Mount & Blade Review

Gameplay: 3.0/2.5
Yes, a 3.0. This game is a lot of fun to play. At the beginning you can select what kind of background you have, which determines what kind of stuff/abilities you start out with when you first start the game. You will travel across the game's world on a map as a little horse, or person (depending on what you have). It's real time, except when you stop, it pauses. But you can continue time. This can set up strategies for attack enemy untis on the map. Cities are also on this map, and you can visit them. Little villages can be raided, you can visit huge castles and visit shops, or even enlist in a tournament!

Now, when you do come across enemies (sea raiders, bandits, etc. there's a lot.) you will end up in the battlefield. Here, you will be able to attack them in real time, with you controlling every aspect of the battle. You can even order your troops to do anything. Charge, follow, hold position. There's also a whole boatload of weapons. From swords to axes to warhammers to bows to javelins to crossbows, even more! There's also a ton of armor to keep you protected.

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Graphics: 2.0/2.5
Now, this game is no Crysis. However, each model and armor and weapon are its own unique look, and you can tell a tree is a tree and a rock is a rock. It doesn't look bad at all, but the trees and grass you can go through. But, it's still really decent. Nice scenery also. Not an eyesore.
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Sound: 1.5/2.5
There's no dialog, and most of it is music, weapons, or battlewound cries. The music is good though.
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Performance: 2.5/2.5
This game is ran on a custom engine, so it's no Source game or anything. But, it IS ragdolled, and we all know that can be hilarious at some points. You won't get any technical problems from this, it supports Direct X 9 and 7. The only problem you may get is when you exit the game and get a cleanup error, but hey, you're exiting the game anyway.

(No, the game is not that low-res. It's the pic.)

Even for a beta, this gets my recommendation.