Орта ғасырлар: Total War ойыны

2002 video game

Medieval: Total War is a turn based strategy and real time tactics computer game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Activision. Set in the Middle Ages, it is the second game in the Total War series, following on from the 2000 title Shogun: Total War. Originally announced in August 2001, the game was released in North America on 19 August 2002 and in Europe on 30 August for Microsoft Windows. Following a similar form of play to Shogun: Total War, the player builds a dynastic empire in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, spanning the period of 1087 to 1453. Gameplay is both strategic and tactical, with strategy played out in turn based fashion on a province by province level, while military units of varying types and capabilities fight against each other in real time on a 3D battlefield. Medieval: Total War received acclaim from reviewers; several critics commending it as a milestone in gaming. The real time battles were praised for their realism and the new feature of siege battles but also received some criticism for unit management. The depth and complexity of the strategy portion was also received well by reviewers, together with well integrated historical accuracy. The game was a commercial success, topping the British video game chart upon release.

Medieval: Total War is based upon the building of an empire across medieval Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It focuses on the warfare, religion and politics of the time to ultimately lead the player in conquest of the known world. As with the preceding Total War game, Shogun: Total War, the game consists of two broad areas of gameplay: a turn based campaign map that allows the user to move armies across provinces, control agents, diplomacy, religion, and other tasks needed to run their faction, and a real time battlefield, where the player directs the land battles and sieges that occur. The strategic portion of the game divides the campaign map among twenty factions from the period, with a total of twelve being playable. The initial extent of each major faction's territory, and the factions available, depends on the starting period of the game, Early (1087), High (1205) or Late (1321), reflecting the historical state of these factions over time. The factions themselves represent many of the major nations at the time, including the Byzantine Empire, France, England, the Holy Roman Empire and the Turks. Several factions, such as the Golden Horde, emerge during the course of play at their historical time. These factions, together with several other factions appearing at the start of the campaign, are unavailable to the player in the main campaign. Each faction varies in territory, religion and units; however, factions of the same culture share many of their core units. In addition to the main campaign, Medieval: Total War also features a game mode where the player can undertake various historical campaigns and battles. Historical campaigns allow the player to control a series of famous battles from a war of the medieval period, such as the Hundred Years War and the Crusades, playing as historic commanders like Richard the Lionheart. Individual historic battles have the player controlling a historical figure in an isolated battle that occurred in the era, such as controlling William Wallace through the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Diplomacy and economics are two other aspects the player can use to advance their aims, as well as having access to more clandestine means such as espionage and assassination. Religion is very important in the game, with the player able to convert provinces to their own religions to cement the people's loyalty. Another campaign mode is available, called "Glorious Achievements", in which each faction has several historically based goals to achieve, which score points; the faction with the most achievement points wins the game. The campaign mode is turn based, with each turn representing one year, allowing the player to attend to all needs of the faction before allowing the artificial intelligence to carry out the other factions' moves and decisions. The campaign is carried out in a similar fashion to Shogun: Total War, but features many enhancements. The game is set mainly in Europe, but also features the Middle East and North Africa. Occasionally in the game, a character will be trained bearing the name of a famous historical figure, with better than normal starting abilities. A general such as Richard the Lionheart, El Cid or Saladin will be a capable military commander, while a bishop such as Thomas Becket will have higher piety than normal. In the event of a civil war, the player is given the choice to back either the current rulers or the rebels. It had been planned to allow other factions who had established a prior claim to the throne by marriage to princesses to join in a civil war to claim the throne for themselves; however, this was never implemented. During battles, players take control of a medieval army containing various units, such as knights and longbowmen, each of which has various advantages, disadvantages and overall effectiveness. Players must use medieval tactics in order to defeat their enemy, using historical formations to give units advantages in different situations. All units in the game gain experience points, known as "valour", which improves unit effectiveness in combat as it increases. Sieges are an important aspect of the game introduced to the Total War series, occurring when the invading army elects to attack the defending army which has retreated inside the province's castle. Upon starting the engagement, the attacker has to fight their way through the castle's defences, winning the battle once the enemy units have been defeated. Each unit in the game has morale, which can increase if a battle is going well for their faction, or decrease in situations such as sustained heavy casualties. Morale can drop low enough to eventually force a unit to rout off the battlefield, with the player having the option to attempt to rally the men back into the battle through their general.

The Creative Assembly announced the development of an expansion pack, Medieval: Total War – Viking Invasion, on 7 January 2003. The Viking Invasion expansion pack adds a Viking campaign taking place from 793 to 1066, set upon an expanded map of the British Isles and western Scandinavia. The Anglo Saxon and Celtic factions have the goal of repelling the Vikings and ultimately controlling the British Isles. New historical units were included with the expansion pack, such as the huskarls. Medieval: Total War: Viking Invasion brought several enhancements that were also added to the original campaign: flaming ammunition giving the player an option to set alight enemy castles,

Activision, the game's publisher, produced a combination of Medieval: Total War and Medieval: Total War: Viking Invasion, called the Medieval: Total War Battle Collection, released on 7 January 2004. Medieval: Total War Battle Collection contained both games, patched to the latest version, and their manuals. On 30 June 2006, Sega, the company that took over the publishing of the series, released a collector's edition version of the Total War series, called Total War: Eras. The edition included patched versions of Shogun: Total War, Medieval: Total War and Rome: Total War, together with their expansion packs, a documentary detailing the creation of the game series, and Total War memorabilia.

Viking Invasion received "favorable" reviews, albeit slightly less than the original Medieval: Total War, according to Metacritic. The pre battle screen was commended by GameSpot, calling it a "handy new feature." GameSpot also praised the new additions to the original campaign, mentioning they have "made castle sieges more interesting". It was also a runner up for Computer Games Magazines "Expansion of the Year" award, which ultimately went to EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath.