Reviews - Renomaki

Mount and Blade, when I first found it, I didn't expect much out of it. I tried the demo, I had fun, I bought the game and had more fun.. But then suddenly I found myself hooked on it like it was WoW or some other addicting title.. Totally unexpected that was.

To keep it simple, this is a game where you are placed in a somewhat large world and then told to go adventuring.. And that's it. No set storyline, no forced missions, not even an ending of any sort in sight... You just go do whatever the hell you want, be it either a cruel, money-hungry bandit who raids caravans for a living, or a tough-as-nails mercenary who sells his sword to the highest bidder and building a deep bond with your war-hardened battlebrothers. In some cases, you might even get to make your own kingdom too, but it won't be easy... It never is.

I think that is why I love this game so much. You can do whatever and whenever you want to. You have nearly total freedom to just run around making your own story, making a name for yourself, having your own fighting style and leading an army of your own making, all in the name of adventure..

Sure, it has flaws, yes. AI isn't perfect, game looks old, and after awhile it does get dull.. But then come the mods, and suddenly it's a brand new game all over again.

I can go on and on... But I think you get the idea.

Gekokujo, in a nutshell, is a labor of love that, while it still has flaws, is certainly one of those mods that every M&B fan should have, or at the very least should try if they get bored of playing with knights and vikings and the sort.

Gekokujo is a very impressive mod that not only provides a refreshing take of the old M&B formula, it also adds a few neat ideas that make the game more fun and balanced, and thus more satisfying.

While it does have a lack of unit variety and there are a few odd bugs here and there, for the most part the good easily overwhelms the bad, such as the lovely soundtrack, massive map, attention to detail and, well.. I can't fit it all, let's just say that. The number of problems I know of I can count on one hand, while all the good things I need both my hands, and maybe even a foot or two.

Really, if you are tired of Native, but still want to swing a sword around, give this a try. It's totally worth it.

Although this is the first mod I got from this site, it is in reality my second mod ever downloaded for Warband, and honestly, it was just the thing I needed to scratch my itch for linebattles.

There are a lot of things I like about this mod that rather surprised me, such as how certain unit classes have different ranges. Unit range and terrain are both major factors in battles, forcing players to be far more tactical than in Warband. Hell, I even won battles with fresh recruits, which not only shows off what impressive things you can do with tactical thinking, it also does a decent job at showing just how guns changed the face of warfare. Mesa like that little touch.

Gone are the days of sending Swadian Knights out to take on entire armies for you while you kick back and watch the show with popcorn in hand, now you have to lead more than ever.. And you can die more easily too, so keep that in mind.. Guns, you know?

I could praise the good parts for hours if I wanted, but I want to make sure there is room for the bad parts too.. Gotta be aware of it, after all.

First off, spelling errors... There are a lot of them, which really kinda ruins the immersion in this great game. Should be an easy fix, though.

But the real major problem this mod has so far is sieges.. Mainly due to how they still use the old castle battlemaps like in Warband. You probably know WWI, and how it was a war that was fought with modern weapons and outdated tactics, right? It's the same here, only even worse. Some forts are nearly impossible without a lot of fumbling, but in the end, you get it sooner or later, although I had times where I wanted to pull my hair out in frustration..

In closing, since I am runnin outta room, I figure the best way to sum it up is that, if you are a guy like me who craves Mount and Blade style linebattles, but also want something that makes you think about how you fight them, I suggest you give this a try. It's quite a refreshing take on a classic game.

Before I learned how to get mods, I always wondered what this mod woulda been like.. It looked so cool, fighting epic line battles in the Civil War, a mod of such massive scale that had a lot of work put into it... It kinda made me sad that I never could try it.. At least, until recently.

Turns out, looks can be deceiving. When I finally got the mod, I was deeply excited, because I was about to go on an amazing semi-modern adventure in the US, given the power to change history in whatever way I imagine.. Then I got into a few battles, and I learned that they weren't very much fun.

There are a lot of things I don't mind in this game, for it is, after all, just a mod. But after I had a few battles, I suddenly realized just how awkward the gun battles were.

I played another Mod, Imperial Age to be precise, where line battle tactics were also a common thing back in the day, so these two aren't too different when you think about it. But while IA made guns deadly and forced serious tactical thinking in order to survive and win battles, the guns in Old America are more.. Random.

To explain, when I first played this mod, (which was the only time too), I expected that guns would be deadly, and at the very least, 2-3 hits would probably be enough to kill you and others at the very most. But instead, as I later discovered, that isn't always the case. Sometimes a single shot will kill a person, other times it just kinda bounces off of them, putting a mere dent in them instead of a hole. I once had a single-shot rifle and managed to land several shots on someone at medium range, and EVERY TIME, it only did around 3 damage... three... Damage.. From a rifle that loads single rounds.. Let that sink in.

I don't have much room left, sadly, so I guess I'll close this up by saying that this mod has a lot of potential, it really does, but until they fix the damage system, I don't think it's worth playing. If you want guns with a real punch, try Imperial Age instead.