Slitherine

I have the download and am playing in the USA. I've been playing about a week now and think I have the hang of it. Yes, yes, the cut scenes from the History channel appear in washed-out color and add little to the game itself (still the history is there)---but the meat man, the meat IS tasty !!!

The AI is not all that terrific (when is any AI w/o advantage built in capable of matching wits?). This is one wonderful medieval combat simulation...beats the pants off the competition (who would that be?) and has none of that silly "build-this-to-get-that" tech advancement; although, to be fair, you do have to win scenarios to get better weapons and armor that could be available out of the gate.

The manual is sub-par in that it barely describes battle cards and unit upgrades, but it can get you started. Problems arise for specifics. For example: some of the cards don't seem to be playable even after they are available--why??? (maybe certain conditions need to be met, but I don't know). As your units gain experience you can choose new skill and tactics for each, however once chosen those tactics/skills appear in your unit's bar colored grey, red, or blue...why??? I don't know, the docs don't tell me; I am guessing that the red ones are probably active, the blue passive, and the grey not applicable or something. And a great many of the tactics would seem to be applicable to a single man engaged in royal tournament (still that's cool right).

The graphics are excellent, the music likewise, and the general atmosphere just right. One can not build an army merely going from battle to battle, side roads must be taken, wagons plundered, villages pillaged and the country burned for ultimate success.

Thanks and glad you are enjoying it!

If you have any specific questiosn feel free to ask. The tooltips are intended to answer any of the questiond relating to skills. If a skill is not active the tooltip will tell you which skill it needs to activate it.

It really is a great game

Does it play like a console game or is there enough depth for a PC Wargamer just out of curiosity?

The aim was to keep it approachable but with depth so hopefully it satifys both. You can play on the easy settings with less thought but on the hard settings you'll need to make the most of every unit and opportunity.

I predict that when this game is released in the US next month it will really take off. I admit to being a bit frustrated at having to wait until then. Why doesn't Slitherine offer the option of the boxed game and download together? Honestly, this is the only reason I buy Slitherine products at MatrixGames.

We will do but it requires a lot of set up and we just have not got round to it yet unfortunately.

Thanks for the favorable comments Sixtus. I've had my eye on this one for a while, and you may have pushed me over the edge to purchase it.

As an update to this - we're starting to roll out the box + digital versions on all new games. We'll fit it to the back catalogue soon too!

I'm still playing after a year !

Glad to hear it . We love to get any feedback about our games, but people still enjoying them after playing for a goodly time is especially nice to know.

Cheers

Pip

SixtusIV wrote: As your units gain experience you can choose new skill and tactics for each, however once chosen those tactics/skills appear in your unit's bar colored grey, red, or blue...why??? I don't know, the docs don't tell me; I am guessing that the red ones are probably active, the blue passive, and the grey not applicable or something. And a great many of the tactics would seem to be applicable to a single man engaged in royal tournament (still that's cool right).

The three coulours relate to the status of the unit.

The red symbol mens that the unit will charge all units in sight. All horse units have this status by default. I believe the red symbol can be used to make ranged unit engage in melee attacks.

The blue shield means that the unit will stay in place and will only fight if attacked.

I believe the grey symbol means that the unit will attack if a unit move adjacent to it.

It should also be noted that you can change the speed of your units between walk and run by selecting it with A(360) or X (PS3) and using the shoulder buttons.

Yes, the game is a decent battle simulation. It is unique for consols.

I know of only one other game that is similar on consols and that is only on the 360.