Crusade/Jihad simulator. It might be old but it's still fun as heck to play. The modern warscape total war games lost some of the magic that made total war great. Definitely recommended.

hello reviews section, my name is whiskers and im going to share you my pain
ps. crippling depression is so cool

>be me 3 weeks ago
>browse store
>see game
>"oh great, something to replace my big bad pirated rome 1"
>i decide to buy the pack (which gives you kingdoms dlc)
>leave it downloading
>fall asleep
>next day, wake up to find it downloaded
>ahyes,jpeg
>open the game
>"well time to start this off with a campaign
>inspect the sh*tty nations
>decided to play as england, because, why the ♥♥♥♥ not?
>i gaze upon my lands and start recruiting
>turn 12 marks my conquest to take the lands of the scottish
>after a successful conquest, which put the whole isle under my command, i decide to wage war against the french
>turn 29 marks my landing on the european mainland
>wage war
>i manage to take paris, french offer me ceasefire and some money
>declined
>take 3 more settlements
>offer ceasefire for 600 florins
>accepted
>"♥♥♥♥ing whiteflaggers"
>about 4 turns later, a crusade happens
>game urges me to join
>i refuse as my economy was not ready for another war
>pope dislikes me alot
>turn 36 marks the attack of the spanish
>i valiantly push them back, loosing half my army in the process
>pope tells me to stop
>me, being the idiot i am , decide to ignore the demand
>excommunated
>*sigh*
>"♥♥♥♥ing hell i want to die"
>milan and the not-so-holy roman empire declare war
>conquer my newly captured french lands
>turn 123, im left to holding the Iverness
>turn 126 marks my demise

kriffing ustase pope made me depressed again

Our last king restored Hungary to it's rightful place in the Christian church. We must not let it fall!
My western border with The Holy Roman Empire is secured and christianty is almost fully restored, we must restore our eastern front! Many of our greatest builders were sent to build churches, chapels and Abbeys, we trained our greatest priests to become bishops and cleanse our eastern territory from the heretical thought. Our eastern border wasn't protected though, so we had to make alliances, Georgia came to us in request to trade, it was a perfect moment to make a diplomatic action and propose an alliance, gladly they accepted. We both had a common enemy of course, the heretics who call them selves "Byzantines".

They are nothing but a dying empire, after we aided Georgia in their wars and the world was shown the true strengh of Mother Hungary, the Russian and Polish embassies embraced our relations and proposed an alliance. Of course we agreed, now that we have Georgia in the east, Kievan Rus' in the north east and Poland in the north, we can direct our forces to the west!

The Holy Roman Empire is in constant war with our polish allies, but my advisor said that it's best to build up our economy. So we did, in a matter of years Hungary became the richest country in Europe and maybe in the whole world, soon we started buying cities from Poland and Kievan Rus', our borders grew and my kingdom strenghened. Our Polish friends were also getting stronger and our relations were better than ever. But Poland was too concerned with wars than with their own faith! The church has excomunicated them, and I had to declare war on my closest friend. I hasitated but I shudder to think that I could ever betray them...

The church was unpleased with my actions, but I can't betray my own friend, I still think there is hope for him, I just need to meet him once more, have a drink and discuss his issues with the church. But alas I was too late, he has fallen in battle trying to defend his lands, his entire city butchered, women and children.
And now I have to pay for my actions, I have been excomunicated. I am writing now as my whole kingdom crumbles to dust, what will happen to my subjects? Will they meet the same fate?

-The last page was never found-

- Play custom battle
- Select Timurids
- Give your team a lot of money
- Select elephants
- Fully upgrade them
- Select weakest unit for enemy
- Use elephants to make enemy juice

11/10 Would feel superior again

For how old this game is it's still one of the best strategy games I've ever played. The game starts in the dark ages and progresses through the Renaissance. You take control of a faction (the Holy Roman Empire, Egypt, England, France to name a few) and run the trade, religion (including joining/launching Jihads and Crusades), family (via marrying into other royal families or having worthy generals married into yours), exploration (once the technology is available you can lead your faction to settling the new world) and military. When battles occur you can choose to skip them or fight them in real time which is a blast. This game has so much in it and it is so immersive that it is definately worth playing even now.

Now let me tell you, I am a great builder, the best in the buisness, I'm great. But you know what's not great? Our country. We don't win anymore. We used to have clear victories, but we don't have them anymore. Our country's in serious trouble. I mean, when do we beat France in war? In an even battle, they kill us. When do we beat Scotland at the border? They're laughing at us, at our stupidity. We invite people from all over the world, including Syria, and we have no idea of who these people are. They are spies, they are sneaky diplomats, they are naffatunes, and some, I assume are good people. But we need a total and complete shutdown of Muslim immigration to England. Islam hates us, they really do. They exterminate and sack our villages, and I'll be sure to protect the Papist community from them. The pope questions my faith sometimes, but it's a disgrace to do so. I sent 4 cardinals into Ireland, I really did, and I built a great cathedral in York. Soon the Moors will declare a jihad on London at this rate. Anyways, when do we beat Venice at trade? They get 40 florins per turn on a resource, and we get 10! Let me tell you, if you crown me king, I'll bring back Blood Eagle and I'll bring back a hell of a lot worse. It'd be a pretty picture to see the Polish Queen on her knees. She's pretty, just like my daughter, the future princess. If she wasn't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her. Our country is weak! Our military is like number 20 on the turn report. At least that's what the experts tell me. I get a lot of pro players, they're calling me, they're saying "king, you're gonna do something that's gonna be so tough". And it's true. That's why I am officially running to be monarch of England, and we're gonna make our country rich again, we're gonna make it strong again, we're gonna take care of our knights, and it will all be great. Oh and I'll bombard the ♥♥♥♥ out of the Turkroaches with my trebuchets!
t. Donald John Trump

This is hands down one of the best and most classic total war games out there. If you're debating on whether or not to get it i would highly recommend that you do.

First my childhood as a CD-ROM, but the disc version no longer works with my PC. Now one of my favorite games to play on Steam.

If you want the definitive Total War experience Medieval 2 is it. Unlike new Total War games, Medieval 2 is much more complex in its gameplay mechanics. From maintaining merchants and diplomats to army management. Medieval 2 feels more of an empire building simulator than newer games such as Rome 2.

Battles feel much heavier and units tend to react more realistically to commands. The sense of weight makes battle feel much more organic than Shogun 2, Rome 2 or even Fantasy Warhammer.

If you do choose to buy this game, be sure to install Stainless Steel as it provides a much more historical early and late game era campaign. You can check out some footage of it on my YouTube channel.

SUPER FUN. hours upon hours of gameplay as you can see from my hours and ive only just started multiplayer.