MOUNT & BLADE

GAME DETAILS :-

Developer : TaleWorlds

Publisher : Paradox Interactive

Engine : Not Revealed

Genre : Computer Role-Playing

Release Date : September 30 , 2008

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS :-

Operating System : Windows XP / Windows Vista

CPU : Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor / AMD Athlon64 X2 3600+

Memory (RAM) : 1 GB

Graphics Hardware : DirectX 9.0c Compatible Video Card with Memory 512 MB

[NVIDIA : GeForce 7600 Series
ATI : Radeon X1800 Series]

Hard Disk Space : 700 MB

GAME FEATURES :-

Mount & Blade isn’t so much a structured RPG as an exploration of being stranded in a medieval world. Even though the game gets underway with a detailed character creation process loaded with a D&D level of rigmarole regarding the stats, skills, and personality-establishing questions about your childhood last heard from your shrink, there is no shape to the game beyond that. You roll up as a hero, then head off adventuring in the realistic medieval land of Calradia. There is no story arc whatsoever, so the game begins without a strong sense of purpose to help get you immersed. This isn't to say that there isn't anything to do in Calradia. There is, but you have to do a great deal of wandering around to find it. When the game starts you're plopped down on the back of a horse in the middle of a vast medieval realm dotted by towns, castles, and the odd river and mountain range. Traveling across this land is easily accomplished on a tactical map of sorts, where you click on the location you want to visit to gallop off toward it. There isn't any guidance provided as to which place you should visit first, so you're left cruising around on a piebald nag with no particular place to go. A lot of background details are present in the game, as Calradia is divided up between four kingdoms and a Middle Eastern-style khanate, and every lord and king has a listing in an encyclopedia that you can bring up on demand. But these entries aren't entirely thorough, giving you only a brief rundown of the major players in the land. The backdrop is always busy with various wars, villages being looted, and castles being besieged, although you feel more like a hapless spectator than a wannabe hero with anything at stake during all of this conflict. You tend to have to research your possible destinations through bland text write-ups, or to search around in the documentation in the menus to find out why the king of Swadia is attacking the khanate of Kergit. Interaction with Calradia is seriously lacking. Quests are available in towns and castles, although their number and location is spotty. Villagers only respond to a canned set of questions about local rumors and what sort of goods are produced locally. Answers are generic listings of local features, so it feels more like you're consulting a travel guidebook for Calradia than actually speaking to a human being. You talk to one peasant, you've pretty much talked to them all. Many times, too, you'll ride over to a nearby village and discover that the locals don't need any assistance.

What quests are on hand are generally boring. A town elder may ask you to train a few residents so that they can better fight off bandits, or run across the land in search of a certain amount of wheat or butter. A guild merchant may want you to run a cattle drive. Castle lords and kings are also undemanding. In the early stages of the game, all they seem to require are delivery services involving running letters from one nobleman to another and collecting overdue taxes or other debts. Some of these quests involve utilizing character stats and special skills, such as trying to persuade a lord to pony up the cash he owes one of his fellow noblemen. Villages give you the option of seeking recruits to ride with you if you can throw down some gold denars to outfit them, which allows the accumulation of a mercenary army in short order. Still, it's disappointing that your growing military might is often hidden from view. You can't really control them like an army, either. Orders on the fly are just about nonexistent, which leaves you to simply tell your troops to charge into the fray and help out by cracking a few skulls yourself. Sieges are also scrambly, Keystone Cops-like affairs with too much running around and not enough options for making your way onto castle walls. There are few details and even fewer geographical features, aside from the ever-present bland rolling hills. One medieval architect seems to have planned the entire land, as castles and towns tend to have the same layout. Just a few basic facial types are spread among the hundreds of non-player characters in the game, so you soon develop a sense of deja vu when speaking to what look to be the same town elders in every settlement on the map. Days progress from morning through afternoon and night during play, which open up stunning vistas where you're surrounded by sunlight and shadow. Sunsets are beautiful, especially when viewed from atop a castle wall, and galloping across the countryside at night under a full moon is drenched in gothic atmosphere. Mount & Blade has some innovative ideas, but still needs a lot of work.

GAME REVIEW :-

6/10

Mount & Blade Trailer :-