will ride into battle and you will duke it out, (wo)man to man, until the last person is down. The game also differentiates between wounding and killing, so you can use a force built of Sarranid Macemen to take prisoners, or a force built of Khergit Horse Archers to take none.

The game is such that if you get bored of it at any moment, you can find another game to play for a month, then come back to the boards and discover a brand new modification, usually carefully designed, tested, and retested by massive mod teams with a keen eye on professionalism and quality.

M&B:WB is an investment that's worth your while. If only it wasn't a broken promise.

The only game I ever bought without discount. Single player is pretty good. Keeps you interested for a long time. But the best thing about this game is that it has a multiplayer mode. Which is really fun. Nothing like using your skills to decapitate someone :D

Though I've always shown a high level of respect to independent games, I've never really found many decent RPGS within the otherwise inventive and resourceful indie scene that piqued my interest. While I enjoyed Jeff Vogel's "Avernum" series and even toyed around with the hardcore D&D ruleset present in "Knights of the Chalice", I never really considered the RPG side of the indie gaming revolution to be worth my time or money. Most of them didn't have the budgets or manpower to create the kind of complexity and depth that a true RPG requires and while I understand that can't be helped I still find myself unable to overlook it.

Mount & Blade was a game that I always threw into my "Probably not worth playing" pile partly due to the fact that my experience with the beta version some five years ago was less than memorable. At that time a friend had given me a leaked version of the game and begged me to play it, yet when I did I wasn't too thrilled with what I saw. The game had no music, had very little in the way of gameplay and had no working quests at all. It was "indie" in every sense of the word, and not in a good way.

Now, shoot ahead half a decade later and that same friend informs me that he bought Mount & Blade Warband off of Steam for only 9.99 and that if I don't buy it I'm missing out on the best game he's ever played. After listening to him say things like "This game has ruined all other RPGs for me" and watching as he cancelled his MMO accounts (Putting "This isn't as good as Mount and Blade" in the reason for cancellation box) I figured he was either going temporarily insane or the game really was that good. Since he has the same RPG taste that I do I decided to believe the latter and ponied up ten bucks for the steam version.

...and boy was he right.

One of the most used and most misunderstood buzz words in gaming nowadays is "emergent gameplay", and while it sounds good when you read it on the back of a game box it rarely means what you expect it to mean. Games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption claim to have it in spades, but in reality they do not. Too many times people confuse emergent gameplay with simple unscripted gameplay events and think that merely getting into high speed chases with cop cars after brushing up against them or running over a nearby prostitute in GTA is considered emergent gameplay. No, emergent gameplay is when the entire method of playing the game is changed all because of one seemingly random and unplanned event. Emergent gameplay is when something happens that the manual (or your quest log) didn't tell you would happen.

Mount & Blade is full of such events.

A whopping 90% of the game is made up entirely of unscripted, unplanned events that drastically alter your trip through the game and unlock new ways of play. Emergent gameplay isn't just a buzzword with Mount & Blade, it's the very foundation that the game is built on. Since you start the game as an unaffiliated warrior with almost no money and very little in the way of help, your path through the game is decided by how you interact with the people who live in your world rather than how much gold you gain or people you slay. Unlike other RPGs which brag about having lots of interactivity and faction play, Mount & Blade doesn't need to cover up any inadequacies with false promises of unparalleled interactivity...because, quite frankly, it is the deepest and most involving CRPG you'll ever play.

Do you want to join one of the game's six factions and eventually gain enough trust with them to become an official vassal and lead them to victory over the other five factions? Do you want to marry one of their generals and meddle with the political web of intrigue that holds them together? Do you want to sabotage a faction by staging a revolt and becoming their new king? Do you want to create your OWN faction and wipe the rest of the world out in a bloody conflict over several years? Do you want to simply become a master merchant and exploit trade deficiencies and land prices to form the first medieval wal-mart and become the world's richest man without even lifting a sword? Do you want to manipulate the leaders of the world through political arm-wrangling until you have them all eating out of your hand? Do you want to be a chaotic puppet master that instigates wars and backstabs people behind the scenes? Do you wish to remain faction-less altogether and simply carve a bloody path through the game world?

