26.2.2011

First thing I can't understand is why this game was not marketed more competetively or agrressively, especially with the total war franchise. I was dubious about buying this game for the reason that it seemed obscure. Im glad I did though.The game does have a few teething problems, some of which are mentioned by the other reviewer who gave this game a 1 star - there is an initial problem getting the game to install, but I found that taking the disk out and putting it back in again, solved the problem. Secondly, I agree that making you play the tutorial is a bad idea. However once you get into the game itself it becomes quite entertaining and strangly addictive.Campaign map - Many battles and raids to keep you playing for a while,each battle is of varying difficulty levels depending on how you construct your army. Not as good as a total war game unfortunately, but good enough in it's own right. There is a negative side to the campaign, you must save regularly, as there is a chance that if you get ambushed with an inferior army, it seems like you can't retreat and therefore must find some way of winning the battle or starting from a previous saved game. This needs to be addressed... unless I'm missing something?With both main campaign and single battles you can be either English or French, each have their advantages.Battle map / battles - Formation and set up is easy enough, controls are easy to grasp - pretty much the same as total war controls. Graphics seem a little basic at first but when you zoom in they don't seem so bad. Saying that, the game doesn't exactly have bad graphics either, so 3/5 for graphics overall. Playing the battles and changing your formations constantly to suite the situation keeps you on your toes and missions can vary depending on the type of task you undertake, for example, you can have raids, full battles, ambushes and protection missions. The pause feature to control your troup movements works surprisingly well and this is one of the things that keeps me coming back to the game.Troop / army / battle cards selection - Basically, you can customise and recruit the units that suite your personal needs. There are three basic unit types - 1. archers. 2. peasants and 3. cavalry. Each unit type can be updated dramatically with armour, sheilds, skill points and techniques etc. For example, you can recruit a peasant unit and upgrade that unit to heavy infantry with a selection of weapons, sheilds, armour and skill sets to choose from. This is one feature (sadly comparing to total war series again) that the Creative Assembly could possibly implement into their own products in future. You also get to choose your units insignia and colours etc. Overall a very nice feature.Overall, the game, especially campaign map, could be a lot more flexible and the army / unit numbers could be larger. One thing that really bugs me above anything else in the game are the cut scenes. The games setting is the hundred years war. However, the history channel cut scenes appear to be about the crusades and the knights templar with no reference (video wise) to the english and the french between 1337 and 1453.I personally reccommend it, especially at this price. Just be aware that, despite total wars recent instability issues, the creative assembly still have the edge... for now.

4.4.2011

Like other reviewers here, I too was a bit tentative at purchasing this product. I can only recall seeing 1 advertisement for it on TV and generally there was not much marketing out there for it.I have always been a fan of age of empires and history in general so this just seemed to make sense for me.Please note this review is based on Single Player only I have not yet played Multi Player on XBL:The game itself is set during the 100 Years War.My first impression was a good one, there are 2 campaigns on offer one as the English, the other French.Naturally I automatically selected the English for my first playthrough Once you select the game you wish to play there is a mandatory tutorial first before you are pitched into the full campaign.I could see why immediately.- The controls; to put it politely are fiddly at best even though there are only 5 buttons/sticks used during the levels and I found it hard and timely to navigate across the maps.-Graphics; mainly due to this not being developed by a gaming powerhouse (Slitherine)the graphics during gameplay aren't ground-breaking due to the scale required. I think console restrictions might have quite a lot to do with it and the fact that there is so much going on at any one time. This is not such a problem when zoomed out to get the best view of the battlefield (which it the view most used) but when you are close in like in the 'army camp' menu people practically have half their face missing. But as previously mentioned 90% of the time you will be zoomed out during gameplay so from that angle the graphics look quite good.- Storyline; Generally speaking the game re-creates accurate historical events and battles throughout the main campaign. There are opportunities between main levels to raid villages and towns to gain gold for recruiting more men and experience.- General gameplay; as mentioned before the control aspects are quite annoying which can sometimes take away from the experience. However the battles themselves are great. Ordering a thousand troops forwards is great to watch, this is mainly a tactical game and not one that you can send units in willy nilly because that won't work. You need to use logic i.e spearmen to take out cavalry, archers to decimate tight infantry ranks etc. This is what makes the game so engaging. The difficulty of the battles depend on the levels and numbers of your troops. You might find that you will end to raid a village before taking on armies if you don't have enough troops. you can upgrade and modify your army between and before battles training them in new techniques and buying new armour and weapons. Each decision in a way can affect the game.Overall this game is a good buy for the price and with 2 campaign options and over 16 battles to fight in each campaign mode, this will keep you going for hours. Great if you want to have a break from FPS or RPG's or are a fan of the Total War Series.

