Customer Reviews

Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This game is absolutely brilliant. I am a Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors fan and thought this would be very similar, but was surprised at how unique it is to anything I've ever played before. I have played a lot of games categorized as strategy that involved very little real strategy. This game truly is a strategy game! It is a cross between Dynasty Warriors and Total War (PC).

There are many different units you can lead in a battle. Some have advantages over others and are at a disadvantage when facing other units. It is like a rock, paper, scissors set-up. Yet there are helpful things on the game screen that allow you to see whether or not you will have an advantage or a disadvantage over an enemy. This keeps you from having to have a whole advantage chart memorized.

One thing I really liked is your character gains experience only with the types of units he has commanded during a battle. In that way, you get good at leading certain types of troops based on your experience at leading those troops.

I am in love with this game. The learning curve is really not that steep, though at first it might seem to be. This is definitely a unique game when compared to everything else currently out there, and might set the standard for a new style of real time strategy. A definite must play for fans of strategy games!

I like this game. Most of the games that I play are of the PC strategy type, i.e. Civilization, Total War etc. I also like RPG's like Morrowind and Oblivion. I see this game as sort of a hybrid of the two types. Bladestorm feels more "light hearted" and just fun. It's totally open ended. You don't have to create units and build castles etc. you just use what's already there.

I was very pleased to find that you can go into options and change camera view to inverse. I think the graphics are excellent. It's really rich and beautiful on a wide screen HDTV.

The voice acting and music is pretty rediculous, but doesn't detract too much from the gameplay.

What this game has, that really makes it different is the "first person" relation to what's going on on the battlefield. You can't get that "bird's eye view" that you get in Total War. You see the battlefield the way a participant would. There's till plenty of opportunity to employ tactics,i.e. keeping archers back and on higher ground if possible, charging with cavalry in open fields etc.

Another interesting thing is the fact that you can't just "button mash" in battle. Each type of unit has it's abilities, each taking a certain amount of time to regenerate. Using abilities well in combination can be very devistating. You have to wait for the "power" to regenerate before you use it again. The same is true for defensive manuevers, i.e. raising shields. You can raise shields for a certain amount of time, until the power runs out. Then you have to wait for the power to come back again.

The AI is kind of a "mixed bag." The good thing is that they don't just stand around waiting for you to attack. They will attack you. The bad thing, is that both the enemy and your allies don't have much finesse in how they attack. They just charge in with no regard for coordination etc. Sometimes it's not very pretty.

The most important thing to learn in this game is where you are in the battlefield. You need to establish your sense of direction. The map shows arrows indicating which directions the armies are advancing. That's a "sure bet" for how your character might proceed. You can't control every group of units right away. You can only control the ones that are available to be controlled and that you have "books" for. As you realize successes, you gain skills and "books" which will give you access to more types of units.

There's a sense of accomplishment when you take an enemy base or complete a contract. You can purchase armour, weapons, recruits etc. with your earnings. There's an over-all sense of direction in that you work on increasing your fame, skills and wealth.

I think it's a good game.

I've owned this game for about a month and have played it regularly. I would best descibe it as playing one of the soldiers in a Total War game because there is a large scale battle going on while you control one character or unit to complete the objectives and win the battle.

Pros: Great grapics; the in-game graphics are great and very detailed. The individual soldiers within a unit are somewhat unique looking and are not 20 copies running around. Also, the lighting as the time of day progresses is very good and impressive. The artwork and design are also great, giving a Japenese styled image to European soldiers and characters.
The story/plot is interesting but not consuming. Short conversations and cut-scenes between battles provide plot while keeping the emphasis on gameplay. The voice acting was also impressive.
Gameplay is great and a lot of fun, you can take your character anywhere on the battlefield and choose to complete the mission objectives or make your own path.
Character/unit development keeps the game interesting as your charater develops new skills that allow you to control different units.

Cons: Gameplay can be pretty repetive, a lot of time can be spent performing the same actions again and again. But I say the game has great replay value because you can choose to focus on different units as you play through the game which gives it a different style and feel. For example, if you focus on cavalry the entire game you might get tired of running your knights into enemy formations all day, but using different unit classes provides new challenges and experiences.

Overall I would say this is a great game and would highly reccomend it to anyone who is a fan of stategy warfare games.

You all know the name Koei. "Dynasty Warriors", "Samurai Warriors", "Warriors Orochi" "Dynasty Warriors Gundam" and all the sequels and alternate versions that go with them. All great action/strategy games, but that is an easy achievment because they are all EXACTLY THE SAME GAME! Before "Warriors" there were a dozen or so "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" games which were pure turn-based strategy. I was a fan, but again, where's the creativity; where's the diversity? So, making historical fiction fun: Koei's strong point. Innovation: not so much. "Bladestorm" marks an ever-so-slight deviation from the "Warriors" games by focusing on a rock-paper-scissors style of stategic combat rather than a one-against-1000 button mashing festival. The setting has changed from feudal Asia to feudal Europe so no more Lu Bu and Cao Cao; now we've got Joan of Arc and Edward the Black Prince to contend with. You create your own mercenary and proceed to fight in the legendary 100 Year War alongside the French and British forces as historical events unfold around you.