The list goes on and on, but with a game that has no real limitations on what you can do and how you can interact with the world's NPCs the possibilities for so-called "emergent Gameplay" are beyond anything you'll find in any other game...regardless of genre or developer.

So many RPGs today claim to be non-linear yet not a single one of them Can touch Mount & Blade when it comes to free-roaming and limitati

I loved the first Mount and Blade because it offered a lot of new content that I havent had before and I am a bit of a medieval fenatic. But when this "sequal" came out, I was very very dissapointed. I offers very little in terms of new content from the original and you'll find the same style of gameplay here, the whole roam the map (new but nothing special) take castles, fight, and thats about it. It gives you options to marry and have vassals but in the end, they do nothing for you.

I suppose if your looking for a change and you absolutely love Mount and Blade, then you should look into this. Be warned though, for $30, your not getting much of a difference from the beloved first game. Not to mention you HAVE to create a new character which was a major drag when your guy was as far as mine.

Great Game, better then the original M&B. The multiplayer experience is great, especially when the developers have made modding of the game really easy. If you ever get tired of sp, or vice versa, you just change to mp for some time giving you a whole new game.

Though I recommend people not used to mp to first read up on the forum, so that they will know just how to make the best of their time in multiplayer.

The is game is a rare gem in the darkness! Very addicting gameplay that has immense replay value. You can be a demigod character and take out entire enemy armies by yourself. Or you can focus on creating your own massive world domination army and just overwhelming the opponent. One of the best things is there are named fighters you can recruit that are equipable and customisable to your standards.

The multiplayer is fun and fast paced with timing on attacks and blocks being the key to victory.

Warband addes a new faction to the Mount & Blade universe in addition to an introductory adventure. The new intro adventure explains how exactly to play the game better than the original in addition to showing old M & B players the new mission mechanic added in Warband.

The new faction is an homage to Saladin and the middle eastern warriors of the Crusades. The faction is well suited to melee, mounted and ranged combat but give up the use of heavier armors for their advantages.

Multiplayer is a reality, though it is skirmish rather than a shared world of mercenary bands carving out kingdoms. Overall, M&B: Warband is just as addicting as the original, probably moreso thanks to the new faction.

The game in an off itself is decent, however is the modding ability alone that makes this game worth its price for me. With literally hundreds of mods available and the ease to make your own, this game will entertain for hours!

Best game ever! I first started playing M+B, when it was first released for purchase as beta software, and I am still playing the Warband version today.

With so much gameplay to be had, everyone should own this game.

Arguably the only PC game that gives you a truely medieval-esque feel when fighting on the field. This game started as an under-budgeted indie game but has recently grown to a full fledged production.

Either fighting on foot or on horse you have a truly great feeling of actually fighting for your life, as every single blow can put you down.

Diverses armors and weapons are put at good use since the heavier the better, but you move slower, and if you fall back from a horse and carry a too heavy armor you are dead meat.

For fighting style 10/10, otherwise the global map is very bland and is a major setback to the game, it seems that the developper has only concentrated themselves on the fighting side. Basically you walk around and look out for epic field battle, otherwise at this stage this game has not real other purpose.

Towns and castles are ususally impressive, however theres not point at all walking in them as you can access all their functions through the interaction menu. So its just fancy but usless stuff, unless again you are fighting in a castle or town siege.

All in all, every person fond of old style field battle should buy this unique game.

Great work to my opinion! Considering the original M&B was not bad at all, this version includes all the advantages the first game had and fixes many annoying disadvantages, bugs, improves the graphics, makes the gameplay more challenging and interesting. It's fun both online and stand alone!

This is a new and separate version of the game, I would call this M&B 1.5. I would skip the first one this one is so much improved on. Graphics are about the same but gameplay has improved and expanded. Keep up the good work Taleworlds

This expansion is a lot better than the original game. The feature that makes it stand out more is the multi player. It has variety in the game modes and recently it added a duel mode with the patch 1.127. The multi player is really fun. Especially sieging and defending castles.

