Gaming Mount & Blade: Warband Hands-On Preview

We sit down for some mammoth medieval massacres in Warband, the multiplayer expansion to the fantasy sandbox game, Mount & Blade. With realistic combat, new modes and a graphical overhaul, this looks to be an essential buy for fans of the original.

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2010/02/25/mount-blade-warband-hands-on-preview/1

 

And I thought February was an expensive month to be a gamer. March is going to be even worse. I hope the sales for all these games do well, teaching publishers they don't ALL have to wait until Christmas.

 

I've been playing the beta for a while now, if you have already have the original mount and blade you can test out the warband expansion here http://beta.taleworlds.com/download.aspx just enter your original cd key and it will give you a link to download and try it out.

official forum post for downloading the beta
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,73663.0.html

I still haven't got the hang of the two handed swords yet

 

Despite being interested in it beforehand, I didn't bother to buy this - but I picked this up in that steam sale and have not played anything else since! It really is a very enjoyable game and I will certainly be getting warband to follow it up.

 

M&B is an RPG? Barely...

And as for the difficulty of combat, it couldn't be easier - unless Warband changes something fundamental.

I think I'll checkout the Beta before I buy, but if MP is as much fun as the SP, I'll be certain to buy.

 

You aint' joking. I have say, hundreds and hundreds of titles I'm backlogged on but the games keep on coming. 2010 does appear to be the year of PC gamings return.

I hate to ask because I think all multiplayer games should have this option but does it have LAN/NETWORK play and if so how many does it support?

 

I knew nothing of mount and blade until the recent steam sale. I'm very glad I bought it. I mentioned it to Baz shortly after I bought it, explaining how ace the combat was and how adictive the Campaign was. His responce: "IT'S SO UGLY!!!"

 

Doh, I must have missed the steam sale because this looks like a game id love!

Time to start browsing ebay I guess

 

Can't wait for this. Mount and Blade is the best game nobody heard of. The combat system is incredible. I also like the scope to basically play how you like, good guy, bad guy, merchant, mercenary, whatever.

 

I thought it didn't look right when it said "Russia" in the article. You'll find they are based in Ankara, Turkey:
http://www.taleworlds.com/tw_about_us.html

I'm not playing the original game on the hardest setting, as I found the initial difficulty too steep. The game is rough around the edges, but it's fun.

Some observations:
-The quests could be more varied
-The towns you upgrade could show the new buildings, maybe even as they are being built

 

This game sounds very very cool. This DOES have a single player component, right?

 

Did you read the article?

Warband is the MP add-on to the SP Mount & Blade game.

 

Tried the demo last night, seems a lot of fun! Plus it doesnt seem to require too high a PC spec, was chugging along fine on my HP mini 311 (an nvidia ION netbook) so I can add it to the list of games to play when im on the move

 

Unless you bought Mount & Blade on Steam, in that case you dont have a CD key

 

I am a HUGE M&B fan ... several of the add-on mods are excellent, as well, most notably the Native Expansion (hint: if you're going to rebel against your lord, make sure your castles are WELL DEFENDED!!

I picked up L4D2 when it came out, and COD: MW2, but the game I turn on first whenever I start up my rig, is Mount & Blade ...

And the replay value is awesome!

-J