You may choose your battles and fight them as you see fit: either going straight for your objective and a quick payout or capturing extra bases and defeating commanders to gain fame. Gameplay consists of you commandeering a unit (assuming you've obtained the proper battle manual for that unit type) and leading the charge to defeat the enemy forces and achieve the objective(s) set before you, which is usually capturing and/or defending a base or bases. Depending on what unit you are commanding (infantry, archers, calvary, etc) you can attack the enemy in several ways, but it is a good idea to pay attention to how, when, and who you attack as some each unit type has strengths and weaknesses against other unit types. For example: pikes and archers beat calvary, calvary and halberds beat infantry, infantry beats scouts and rapiers, scouts and rapiers beat archers, and so on. The variety of units (all upgradeable) is awesome and keeps the game fresh dozens of hours in as you attempt to collect all of the manuals and manuscripts needed to master each type. There are plenty of weapons and skills to upgrade your favorite units with and you can even hire your favorite soldiers types to show up at your beckoning so that you're never really SOL as long you came into battle prepared. I love it. I'm sure that the numbers of camels, elephants, vikings, and ninjas fighting in the 100 Year War were quite limited, but hey, there's no bad excuse for adding ninjas to ANY game.

There is a massive number of hours of game here (I'm past 40 at this point with no end in sight) and the gameplay remains challenging throughout. Some missions are easy and some will have you throwing things at your television and taking solace in knowing that Joan of Arc deserved what she got in the end. Man, that b!+ch is tough! The missions do get repetitive and the game certainly makes you wait FAR too long to advance the story along, but there are few moments in gaming more satisfying then watching your troops cut down an enemy unit like so many shafts of wheat in "Bladestorm".

This game plays like a hybrid of "Kingdom Under Fire" and "Dynasty Warriors" so if either or both of those games tickle your fancy, consider this a must-play. The story is strong, the graphics aren't bad, and it is a nice deviation from Koei's recent indiscretions. Even I'm worn out by all the "Warriors" games now, give us a break already. "Bladestorm" deserves much more attention then it has gotten and if you're looking for a different kind of strategy game then don't miss out on it.

Really, it's the gameplay that immersed me. Because of the free mission system, you have a lot of leeway as to how you approach any given fight. But you're always guaranteed a tense and action-packed experience. Stopping cavalry charges with a wall of pikes, protecting siege weapons against Viking axemen, ambushing crossbowmen with assassins, or pulling out my longsword for some solo hacking in a pinch, all for riches and renown. It's truly one-of-a-kind. Very easy to pick up and play, but takes both quick and deep thinking to master all its challenges.

The strategy is simple at first but gets deeper as the game progresses and more unit types are introduced. And there are a whole lot of units, from all over the Old World, not just Europe. We're talking Mongol horsebowmen, Abyssinian scythe-swords, Japanese samurai cavalry, Touareg spearmen, and more. That's not historically accurate, but that's Omega Force's brand of historical fiction, and it adds depth to the strategy. You get to command all these different units, switching between them on the fly in the thick of battle. I actually like how the game forces you to work with your allied units; it's pretty much impossible to win battles on your own, unlike Dynasty Warriors and most other battlefield action games. The AI holds up well enough to facilitate teamwork and keep throwing challenges at you in critical moments. Speaking of teamwork, multiplayer would have been cool but isn't there. The other notable weakness in the game is when it occasionally has you trekking across the battlefield to get to far-flung objectives, which gets boring quickly.

The graphics and presentation are conservative but they get the job done of putting you in the milieu. Story characters are archetypal but cool enough to rally behind (and equally as cool to beat down. How you like being stuck on the end of my pike, Prince Eddie?) Also, parents need not worry about kid-unfriendly content. The game is quite clean, despite descriptions of "visceral" fighting and "foul-mouthed" characters. All in all, it's a unique and worthwile experience for gamers of all kinds.