As for the single player campaign you create your character by creating his/her back-story with multiple choice answers and then you add points to different stats and abilities. Then you are let loose on the world to do whatever you want. The story of the single player is what you make it since the game is a sandbox. My only complaint is sometimes I went to a lot of castles and towns and could not find a quest.

Overall I find the game quite good especially after gathering quite a large army for battle.

Mount & Blade Warband is a brilliant Medieval combat game / RPG. It is a worthy successor to Mount & Blade, as, although there are not a huge number of changes, the changes add a lot.

A few new options in the singleplayer campaign, such as marriage, bandit bases, and a more detailed rulership system, make it far more enjoyable and detailed.

The big component is, of course, multiplayer. Multiplayer in this game is a lot of fun, but hard as nails. While starting out you will get thoroughly schooled in how to wait for a respawn, but when you get your first kill in a one on one duel, it's all worth it.

I found this game to be really unique in the fighting mechanics. It's a breath of fresh air to have a game set in such an unusual period for action games. Having not played the original Mount and Blade, I can't complain about the similarities between the two. Although the graphics aren't the best, I love the open-endedness and originality of the game. If you can get past the graphics, I would highly recommend this game for you.

Great game. I believe it to be better than Mount & Blade original. It has some great mods for single player. Although the best mods are for Multiplayer but I don't play multiplayer on this.

At starting out the game is harder because the camera angle and weapon angles and animations are a little different. However, once your character gets stronger you can clean house. And once you get used to the different angles of the camera and weapons you can handle yourself much better in combat.

The graphics are a totally different world compared to the original. It is spectacular.

You can open your own business in this game and get money automatically from it. From what I understand you spend money to start a trade business and don't really have any thing to do in running it personally but the wars and battles and economic conditions will affect your business. So you can affect your business in a positive way by fighting against or supporting factions. And why not knock off a competitors trade caravan.

Then there is marriage. haven't done that yet. I suppose the player would need to in order to become some sort of nobility in the game, but maybe not.

The troop commands are different than the original but you can get used to them quickly.

My advice for a single player mod is:

OSPW - Native.

It has a minimap and other great stuff.

This game is almost perfect, i mean its like a 3rd person Medieval Total war game i mean it doesnt get any better than that. Great work Paradox Interactive

I really like the multiplayer part of warband. The different online servers offer you enough variations of playing Mount & Blade Warband. Also I really like the fact that new patches are released. The creators of the game really listen to the community.

I've been following M&B since 2005, since version 0.7++ of its beta. It's one of the best -- no wait, make that *the* medieval mounted combat simulator that lets you command troops on the field while letting you take part in the action.

I love this game to bits. I've been playing M&B on and off for so many years, and never really tired of it. The problem was, M&B never really quite came out of beta. It had a slew of new features over the years - from being able to walk about in towns, to ragdolls (which most people once said was impossible), and to sieges. And yet, most of these features don't have the polish of a fully developed game. As an example, let's look at sieges: they're quite an embarrassing affair compared to the large scale battles that typically take place during wars, consisting of a game of luck and hoping your troops rush the enemy successfully. The map interface is also still balls - very clunky; and then, there are also the really frustrating quests like herding cows which take an immense amount of willpower to complete without bashing your monitor in.

Other problems that I still have with Warband, since M&B, include:

- dialogue is still rudimentary, and more of a monologue than anything else, since you do get to talk, but don't really get to say anything interesting; inconsistent animations (mounted combat animations are nice, but others, like walking and foot combat, still leave much to be desired)

- characters still look like Ron Perlman (males) and Angelina Jolie (females) - in fact, they stick out like a sore thumb amidst all the cool shader effects like HDR and reflective surfaces

- and of course, the game is still frustratingly unpolished in many parts, as mentioned in examples above.

There are some nifty new features in Warband, including the ability to get married, having your own production facilities, and of course new main menu artwork! Kudos to the artist (I believe the person responsible is still Armagan's wife, Ipek) for the new designs. The main menu finally doesn't give off the beta release impression. Apart from that, nothing much in the singleplayer campaign has changed. It's still the same old good fun - forget about doing trivial quests like herding cows, the ultimate aim of the game is to get to the point where you're just booting lords in the hineys with 100-strong troops!

