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Drake
10-26-2006, 15:18
Just got in from Tesco and saw the new issue of PC Gamer UK, with a massive cover of MTW2. So, purchased it, read it and the general feeling of it follows:

(Reviewer was Tim Stone who is a strategy fan, so probably one of the better choices to review it.)

- Good words for the campaign, gave lots of credit to it's depth and the new features such as princesses marrying enemy generals, merchants and the role of the Pope.
- Says battles are "spectacular" and he pays credit to how good it looks when you zoom on in.
- Goes into a good bit of detail about the importance of the Pope, reinforcing pretty much everything we already know regarding excommunication, the autonomy of Inquisitors and issuing of missions. All informative and while no real new info there are a few bits you might find interesting to learn.

Few negatives were:

- During battles which he says are much slower affairs, both your units and the AIs are at times "dithering foolishly", seems to mean that they don't engage at will to the closest unit which surprises me as I'm sure I read it somewhere that they would auto engage but maybe I'm wrong, thought he does state that this may be because of Fear and Fatigue.
- Basically just says that the control and AI hasnt matched the advances of other aspects.

Overall the review is very positive, it acknowledges that the game is not the massive step that Rome was but he puts it over as being particularly good. If you get a chance to read the review do so as it has some very informative bits about select nations and has good summaries of pretty much every major aspect of the game. I'm very reassured by this review, Gamer staff typically are on the money with their views and this seems no different. I knew I was buyign the game anyway and this has helped reinforce that view.

TB666
10-26-2006, 15:20
Can note that this is the Build 47 that Palamedes talked about.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=70969

Bagpuss
10-27-2006, 11:07
TB666

If I understand your post correctly you are saying the Game that the reviewer played wasnt the finished game ?, if Yes how do you know this ?
I hope you are correct btw :)

Lusted
10-27-2006, 12:31
Read the link he posted, it leads to a post made by a CA dev on the issue.

Bagpuss
10-27-2006, 15:25
Doh , lol I did read it , but the version the reviewer rated was the finished game wasnt it

TB666
10-27-2006, 15:28
Doh , lol I did read it , but the version the reviewer rated was the finished game wasnt it
How can it be ??
The game isn't finished yet.
Considering that they are reporting the same problems all reviews so far shows that they are all from the same build and one of the reviews(PCgamer Germany) pointed out that they were reviewing the game version build 47.

Bob the Insane
10-27-2006, 15:30
Doh , lol I did read it , but the version the reviewer rated was the finished game wasnt it

Well considering that there is going to be a release patch that means even a gold release review is not necessarily gong to be 100% accurate...

The the issues brought up do match well against the issues listed by the CA dev in his post...

Lusted
10-27-2006, 15:35
I was referring to this post mabe by Palamedes: http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotalwarfrm55.showMessageRange?topicID=5133.topic&start=41&stop=59

and this part in particular:


So to conclude build 47 was still in very basic overly defensive form, 48-50 smoothed it out, 51 & 52 fixed exploits and introduced a silly one that you wont notice unless you go answer the phone come back and realize “hey, what’s it waiting for?”.

Furious Mental
10-27-2006, 16:11
I like what I read

magnum
10-27-2006, 17:41
I wonder if by 'dithering foolishly' he means something that I noticed occuring from time to time in BI and again in the first M2TW demo. Played Agincourt last night to try a few different things. Brought a unit of Billmen forward through the spikes. The unit understandably lost cohesion. Some men behind the spikes, others in the spikes, yet others in front of them. Was trying to get them all in front of the spikes when the French dismounted knights arrived. Well, instead of the Knights charging into my men, a handful of them, about 10 or so, ran into my Billmen. The rest just crouched where they were and never engaged. My Billmen did the same. Those two units sat there engaged like that for almost the entire battle. Neither of them ever had more than 10 men actually fighting. The rest of the men were spread out almost looking like they were wondering aimlessly. It gave the two units a rather odd looking behavior.

Mount Suribachi
10-27-2006, 21:09
Sounds like the issue Palamedes talks about which is being fixed with the release day patch.

LadyAnn
10-27-2006, 22:49
I read what I like :P :)
Annie

hoetje
10-27-2006, 23:23
Lady ann,

here in Belgium we say : you are the most funny person in the house,when the garbage cans are put outside.:laugh4:

LadyAnn
10-27-2006, 23:45
Don't understand your saying, but I never understand the Belges anyways...

Annie :D

hoetje
10-28-2006, 16:19
Well,we actually mean the garbage cans have more humour than you have:laugh4:

Sorry mate :2thumbsup:

Faenaris
10-28-2006, 17:13
"Ge zijt de grappigsten thuis wanneer de vuilbakken buiten staan" ? I haven't heard the expression before. Gotta remember this one. :)

As for the review: If the AI has improved since that review, I can only say: w00t! :)