this game is great. its basically an RPG. you are a mercenary for hire. a war between the french and the english, you can fight for either side, the 100 years war, you cant modify your "character's traits or anything like that". you modify these "books", each "book" is a different group that you group up with. for instance "sword". you group up with this group that has a sword and you use this group to attack the enemy with. after attacking the enemy for awhile you start leveling up. then at the end of the battle you can add points into slots according to how much experience you gained for that round "according to the book you were attacking with, for example, sword, if you were gaining levels in sword usage, you will be able to put points into the book: sword. you only gain experience when you increase in level. there are are about 10 different "books" that you can choose from. from spear, sword, bow and arrow. crossbow. lance on horseback, pike, bow on horseback, magic, mace, and many others. each battle are different stages.
the main point of the game is to capture different territories while youre on the battlefield. you have a time limit for each battle. and your objective varies. every objective is to basically capture a certain territory.
the game is alot of fun. if you like the middle ages, midieval type games. this game will be alot of fun for you. i have owned it for about a year now. and i still play it. the game is always exciting. there is no change in difficulty.
there is one flaw though to the game especially on the 360. the game tends to crash from time to time. so if you do not save often. you will have to start back from your previous save. there is no auto save. maybe it is my xbox. i dont know. but the game does lock up from time to time for me.
other than that. its a very good game. lots of action involved. another thing you can do in the game is you can hire mercenaries to fight with you. and you assign them on the controller to launch them on the battlefield, and then you can group up with that group of mercenaries that you put on the field. you cant change your weapon, the only way you can change your weapon is if you switch your "group" to a different book that that group is using. if your group is using swords and you want to use an axe or a mace, you have to go find a group that is using that weapon.
YOU CAN TRY THE DEMO ON THE XBOX ON XBOX LIVE FOR FREE. ITS UNDER THE DEMOS.

While dusting, I came across this on my room mates shelf. Being a fan of omega's games and a fair strategy nut, I popped it in, expecting to slog through a small cities population while barely staining my mail hauberk. However, bladestorm takes an interesting middle ground between the 3-rd person slaughterfest of Dynasty Warriors and the nearly completely hands off approach of Rot3K.

Bladestorm puts you in the role of mercenary officer No. 5, a sellsword who works for the British and French in turns on various fields throughout the Hundred Years War. A nice cast of significant figures make periodic appearances and are voiced decently, from the Black Prince to Joan of Arc.

Advancing isn't a level by level thing, but rather a practice with spears, improve spears techniques and spear unit leadership skills. Points aren't automatically awarded, and you have a fair amount of control over the improvement of unit abilities (I personally ramped Calvary Charge up to max first thing, and thereby turned my horse line into a tank blitzkreg) The weapons are incredibly well balanced, and a wrong strategic step can quickly see your men slaughtered like lambs. Yuo also can't do the one man army approach thats so tempting from DW either, for similar reasons. Theres some strategic involvement, but primarily you fight from the fore, as to be expected.

The sad part of this is you feel like an extra in a movie, rather than a named character, much less a main one. You almost don't have control over yourself, and its easy to lose track of you among the throng, and suddenly find yourself surrounded, all your men dead and you at half health. You have no lines and no involved cutscenes, and you even get your thank-you lines in battle. The story crawls along, shackled wrist to ankle. After nearly 10 hours of play, I've run maybe 5-6 10-15 minute story missions, and had little direct involvement otherwise. To put in DW terms, you play free play ten times before playing a story mission. The story also doesn't seem to go anywhere. You can't exclusively fight for Britain or France it seems, as you need to play French missions to unlock further British ones, and vice versa.

This is a great game to keep on your shelf, but I couldn't sit through this start to finish if I was paid. I'll pull it off and sack some villages every month or so, and grin wickedly while doing it, but I can't follow it with the same kind of dedication I've felt for Dynasty Warriors. It was a nice new idea Koei, but it definitely won't take over as the best one.

Finally something original is made though surpisingly, it comes form KOEI, a company that has developed 6 games called Dynasty Warriors. KOEI innovates on a new concept. You are a mercenary in the Hundred Year War between France and England and must accept contracts from both countries. At the end of each contract, one receives a monetary reward.

The whole games revolves around the battles which are the contracts. Outside of these, one finds himself in a "tavern", which is little more than a useful menu where one organizes his mercenary's business. In the battles, you are a simple soldier who has the ability to take control of different types of units all of whom have different capabilities and to seemingly switch from these.

Meeting historical figures such as Edward the Black prince and Joan of Arc, one quickly finds himself immersed into this original game.
the only con was that after 15 hours of gameplay, it gets a tad repetitive, but as other reviewers have put it, theres always different ways of playing the game for a new experience.

Hopefully KOEI will continue their streak of spawning multiple sequels, for this game that is.

This is a verry fun game, verry creative and pure of action fun. Great story and 3d animation.

This game is probably the most underrated of its type. You will have sooo much fun with it and wont put it down. Its a mix of dynasty warriors, streategy games, and has an RPG touch to it. The graphics are just BEAUTIFUL in HD. The only complaint i would have is the voice acting and the not being able to explore unless your doing a mission. But the game is still overall good and fun. If your a fan of theese types of games, pick this one up.