Medieval II Total War: Kingdoms Expansion Pack

Much has been written already about this expansion pack. My experience with this series is a very positive one. With just the right mix of resource management and tactical skill, both on the large map and in each individual battle, this series is first rate.

A better technology tree and more advanced units to strive for are my only complaints.

Medieval II Total War taken to the next level.... In many ways it is more of the same, but thats not a bad thing in this case.... The only downside is the the Head to Head mode was a rather poor idea and is poorly implemented... but thats ok, it doesn't hurt the game which overall is just plain solid...

Works like a charm of my Mac OS X Leopard Macbook Pro... I run it faster than all my PC friends on my Mac... HA!

Its a great game and a good expansion for Medieval II that adds a great many things to the original one.

This is kind of like 4 expansion packs in 1: The New World, Britian, the Baltic, and the Middle East. They're really aren't any major changes to the basic play of the game but it's kind of cool to have new maps to fight on.

The New World was a little disappointing; I thought that the Spanish (with gunpowder) should have more of an impact when fighting the natives. Britian was kind of fun (the Norse are the toughest to play, IMO). The Baltic has the Teutonic Order, who has cool units but they're tought to play because they're surrounded by enemies. The Crusades were pretty cool too, especially since the Mongols are less devastating that in MTW2 (although the Crusader states have things a little too easy, IMO).

I didn't have any problems with installing or with crashing. Like with MTW2 in general, I wish they had put more work into developing the mechanics rather than focusing mainly on the graphics. Overall, it's not great but it's worth the money.

Recommended.

Ok, so if you're even considering buying this then you already know of the greatness that is Total War. Mind you, I am completely biased. I think the Total War series is the best wargame/ strategy series ever created. They constantly improve on their games and surprise me.

The England, Crusade, and Teutonic Crusade Campaigns all rate as 4 to 4.5 stars to me and dont really give us anything too new other than being able to play fun new factions such as the Irish and The pagan Lithuanians.

The real gem for this expansion pack is the Americas Campaign though! It is truly well done (5 stars).

The Armies (in particular, the Aztecs and Mayans) are the most colorful this series has seen. The landscapes range from jungle to desert to mountain passes. The jungle battles contain the best scenary the series has yet presented (though fighting the Chichimecs ("Dog People") in a cactus filled desert is great too!).

I have played all the factions in the new game (multiple times) but continually find myself going back to the Americas Campaign again and again (for a challenge, play as the Tlaxcallans on "hard" settings).

Overall it comes down to this; if you are a diehard fan of the series, you will most likely love this expansion, in particular the Americas and the Teutonic campaigns, if you are a casualy vistor to the Total War series, this game will probably not be worth your time. Stick to your World of Warcraft.

Go Aztecs!!!