I've been a total war fan ever since Shogun and CA has never really disappointed on the whole. Of course there have been a few issues in each game that have caused gripes with the community but as an avid computer gamer I have to say CA has churned out some top notch software over the years.
With the release of Rome Total War, CA upped the ante. I have to admit I did not like RTW as much as I liked MTW because it seemed like MTW was an excellent and refined product wheras RTW seemed tuned down a bit, I especially hated how battles ended with chain routing in a matter of minutes of not seconds, it seemed as if CA tuned down RTW for broader appeal.
Well with the two demos I have played of M2TW I have to say my fears have subsided. It seems everything I LOVED about MTW is back with a vengence but this time on the absolutly beautiful RTW graphics engine. The game looks stunning but let's not forget the most important aspect of a game and that's gameplay. I've played the Gold Demo for hours the past 2 days and I feel like a child all over again. I've read on this board complaints over flags and smiley faces that tell morale and while these may be valid complaints to me they're very very minor issues in what looks like it's going to be an excellent game. The AI seems much much more intelligent, I've actually lost to it a few times which almost never happend in rome. The AI seems to know when to sit back and pound away with missiles or when it should actually engage. I've even been flanked by the enemy in the battle of otumba. The gameplay has just made me feel immersed and entertained and for a price of $50 I feel I will more than get my money's worth when I pick my game up on the 14th if the retail game is as fun as the demo has been.
In an age where it seems PC games are being pushed aside by consoles (walk into any Gamestop or EB and you'll see this firsthand) I have at least one game to look forward to. My last game Purchase was Battlefield 2142, upon opening the package I was shocked to see a disclaimer stating that there would be adware in the game that would monitor my view of in-game advertisments. To make this even worse the only mention of this was on the card inside the game which makes the game unreturnable by most retailers as you've already opened the package, real dirtbag move by EA Games. Actions like that make me feel like we're at the end of what i Call the PC gaming golden age. Even with all this at least M2TW appears like it will be a classic.
Well it's the final strech now, less than 3 weeks remaining. I'm already signing off my social life for this winter in hopes that this game will be the blockbuster hit I'm hoping it will be. Until then I have the 3 battles of the demo to keep me entertained.
See you on the battlefield...
~Waleed