Multiplayer is supposedly the focus here, but I can't really comment on it, since there are no good servers in my vicinity, and I am unable to get a private server up on the Internet at all (having issues with port forwarding).

As with vanilla M&B, mods are also readily available. You definitely get good value out of them too, if the native Warband campaign is not your thing.

I love this game. Is it one of the best games I've ever played? Yes. And yet, at the same time, it has flaws so glaring they're hard to ignore. It is also hard to forgive the fact that the game has been given so many years of development time, and yet is still as unpolished as ever.

And yet, this game is still awesome.

Conclusion: get it at a discounted price. At USD30, I'd still think it's a bit too steep, but I got it at 50% off, and I think it's just about right - and that's not factoring in the multiplayer component.

What a squandered oppurtunity. I'm not going to go into the multiplayer, although it is one of the main features, because I'm not really into multiplayer and most people already reviewed it. Instead, I'm talking about the "improvements" to the single-player game. First of all, it should be noted that almost all of these, such as leading a faction or more satisfying equipment, may be found in mods for the original Mount and Blade, such as Expanded Gameplay 3 or Native Expansion. This is the case, so why spend money for this sequel when you could get a completely free mod? Speaking of which, this game doesn't feel like a sequel: it feels like an expansion. Why did we need to buy a completely new game just to experience multiplayer? Couldn't we have done it with a 10 dollar DLC pack? In fact, what did they really change or add besides multiplayer? Yes, there were some mild improvements to combat, such as automatic arrow blocking and the ability to kick, but I never really found myself hacking through enemies with my battleaxe, desperately wishing for the ability to kick the guy I was obliterating in the nuts. As for the "complete graphic overhaul," it's just abhorrent. I swear to god that the first game looked better. The combat animations are convoluted and confusing, the completely changed map of Calradia made me want to break my monitor, and it all just comes together for a single-player experience which, while decent, left me scrambling back to the original.

Very good sequel to Mount & blade, with a tiny price !

Many new features, interactions and pleasure ! The multiplayer is very funny, but not essential to my mind.

It is a very god game for people that like medieval things.If you dont like RPG's and Medieval things I do not recomend this to you, but if you like RpG's or Medieval things BUY IT NOW.

Warband is an excellent RPG in wich one you can do what ever you want, at the beginning you choose what history you want to play, what kind of heroe, what person you want to do, then you can conquest territories for a king... You can do what ever you want and the better thing is that you can play online too in a greateful experience. I never play a game like this and i really enjoy it too much.

this is a great game, i recomend it to everyone who like medieval games. it puts you in and it get addicting. besides that it takes too long to travel from spot to another and a litle difficulty when you become king also the limited upgrades of castles and towns, it is tottaly fun and it put you right in the medieval ages.

really good game.

The game is great and addictive in the beginning. The only problem is limited upgrades for your castles and towns. Also a problem when you become king, the relationship between your counts. Nice if there was a menu to see which count like's who. Except from this problems, the game is great and a must for anyone who played Oblivion.

Chances are if you played and enjoyed Mount and Blade, you'll enjoy Warband. I say this mainly because there isn't a whole lot of difference between the two.

Like in the original M&B you start off alone with money and equipment based upon choices made a character creation. The initial changes you'd notice is the slight improvement in graphics quality and the addition of a new faction, the Sarranid Sultunate, on the new and improved campaign map.

The moment combat begins M&B vets will notice quite a change in the combat system and may hate it till they get used to it (I personally love the more realistic motion and speed.)

Movement about the campaign map hasn't changed much except for an increase in bandit gangs and the new hideout locations. My favorite thing so far is the ability to forge your own empire, something sorely lacking in the original.

Not much else has changed, some improved dialog here and there and the ability to get married.

Multiplayer is the main reason I think they felt they should charge full price for this game. MP is insane when you get into a full 64 man server and you're trying to gain control of a castle. Already the community has released some custom maps and MP modes that are worth checking out. You can find those on the taleworlds forums.

IMO this is worth the buy whether you own the original M&B or not (though shelling out 30 bucks for what should probably have been a straight up expansion can be hard to swallow). The MP is a hell of a lot of fun and with the mod tools being released the community will be creating mods that are far superior to the original game. I'm talking to you RUS XIII Cent! If nothing else buy it for mods.

I'll start off by saying that Mount & Blade: Warband is basically Mount & Blade v2.0. If you liked M&B, then you will like Warband as it's more of the same. And it's a *better* more of the same. The single-player has had a huge update with more interaction with the other lords/ladies, more weapons and armour, upgraded combat mechanics, ability to open the gates in a siege, an additional faction, improved tax collection and the ability to become the ruler of your very own faction. Long awaited competetive multi-player has been added and fighting other players can be very, very satisfying.

If you're considering getting Mount & Blade I'd suggest you just skip ahead to Warband. M&B is still a great game, but Warband is even better. If you allready have M&B and are considering Warband, then consider no more: pick up Warband, it's definitely worth it.

Only really buy this game if you got time to put in it. Unlike the first Mount and Blade where you kinda sucked in the beging you really suck in this one till you get a good amount of battles which are pretty hard cause your dude will suck. Over all its in ight game with decent multiplayer. Recommend buying it just because the mod community is pretty good.

Mount and Blade Warband for me cleans up some basic issues in the original. For instance in the original Mount and Blade when fighting on heavily vertical terrain the "dropping" and "slipping" of people caused major lag. This has been cleaned up in MBW. Im using the exact same laptop so truly there is no improvement in my hardware.

I havent gone into the multiplayer. Its still been worth buying.

On the very initial release there was some hiccups. Patch 1.11 fixed these.

Lance strike is a little harder but quite doable after patch 1.11. I do find it helps alot to jump between 1st and 3rd person view with the R key.

As others have commented MB original was uber modded to make many other games. Modders have already gotten to work and some things have ported over easily.

The romance pursuit is pretty linear. You collect points by showing up when she asks, telling her poems you pay bards to teach you. There really isnt any personality to her in this.

Still... the game is about riding around and fighting people. It does that super well.

Look for the mods to multiply the value of this purchase!

The original Mount and Blade was a fantastic indie game. It was a medieval sim with no storyline but plenty to do and with enough content for any player to create their own story.

Warband is a stand alone sequal to Mount and Blade and in my opinion a bit of a cheeky rip off. The major difference between Warband and M&B is the multilayer. You can play against many other players in a variety of settings and it is quite good fun though the fun doesnt last for that long.

The single player has had a few extra features added such as the ability to create your own kingdon officially and have your own vassals but ultimately it remains unchanged.

Out of the box the game is so buggy it is almost unplayable and it even has features of the game which, when utilised bring up a message saying not implemented yet.

The combat has been changed somewhat to cater for multiplayer which means it doesnt really work nearly as well for single player.

To summerise, if you have M&B and arent that bothered about the short lived fun of multiplayer then i would not reccomend you buy this game. The features add only a little for the game and the ludicrous full (indie) price for the few extra features are NOT worth it.

If you dont have M&B you might its touch and go as to whether you are better off with Warband or M&B as the new features are fun but the actual combat single player combat is not as good.

So here we are a big medieval RPG with absolute freedom, what could be better, well you could play world of warcraft...Oblivion...OK there's allot of things you could play that may or may not be better. So how does Mount and Blade mount up? (OK sorry for the bad pun)

Story: ummm i don't really know what to write for this. Mainly because it's one of the choose your own story type of games. For example i was a brutal commander trying to find away to become king any way possible because it made my ball feel big (not saying that there not already big). The game reluctantly made this possible all you need to do is to stage a war by burning towns or raiding caravans. I've also talked to some friends who have this game and they say it's very reluctant in there games to.

