How do you rate MTW2?

[Perikles]

Well now that more people actually have MTW2 and won't just vote 1 as they don't have it yet, we can have a proper poll on what TWC thinks of MTW2.

Personally I think it is a great game. After getting defeated by the AI in one battle (oh the shame!) and trying out all the new features such as Merchants, Papal Elections etc. I have to say this is the best and most in depth Total War game ever and probably the msot moddable, once the pack extractor is released. The Diplomacy has been improved greatly and so it gets a 10 from me and is worth every penny and inch of Hard drive Space it has taken from me!

[najak]

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet! Im getting my copy asap

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Well after playing the game for a bit I will raise it from a 9 to a 10.
Wonderful game CA

[Lord_Crichton]

Good game, i can't give it ten out of ten though as there are ways it could be improved. 9 from me

[Byron Eastridge]

Ill wait to rate after the first patch
currently 8.5

[Stalins Ghost]

I gave it an 8. I mean, its great and everything, but its no radical departure from RTW. And no saying it was never meant to be! I just feel that its maybe a little too similar to its predecessor in a good few respects to be "excellent"

[Joar]

It's a 6. Some nice features ( like the voting for pope and marrying your daughters away etc. ) but a bit to simple and a little bit to much "Disney" for me. I bet modders can do something really good with it though.

[PlacidDragon]

As stated in the original thread, currently i rate the game as a 4, maybe 5 if i am feeling very generous. Im holding off voting until the patch arrives to fix some of the issues.. well, i think.. seeing that someone, in a different thread said that the new official comment was "no patches are planned in the forseeable future".

[Rex Armeniae]

Im giving it a 10!!!

This game is awesome! It has everything! The music is GREEAT!(my favourite is the soundtrack, Crusaders).... The graphic Is lovely! The feeling in the Campaign map is Superb!!!

Its PERFECT!
The best Game I have ever played in my 16 year old life!

[Taelok]

This game was about an 8, until I started crusading. Wow.

[murat can]

omfg i hate U.S

[Narakir]

I don't find it's realy a so awesome, game it's RTW + BI ++++++++ with better graphics. I give 7,5RTW (Even if it's good eyecandy dosen't make a good game), the good points for me are : the AI, realy enchanced I play normal and it isn't a cheapstake but the most inovative part of the game is the campaign map a great mix of RTW and MTW, I just miss civil wars tough. . I recomend it to people who like total war series because it is a good game, I don't regret to have bought it at all. But if you have a computer that runs the game in quite low settings like mine does, prefer a mod like the crusades as you wait for an eventual new build.

[Zerophase]

I'll give it a 9 because nothing is perfect.

[Schaden]

If you never played Rome TW then it'll blow your mind...if yoiu have then..meh...

[The300thSpartan]

9 - would have been a 10 if only my pc was able to handle sieges better.

[the Black Prince]

hard to rate it 10 when there are so many issues with the battle map (as posted here http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=68216)

7, so far.

[Germanicus75]

Damned fine game, from what I've played so far. Not without issues and needs some modding. I gave it 8. I'll explain why in a separate thread.

With the right care and attention (patching + modding) it can make 9.5+

[Wurfspiess]

What i realy miss are the Victory points from Medieval.
In Shogun it made sence to wage an all out war.
In Medieval it made sence that you have not to conquer half of the world to win(you accumulated VPs by succesfull playing the game.)
RTW however was about empire building,it made sence again to conquer all
In Medieval 2 its dumb to have similar conditions like in RTW
so an 8 only

[DeerHunter]

I gave the game a 9. I have been playing the TW series since STW and i feel the game just gets better and better, also i dont expect the AI to outsmart a human so my expectations are not as unresonably high as others

[Soryn Arkayn]

I rate Medieval 2: TW as a 7/10.

That said, I bought the game yesterday and have played ~8 hours and I'm presently at turn ~40. I haven't encountered any bugs or glitches, and my play experience has been very good. The graphics are great, both the strategic and battle parts of the game are challenging and fun, and I like many of the new features, like the Papal elections, mission system, and city/castle settlements.

Now, the reason I gave it a 7 is that M2:TW sorely lacks innovation. CA's credo has to be "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," because the game is basically R:TW set in the Medieval era. I can only think of two significant new features: city/castle settlements and Merchants -- any I'm being generous by classifying Merchants as "significant". All of the other features have either been in the original Medieval or in Rome. And some of the great features from those games are missing in M2:TW, like Medieval's Reinforcement system. I've been b!tching about this ever since R:TW was released, having omitted the Reinforcement system. And even Medieval Re-system wasn't perfect; what I really wanted was the ability to choose exactly what units to bring onto the battle field, rather than them arriving in their stack's sequence. It was never re-implemented into Rome and it's still missing in M2:TW.

Ever since SEGA acquired the Creative Assembly I think they've sold out, because Barbarian Invasion was a disappointment and Rome: Alexander was worse; the latter was basically a shameless retail mod. And the ads for M2:TW were obviously intended to appeal to the lowest common denominator of gamers, because all that they showed were battle screenshots instead of the strategic map. Sure, the pretty graphics will sell more games, but any devout Total Warrior knows that 90% of game time is spent on the strategic map, and the battles are just fun but necessary diversions to complete the grand campaign. And speaking of the battles, I feel deceived by the game trailers because they don't appear nearly as cinematic in actual gamepay. The camera control is still as restricted as ever and you can't zoom in close enough to see one-on-one combat like what was seen in the trailers, so you can't truly appreciate the new combat animations.

Prior to the game's release I said that my biggest fear was TW's p!ss pour Diplomacy would remain as terrible as ever. Remarkably, thus far in my campaign I've been pleasantly surprised by how smoothly that diplomacy has functioned. Whenever I first meet another faction I use the same opening offer of trade rights and mutual exchange of map information, and unlike in R:TW the other faction usually accepts this instead of demanding money in exchange for their maps. Also, I've succeeded in forming alliances, both with Diplomats and Princesses, and thus far my allies haven't betrayed me. The Papacy is really intolerant of Christrians fighting Christians, but fortunately I've avoided problems with that by focusing on conquering Rebel provinces. Only recently have the Milanese and HRE become excommunicated, and I've seized the opportunity by launching Crusades against them. I've also managed to become the ONLY faction in my campaign to form an Alliance with the Papal States -- and I accomplished that with blatant bribery.

I conclusion, I'm conflicted about M2:TW because it's an excellent game that I know I'll enjoy playing for the next year or longer, but it's just the same'ol, same'ol game -- that's what I'm disappointed by. I mean, it's like being served your favourite meal day after day after day; you enjoy it, but eventually it gets old, and you want more variety. In the case of Total War, I want some innovation. Rome:TW had HUGE innovations over the original Medieval, but there's very little innovation comparing Rome to M2:TW; they're basically the same game, only set in different historical eras. And sadly, given CA's track record, no significant changes will be made to M2:TW either in patches or expansions; they'll just patch some bugs and in 6-12 months release another "Invasion"-themed expansion, but nothing will drastically change. Like always, we Total Warriors will have to rely on the Mod community to make Medieval 2: Total War into the game that we WANTED, rather than the one we have now.

In conclusion, I'll play M2:TW for the next year or two, but in three years CA had better deliver a truly revolutionary Total War game if they want my money next time, because I'm not going to settle for another predecessor clone with prettier graphics and smattering of new gimmicks.