18.6.2012

First thing to say is that this is not s strategy game like Total War where you move armies round a map and conqer territory.It is a battle SIM that allows you to fight battles in the Hundred Years War period. The battles are played out over a certain number of battles, plus some side-missions you can do you get more gold. In fact it is worth doing these side missions to build up your army before going onto later battles.So far I have got most of the way throug the English campaign and I quite enjoy it.The campaign involves fighting different battles. Some you just have to simply outlast the enemy. While in others, you have specific objectives.When you win attles,

29.10.2010

I do like Strategy games and really enjoyed things like Kessen? This one has a tie-in with the History Channel, but this seems to be just a Marketing/Commercial ploy?So there are video cut-scenes from the TV channel - but they are murky and really "generic" - they could be about anything and don't really add to the gameplay.I found the initial gameplay confusing and it is strange that you are controlling a very small force, while the majority just get on with it?Eventually you get into controlling more troops - but often I found that unless you do exactly what was specified you lose badly and there is little flexibility?It may be that as you progress ,you get more of this,

7.5.2012

I agree with other reviews regarding graphics. However, if you want to get away from the usual FPS and try a bit of tactical gameplay this is good fun. Yes the graphics are a bit of let down when zoomed in to the battle but 90% of the time you want to stay wide on the map to view the enemies movements. Of course, being English the 100 years war is a very interesting period. I keep going back to this game time and again. Total War it isn't but good fun if you like strategy games. The controls can be fiddly and if I don't play it for a couple of weeks I have to go through the tutorial again. Worth a punt at £11.00 if you want a bit of historical slash and bash and there is lots of upgrading of

9.2.2013

If you want a good strategy game for the ps3 this is the one.Following the battles of the 100 years war between England and France this game is like the show time commanders and you get to take charge.You have to recruit units including Knights, Archers and Infantry and kit them out with a large variety of weapons and armour which you aquire as you progress through the game.You then play the great battles of history and have to be able to use your troops in the most effective way to win the battle, some of the battles are quite hard and if you dont use the right troops you wont last long so it means that the replay value is good and the game can be challenging.Troops can be upgrades with points to give them extra skills so almost makes it a sort of rpg,

22.3.2017

" Great medevial battles" is a entertaining and a underestimated classic. A good strategy game that lets you reinact the medivel hundred years war (1337-1453) between the house of Plantagenet- English rulers, against the house of Valos the French rulers, battling it over the French throne. Player can swop sides if they feel particularly traitorous and march with Joan of Ark under the Papel banner.Good thinking game that lets you slug it out as you plan and scheme your next military manouver to win the throne.The grafics are a wee bit fuzzed when you zoom in on the action but this does not matter as most of the time you will want to be military commander overviewing your army from a distance

28.7.2013

If you like strategy games where you control vast armies then this would/should be in your top five. Very Very Easy controls, easy to win the early battles once you get the knack.. takes about 6 mins to become adept 30 mins to become expertly confident. The later battles become a bit more challenging and a basic tip is to equip your infantry with large sheilds making them almost impervious to arrow fire, and allow your own archers carte blanch to decimate the enemy units. This is one of those games that genre fans are guaranteed to enjoy.Historicaly the game is very accurate and spans the 100 years war, and incorporates new weaponry after the decades and major battles roll by,.

7.4.2012

Give this game time to grow on you & (hopefully) it will.If you think this game is total war, then you will be disappointed. However, take this game on its own merits & you will enjoy it. There are good graphics, & once you are used to it, some good gameplay.The gameplay at first is a little frustrating, but once you learn how the game operates, it will become more & more rewarding.If you, like me like strategy games, yet are frustrated by the lack of them on the 360; then please support games like this & buy it. Without sales in this genre, development will stop.For God, King Henry & St. George!

7.10.2010

If your a strategy game fan buy this its awesome when I first started playing the tutorial I was like what have I done as first impressions where not brill eg graphics however once you complete the tutorial and begin a campaign (I chose France) it's brilliant .it's important to level up your units at the army camp with gold u have stolen and also to understand what units fight well against others . Give it some time and you will be rewarded with a fun challenging game . Add me frontlinedave

26.3.2010

Good Morning all,i am a massive fan of these sort of games and when i looked at the preview for the game i was over the moon. However it looks like this item will never come to the market as all the major game suppliers are saying that is not available and may never be available.I am not aware of any other PS3 game like this and i think that this is a major oversight by Sony. There are people like me out there screaming for this.black mark Sony...

28.5.2012

Great game, there used 2 b a series on BBC 2 where contestants took control of army & replayed famous battles, this game is very similar, u start off with just a few units but u can build up your amy as u gain experience. Not the best game graphically wise but u get used 2 it, pity there are not more games like this on the 360, I would definitely buy!!!!

29.1.2011

This is the best strategy game on PS3, end of. Its brilliant. Its not Age of Empires, not building this and creating that, just you have x amount of soldiers and thats it, its very tactical, and excellently done. Graphically its no Crysis 2 but the gameplay more than makes up for it. Buy this if you like Total War.

29.3.2011

This is a good game for the money with the hard to load prob one person had, when the game looks like it`s hanging after pressing play , press your esc key and it will go to the game proprer , if you have probs navigating switch off some of the shadow graphics etc and slide other ones back to lowm

13.3.2013

If you like the click and play battle type games then you'll enjoy this. Its no total war but it does keep you entertained. The xbox controls are pretty simple to use and the game runs and plays well. Could i guess be completed quite qickly but has enough options to be well worth the price.

The History Channel: Great Battles - Medieval - Reviews

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