Well, where do you start with a game like this? To sum it up in a few short words, it’s a time vortex; it’s enormous.

For those that don’t know, Mount & Blade Warband is the sequel to the indi-hit PC title Mount & Blade, a complete sandbox medieval title in a fictional world, but with realistic game play (in short: no magic).

Now for anyone who’s read some of my other work on Alltern8, you may be wondering why I’d taken on the task of reviewing a sandbox game, being as I’m not generally a fan of them; well for those who plan to read the intro and skip to the conclusion, I REALLY like this one.

Since quite a few people were saying that Warband wasn’t much of a change over the original game, I did my research into the series by playing around ¾ of a year of Mount & Blade senior, checking out the different features, learning the combat model and just getting a feel for the franchise. Now I could go completely in depth with this review and describe every facet of Mount & Blade Warband and is predecessor but that would take forever; really it’s a huge game. So instead I’ll focus on a few key points of the game, giving some pros and some cons and ultimately conclude it to see whether it’s worth its price tag.

Pros

Combat

Ported almost stab for stab from the original game, the combat in this game is fantastic. It’s simple to learn, and difficult to master. When it comes to melee, swinging swords and stabbing with spears, it utilises a simple left click to attack model, with slight movements of the mouse directing what type of attack you utilise. Bows and crossbows are used in a similar fashion to normal FPS games, with a targeting reticule closing into its cohesive shape over a couple of seconds, before gradually increasing in size again to reflect user arm strain. Both these systems need skill to get good at – especially the archery – but they can be used very easily and don’t make you feel like an idiot. If you want a timeframe for the learning curve, it’s probably an hour or two of game play before you really get a grip with the system and can properly begin slaying in battles. Ultimately though, you’ll be getting better and better after you put in tens of hours; which believe me you will.