Gameplay: You set out with nothing a small amount of money and one quest to kill a set of bandits that have made camp somewhere and stolen someones brother. Your task with getting a small group of people from villages and set out and kill the bandits. After that your left on your own out in a big wide world. It's a big scary place and your not quite shore what to do.

So what did i do? Well i got a big group of men, stole cattle forced people to give me there goods for free. then ran away from any type of authority. Then the rest is history became a commander back stab the king and when everything started to collapse around me, well i just retired up you herd me you can as a option give up. Then there's a text monologue and your done back to the start. There are some issues one time when i was playing, a big log of code errors, which presumed was a AI error because a big (and i mean 200 men big) came up to me and attacked me, i managed to win but then it happened again about one minute later, and there's a hole lot more bugs.

So should you pick it up? well it depends on what you want. So if you want a game with total freedom to do what ever you want buy it. If you want a game where the objective is clear then don't buy this game (you must have a silver spoon stuck in you head if you pick this option).

Liam Hackett

feralentertainment.blogspot.com

The Single Player has a few new features, but the main reason I would recommend this game is the awesome multiplayer matches.

Battles with up to 64 players, fighting over castles, villages, fields and all kinds of places is just great fun.

The original Mount & Blade has proven to be one of the most moddable PC games on the market, and Warband will follow. Endless possibilities for additional maps, reskinned equipment, new models (such as the helmet I made here), and even new factions are waiting to be discovered. Taleworlds wastes no time in releasing multiplayer patches, almost ensuring their dedication throughout the process as bugs and balance issues are discovered. This is the kind of developer you want to support.

A very great game!

If you like Mount and Blade. You'll like this one. It is the same game with some new features. Now if you haven't played Mount and Blade then get this one and you'll love it. You wont be disappointed. This is one of those games that you will play again and again.

Good game. This is more of a new version. Well worth the money. This is the type of game you play for years. I can't wait for the modes to be available.

I bought one of the first Mount & Blade versions and of course I had to get this one since I love sandbox games and really there isn't anything that has gone backwards from going to Warband. I'm not that much into the multiplayer part of Warband but it surely isn't negative. Anything that Improves the sandbox style of the single player is a plus for me. If you liked the original you'll like this one even more.

Warband is a big leap from the original Mount & Blade. The graphics have been updated and the game now supports HD. Multiplayer is the big new feature with up to 64 players. The servers are great with no noticeable lag that I noticed. A new faction and a new map and many more improvements have been added.

Overall Warband is a very fun experience espeacially online.

Warband is an improvement over Mount & Blade mostly due to some graphics and mechanics and online play.

Is it a totally different game? No not really.

It has been however built to better perform on higher end PC's and now naturally has the ability to expand battle size to 150 without the use of the battle sizer. It handles well and the new choices are certainly for the better.

There are more quests now, and a starting quest when you first arrive in Caldaria, which was pleasantly surprising and quite well done, taking the span of 4 quests which are of course voluntary.

Multiplayer is one of if not the biggest draw of Warband. Fighting up to 64 people in Mount & Blade style is quite fun and challenging. It's not perfectly balanced, and half the game is spent watching people with shields look at their feet. I'd avoid the battle mode in multiplayer since it's like Counter Strike where you only get 1 life per round and the wait can really ruin it, but that's more of a personal opinion.

Haven't tried the romance yet or founding your own kingdom, but I am happy with my purchase.

At first glance not much has changed from the original game. But as you continue onwards you find dozens of new obtions and possibilities in the singel player part, among other things the long awaited option to control your own kingdom. However the game is also plagued by CTD's and weird bugs. But from my experince from the old mount and blade the developers will propertly launch some patches in due time that will fix it all. Would however recommend for the buyer to buy this for the multiplayer part and not the singelplayer, since it is in the multiplayer part most work has been done.

I loved the first M&B however this one is pretty sweet, I like how you can be king and everyone doesnt attack you becuase you have no king. New quests, weapons, armor, bandits and the new faction are really cool. I dont like how it has the same exact music though as the first, coulda done something else but whatever. Sweeter graphics. Just an all around awesome game like the first. However I personally think they coulda just made an update to the first one and added most of the new features to the original but hey, its all about the money.

