How good is "Medieval: Total War"?

[The diplomat]

I finally started playing the demo of Medieval:Total War.

The battles are absolutely amazing, trully epic.

Avault even has a very positive review of the game.

The demo only gives you a taste of the battles, so I was wondering what the rest of the game is like. Is it as good as the reviews say?

I am very interested in the game. Should I buy it?

[Grumbold]

The battles are a lot of fun because there's a lot more variety in unit types. That said, I did find it relatively easy to sweep the AI aside with stacks of feudal and chivalric spearmen and the ability to issue new orders instantly to any unit. The only thing they had trouble with was light horse. The game is superior to Shogun but it does bog down after a while once you own a lot of territories and have ships in most sea zones. Each turn becomes a micromanagers heaven. In all I think I played it for three weeks. If you're interested in playing battles online that would extend its shelf life considerably.

[Stuie]

I've enjoyed MTW for a couple months now. The strategic part of the game can bog down if you conquer too many provinces. I tend to focus on "Glorious Achievements" (tasks which result in points toward "winning") and building up a small kingdom rather than grabbing everything in sight; that keeps the game moving. My one complaint is that the AI doesn't seem to recover from facilities being destroyed in its provinces, resulting in lower tech troop composition later in the game than is warranted. Hopefully the patch will help address this.... speaking of which, there's a patch due out soon that will squash the few bugs in the game.

I'd say it's well worth the US$30 I spent on it, and I've seen it even cheaper in some of the Sunday adverts.

[The diplomat]

thanks to both you for your insightful comments. I will continue to think about it. I am very picky about what games I buy.

So far, I am leaning favorably towards the game. I might just add it to my christmas list along with MOO3.

[Standup]

The battle side is as good as the reviews say but i found the strategic side a bit lacking. The diplomacy is non existent and it felt like it all came down to churning out units. Probably my fault for expecting something like Europa Universalis which it very much isn't. Don't want to sound too negative though as it is good fun.

[Stuie]

The first patch is out. Definitely get it as it improves the Single Player campaign quite a bit, giving the AI more of a chance.

Sounds like MP is kind of broken still. If MP is what you're after, I would take a wait and see approach to this one.

Standup is right about the diplomacy; it is SERIOUSLY lacking. It's basically ally, don't ally, be at war. Period. I feel that the rest of the strategic portion of the game makes up for the lack, but it would have been a MUCH better game if they had concentrated on diplomactic options more.