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CG rating |
The Bad
- Realistic landscapes
- Historical accuracy
- Upgrades in-between missions
- Very slow game speed
- Repetitive animations
- Limited tactical options
- Emotionless combat
- Boring and heavily scripted single-player missions
Review
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Whenever I get my hands on a clone of any kind, I cannot help but wonder what have the producers come up with this time, in order to conceal the lack of originality. Is it a new and breathtaking graphic engine? Some nice gameplay features, like spectacular micromanagement options? Countless control options for each unit, including tactics and equipment? Or just a celebrity’s voice-acting, some nice wrappings and a couple of intro movies? For Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come, the answer it’s easy to guess: none of the above.
Thy will be done…
Borrowing most, if not all of the features that made the Total War series a success, Crusaders took no chances with the story either. The action takes place during the First Crusade, also known as the „Kings Crusade”, because all the nobles of the time answered Pope’s Urban II call to arms. The Francs, Germans, Brits and Italians were among the first to set sail for the Holy Land, with the religious zeal and the ambition to be the first to free Constantinople and conquer the Holy City. The player can choose such a prince and along the 15 single-player missions has the chance to punish the infidels and bring the word of God throughout the Muslim world. The choice also has some tactical reasons to it, as one prince can be wealthier and can find it easier to recruit new units, while another has a powerful personal guard to help him in combat.
There is also a journal available, for those who wish to record their deeds, an altar on which sacrifices can be made, to the Pope’s delight, and, of course, a crusader rank which advances as the campaign progresses. The description of the missions, of the nobles taking part in them and of the overall political situation is well done and contributes very well to the game experience, by introducing the player to the religious atmosphere of the time.
Recruiting new units or upgrading old ones can be done in-between missions, where new troops can be hired to replenish those lost in combat, or better equipment can be bought for those who survived it. This new equipment is represented normally by armor and weapons which improve offensive or defensive abilities, but special features can be unlocked too, for said units, given the right amount of combat-earned experience. These can be a powerful new charge for cavalry or the ability to hide in plain view for infantry, while the commanding noble can receive on top of that some strategic perks such as a discount when purchasing troops or the ability to call for help during a battle. These can sometimes be dependent on the amount of piety you show during the missions, namely the secondary objectives you complete, such as freeing a small village or setting a mosque on fire, but aside from that the single-player campaign is quite boring and repetitive, due to the high level of scripting involved.
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The actual fights take place in pre-set maps, where terrain does matter, but unfortunately this hinders the gameplay rather than adding depth to it. True, units that hide in a forest are harder to spot and get an attack and defense bonus, archers are more effective when firing from higher ground and overall movement and combat is affected by terrain, but the way this was implemented really hurts. First of all troops inside a forest are a nightmare to see and control, and all the troops have trouble with the high ground. Also, aside from mountains and forests there is little variety, not counting snow and desert which have few tactical applications.
The interface is hard to control, specifically the zoom feature which, for some unknown reason, is reversed, meaning that the mouse wheel acts like a jet stick. Furthermore, the camera angle is embarrassingly large, making the controller feel like a race driver trying to get to a certain point. And when it does, the action either finished or moved to another area. Perhaps trying to keep to the historical truth, the producers have equipped all the units with more than one flag; this might add to the feeling but confuses the user, who doesn’t know in the end what exactly has selected. Perhaps the biggest problem is the game speed. Even though you have the option of doubling it, you’re still looking at a snail race. I was waiting for 20 minutes in one game for the crusader’s army to attack me, and I was sitting looking helplessly at the useless maneuvers and spinning in circles they were busy with, while thinking it would have been silly of me to attack them as I had an objective to protect.
The AI is fair enough, but that’s about it, not to mention the Kodak moments where one cavalry unit scares away an entire archer unit. True, in those times heavy cavalry made little work of ranged units, but I’m guessing that out of 32 archers one would have been smart enough to take down the lone ranger. Due to the scripting nature of all missions there are little options for combat, even in skirmish or multiplayer you need only watch the enemy to have a good chance of winning, while the moments you get surprised are sadly, very rare.
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Comments [Add a new comment]
| Yes | |
 | 59% |
| No | |
 | 27% |
| Haven't decided | |
 | 14% |
Total: 1666 votes
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