This is a great game. It combines the good things of the original with new innovations, such as passive blocking and a great online multyplayer. Yet do not think that the singleplayer has not changed. There is a new map with a new faction and you can now even marry and create your own kingdom. The graphics have been updated as well. All together I would rate this game an 8/10.

First of all you should really read all the previous review of the game this revamped version is based on : the original Mount & Blade (that you find in related product on this page). Then you'll have an idea how awsome people find this game.

It is a game you can purchase blindly, it will bring you a lot of fun.

Warband for the first time introduce multiplayer in M&B. Maps are various, the multiplayer system is smooth, allowing fun skirmishes, with a reward system depending on what you kill during those fights.

Also for the first time, you can pretend to be a ruler, and built your own kingdom, taking care of diplomacy, convincing other lords to join you, or appoint your companions as new lords giving them lands. Or if you fail, asking protection of another king as a vassal, to secure your hardly gain assets.

As an independant ruler, you have different management option throu a minister, either some civilian you appoint the first time, or one of your companion (they have better abilities). In the beta i havent tested all aspect of forging your own realm, i wasnt yet able ie to make other kings recognize my right to rule. The ultimate goal is to claim the throne of Caldaria, whatever path you choose to follow as a king.

As an independant king you also have to carefully watch diplomacy. The diplomacy system is now something you can influence, unlike M&B where it was just a faction friendly/foe marker.

You can send emissaries to other kings for various purpose (in the beta, asking for vassal protection, recognize your power, declare war). You can work for an other faction to improve your relation ship. Forge "alliances" when marrying a lady of the realm, if possible from a powerfull familly, to gain influence. Or work on gaining lot of vassal to show your house power...

Generally your most probable ennemy (after having secured your assets by making peace with them) will be the faction you took your new castle/town from.

AI diplomacy now favours short skirmishes between faction that long warfares, with various variable (skirmish between 2 realm over a village, provocation from a player mission on trade, military campaign to regain lost land, or to weaken another realm that the attacker find dangerous...).

So basically war and peace will alternate a lot, with possible external influence from mission like when a lord ask you to provoke war between two factions, or when a city guild master want peace to secure traders route.

About trade, it is now a vital factor in game, as caravans have a direct impact on economy. The more you attack them, the poorer its original city will be, thus having a direct impact on an entire realm economy. (I'm not sure yet if it also impact army levy from AI lords).

There is so much thing to write about this game compared to original Mount & Blade, i'm still discovering slowly all its aspects (everything wasnt working in the beta yet), and it is so mych fun !

Pla

This is a great game! I don't regret buying. Warband has improved graphics, gameplay, AI, multiplayer, reworked map, new quests and much more new stuff. I give this game 5/5 stars.

Having played and loved the old Mount & Blade game i was seriously disappointed to find that the actual combat and way you strike with your weapon(s) have changed to a degree where i cannot hit anything anymore. This has totally ruined the game for me as i saw absolutely no reason to change that part of it. Sorry, 1 star out of 5 for ruining the main part of the game.

Mount and blade.. A fantastic game that will draw you into the medival world were you can lead huge armys and siege castles and desided your own destiny.

This is the new version of the game that allow multiplayer and it also have a few other features. Now free prisoners from prison, get married or become king of your own country. Basicly the game is the same af mount and blade 1 and there are not that many changes, but if you are are a fan i recommend this game.

As far as I can tell from playing the Beta Mount and Blade Warband is a pretty big improvement over the awesome original M&B. The first big thing is that they added 64 player online play! I participated in the closed beta before the pre-order was up and I have to say it is pretty cool to go medieval on real player rather than just bots. There's a little lag sometimes, but that's likely due to the Beta stage and bad connections (stuff you deal with in any online play). The single player also recieved an overhaul in terms of adding some more gameplay elements, a new world map, a new faction, new weapons, new armor, some new horses, new bandits, etc... Basically it is way worth it to buy Mount and Blade Warband for anyone who was a fan of the first or likes medieval history, so me and my axe will see you online soon!