Spontaneous Sunday: History Channel - Great Battles Medieval

Welcome to another Spontaneous Sunday! It feels good to be back after taking a break last week, and this week I have played History Channel - Great Battles Medieval (2009, Slitherin Software, Xbox 360). I bought the game a few weeks ago in Cex. I played History Channel - Great Battles of Rome a few years ago on the PS2 and I enjoyed that, so when I saw that there was a medieval game too, I had to buy it and give it the Spontaneous Sunday treatment!

"The History Channel: Great Battles Medieval is based on the story of the Hundred Years War. It features a completely new graphic engine and a totally new game play system that will allow the player to be in complete control of massive armies. From the thunderous charge of the knights to the men-at-arms fighting for their lives in hand-to-hand combat, the game recreates the epic feel of medieval battles, featuring thousands of characters simultaneously."

- Metacritic description of Great Battles Medieval

What do I expect from the game?

Having played Great Battles of Rome on the PS2 years ago, I expected Great Battles Medieval to be similar in many aspects. Great Battles of Rome was a fairly solid strategy game that allowed you to take control of and customise your army. It had a story-driven campaign mode and I distinctly remember it being pretty difficult. I expect the game to be historically accurate in terms of soldier types, settings, and how the battles work due to it being affiliated with the history channel.

First Impressions - What did I think of the game in its first few minutes?

Great Battles Medieval is a strategy game set during the 100 years war between England and France during the 14th century. I'm a big fan of history and strategy games, especially Age of Empires so it seemed perfect. I launched the game and reached the front end which had an interesting menu system with all the options arranged in a circle that could be cycled through. I instantly liked the aesthetic and felt that it was suitable "medieval". I decided to jump straight into the tutorial campaign.

The tutorial campaign consisted of 3 missions that covered movement, combat and a demo battle. I didn't think that the tutorial was terribly informative and it threw me in without a lot of instruction and this left me feeling a bit lost, but by the 3rd level - the battle - I had managed to grasp how to play, though it did take me a few defeats to get to that point. I liked the look of the game, it looked and felt authentic and the developers went to great lengths to make sure that the battles played out in a realistic way. The tutorial wasn't brilliant but it did the job. Having completed the tutorial I started the English campaign.

What do I like about the game? What does it do well?

The overall look and feel of the game is really nice. It's got a great medieval aesthetic that is established by all the elements of the game such as the graphics, the settings, the music and the way in which medieval battles and tactics are portrayed. It's all consistent and well tied-together. Levels are chosen from a moving 3D map of France, with soldiers walking around on it, ships at sea and little buildings. This was a really nice touch in that it contextualises and breathes life into the setting. Theres even a short movie before each level that is part CGI and part live-action and they work well and add to the aesthetic.

Pre-mission movies

The unit movement system is solid enough but occasionally a bit awkward though I'm sure with a few  more hours of play I would master it. The camera system during battles is really good and it allows you to zoom far our to see the whole battle, or zoom right down to ground level and see the action up close, and the game looks just as good at both extremes. Control of the camera is important as there is always a lot going on in the battles and you'll want to keep track of the action; the battles are intense, tactical and fun.

The scale of the battles is impressive and there can be several hundred units on screen at any time. Great Battle of Rome was also grand and dramatic but the series came even further after that and looks even better. The new engine and graphics system used in this game is probably to thank for this. The campaign starts out with pretty small scale battles and takes a while to really get going in terms of battle scale, but the game also offers another mode - Skirmish mode.

An example of a large scale battle.

Skirmish mode allows you to play stand-alone battles and levels and you can tweak settings and customise the scenarios. There was also a Skirmish mode in Great Battles of Rome but there wasn't much content to it, so I didn't expect too much from Medieval's Skirmish mode, but I was pleasantly surprised by how fleshed-out the Skirmish mode is. This mode allows you to jump straight into large scale battles without having to work through the campaign and it allows the game to show how large scale it really can be. It also offers a welcome distraction from the campaign which can get very difficult and make you need a break from it! The game really shined in Skirmish mode.

Squad customisation.

Another good feature is the squad customisation feature. You can level them up, buy new weapons, upgrade skills and make cosmetic customisations. You find yourself learning each squads strengths and weaknesses and how best to use them to win battles.

What don't I like about the game?

Great Battles Medieval is a good game and I enjoyed it, but as always there was a few issues that I found. Firstly, there was the lack of direction in the tutorial campaign. It is a rather hard game to grasp and the lack of instruction in the tutorial didn't help this fact. Had I not played Great Battle of Rome, I would have had a harder to time to get to grips with it.

The first tutorial level.

The game's audio is fine and it does the trick, but it gets noticeably repetitive after a while. The looping of the music is particularly noticeable, though it does suit the game just fine.

The game is pretty difficult and it does not hold back in terms of difficulty - I failed the 3rd level of the campaign about 5 times before deciding to play Skirmish mode and come back to it later. However, the difficulty level is not frustrating like other games (specifically Dishonoured, my previous Spontaneous Sunday game that I was not a fan of!). The game is punishing and you sometimes have to try and win battles that seem almost impossible to win, outnumbered and outgunned, but the fact that its tactics that eventually wins you the battle gives a great sense of achievement, so the difficulty isn't a huge problem.

Final Thoughts

Great Battles Medieval is a solid strategy game that is a bit difficult to get started on and even harder to be good at, but its definitely enjoyable and it looks and feels authentic, and it feels rewarding when you win a battle that you've fought several times. I'm a fan of medieval history and RTS games so I enjoyed the setting and being in control of big medieval battles.

The only issues I had with the game were the tutorial and the difficulty, but I'm sure that the more I play the better I'll get and the more I will enjoy the game as a result, so I'll definitely be playing it again soon!