Reviews - Europa Barbarorum 2 mod for Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms

Still a WIP, but heading in the right direction for sure.

The Europa Barbarorum (EB) team has done it again: they have released a masterpiece that represents the very highest level of Total War modding.

Back in 2008, the same team came out with EB 1 for Rome: Total War, which was a groundbreaking mod in terms of historical accuracy as well as complex, in-depth game-play. Here, they've taken the next step towards ultimate perfection with EB 2, this time built upon in the acclaimed Medieval 2: Total War engine.

The shift to a more recent engine represents a huge leap in creative capability for the team. The Medieval 2 engine supports many things that were impossible in Rome, such as unit variation, which adds tremendously to the overall experience. Better graphics are another bonus, with visuals in EB 2 going far beyond what was possible in EB 1.

As stated, units now display variation through their ranks, with differences in armor, shields and occasionally weapons being visible. Gone are the days of crisp, photocopied units of cloned soldiers. In EB 2, units have character: even in elite units, there are still slight, yet visible differences between soldiers. Not only is this more historically accurate, it does a lot for the feeling of realism that already permeates the game.

Battles are bigger, more beautiful, and more satisfying than ever.
Cavalry (especially heavy cavalry) is far more powerful and effective than before, with armored horse units posing a significant threat to your battle line (or your enemy's, depending on who has the cavalry!). Battles also take quite a while (as in EB 1), which allows plenty of time for strategic, mid-battle adjustments (such as reinforcing your line, complex flanking maneuvers, etc).

Game-play is complex and challenging, yet extremely rewarding; exactly what one would expect from a EB title: yes, there is a learning curve, but for those returning to the series, it shouldn't take too long to get the feel of the game.

There's an animation glitch here and there and the text is messed up but It will be fixed hopefully. But anyway, this is a mod of such quality that it should be a game on it's own and I would actually pay money for this. For me, this is the real Rome II total war, not that overhyped bug train that CA released

I love history and get infuriated when certain companies (cough cough EA) decide to ignore some of the major points of the time period. As such you can imagine my joy at discovering this mod, it is amazing! Honestly i find it hard to imagine how the total war studio has become so lazy recently with the appalling and blatant attempt (success(?)) of a cash grab that was ROME 2........ may the gods forever curse that name.
One of my biggest quibbles was the representation of the 'barbarian factions', 'sigh' just to start my rant i will say the the term 'barbarian' is simply a semi racist term used to describe a civilization that is considered to be weak, strange, less advanced in technology and sometimes merely misunderstood by those using it at the time, however it does not mean that they lack all forms of complex social order, military tactics, arts and craft and of course an elite army (the Gauls suffer mostly from this :'( as did some of the Iberian factions which is shocking to be honest as these peoples had an incredibly rich culture).

I could probably go on forever but no doubt you have probably heard the general gist of it before so ill cut to the chase:
I love this mod, i didn't give it a 10/10 (YET!) because it constantly crashes to desktop randomly. It is annoying as i can only play 10 mins to half hour before it crashes and also attempting to save frantically all the time.

Honestly sirs i consider what you are creating to be somewhat of an art form so PLEASE............. solve dem bugs ;) x

I like it. Playing as Armenia slowly expanding. Th only problem i have with it is that the battles are glitchy. But other than that great game.
Also no dire wolves so thats not good.

An incredible mod with gorgeous high quality models, custom settlements and siege engines. It has lots of cool features and scripts, many a faction and i think it's a great contender to De Bello Mundi - but sadly i could never really play it because of CTD in the campaign. It is also very script-based so you can't do much sandox decisions in this mod. It's a historically accurate mod, and it aims to keep to history as much as possible even after starting the campaign and playing.

I'm not too fond of controlled campaigns like this. But i would have been interested if it had been more stable. I haven't tried it since a few years back though. Maybe i should try the latest version as the CTD-issues in the campaign may have been fixed since 2015.

Still, there will be lots of revolts during the campaign and i hate such. The mod is great and i will give it a nine.

if Roma Surrectum II is he best mod for RTW, then this is the only able counterpart of it, based on a later engine. Perfect mod, sooo many aspects, troops, availability, historical realism etc etc 10/10 for sure.

This is a very nice mod except it has a lot of bugs. There are also a lot of features that people call bugs that actually add to the historical accuracy. This is one of the best mods, and is a lot better than Roma Surrectum 2. This is well worth the wait and we will be waiting for the next release of 2.1! It can improve but it is going in 100% the right track.

You can clearly see what hard work has been put into making this mod, it's just great, especially for a beta. I'm not a fan of Rome 2 and Rome 1 is a little dated now, but I still love the time period so I'm very happy this was released. It's been a while since I last played Medieval 2 so it should be good fun. Please remember to donate to support the team on their website; Europabarbarorum.com .

Perfect..nothing better in Roman Era since Roma Surrectum 2.