Total War: A retrospective

Medieval: Total War

Announced in August 2001, Crusader: Total War promised to cover 400 years of medieval conflict spanning from the titular wars to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Clearly, the game’s working title hardly did justice to its ambition (George W. Bush had also made “crusade” an especially charged word shortly after September 11, 2001, injudiciously applying it to his war on terror. Intended or otherwise, the Creative Assembly did themselves a favour by side-stepping the whole quagmire). Rebranded Medieval: Total War, the game’s new literature promised more thorough campaign mechanics and expanded modes of conflict – in particular, artillery and siege warfare.

Medieval: Total War hit shelves in August, 2002. The game reprised and expanded upon Shogun’s provincial campaign map format. Now Total War had 12 playable nations and numerous AI controlled factions. The number of producible unit types increased from 20 to 100, many of which were unique to certain factions.

 

The role of subordinates was also embellished. In addition to their command ability, Lords governed provinces on the player’s behalf and each was rated on a series of characteristics ranging from dread to piety, loyalty and acumen. A lord with poor administrative acumen would run a region less effectively but his greater dread might ensure a rowdy populace was kept in check. A larger variety of agents also added depth to political intrigue and negotiation. A-sexual Daimyo were no longer an issue: now princesses could be married off to ensure the future of a dynasty and seal political alliances. And adding a new layer to the map’s strategy, Europe’s waters were also carved into spheres of influence. An unbroken chain of fleets increased trade income and allowed players to move armies to any coastal province. Sea engagements were auto-resolved.

Religion, once simply a practical conduit to unlocking gunpowder in Shogun (at the expense of Buddhist units), had a greatly enhanced role in Medieval. Each province had a devoted populace ready to burst into zealous revolt if their ecclesiastical needs were not carefully attended to. Papal interference, favouritism and excommunication were very real problems.

 

The increased strategic depth saw Shogun’s visual propping of the campaign interface cast aside. Assassinations and diplomacy no longer resulted in interactive cut scenes and cinematics. Also breaking with Shogun’s format, each province now had several battle maps, their selection for use based on where armies were positioned. And the greater distances covered in Medieval meant that the battlefields ranged from the dusty plains of the Holy Land to the sodden plains of Ireland.

Running on an updated version of Shogun’s engine, Medieval increased its battlefield capacity to 10,000 soldiers and added destructible buildings. Siege warfare was a robust and entertaining addition to the series.

Medieval’s added strategic elements had addressed some of the original's few loose threads. However, in the interceding years the game’s competitors had caught up graphically. Released just over a month earlier, Blizzard’s Warcraft III had demonstrated that the top-down perspective could still be both visually compelling and relevant. The engine’s formerly intoxicating panoramas were rebranded “simple” by some who had taken two years between drinks. Like its predecessor, Medieval received high marks from critics. Even so, many included a caution that the next iteration in the series would have to be built on a new engine or the franchise would face visual redundancy.

“Tens are precious, and it takes more than merely being extremely good to get them. Perfection is no guarantee. In fact, perfection just implies you were setting your sights too low. To have your fingers brush the firmament, you have to risk an Icarus-like fall to earth on internet-forum-flaming wings. To get a ten you need scale. You need to be more than just a game.” It’s a vivid piece of fretful writing by Kieron Gillen that perfectly conveys the dilemma writers would face by the end of 2004.