Mount & Blade: Warband Reviews

A few more Mount & Blade: Warband reviews surfaced over this past weekend, ranging from semi-favorable to glowing.

We’ll start with the positive end of the spectrum at Bright Hub, where they’ve given it a perfect 5/5:

This standalone expansion includes tons of new content and it enhances the original release. There is no doubt it represents terrific value for money and you only find this level of creativity and originality from independent game developers. There has already been a patch and there’s no doubt the developer, TaleWorlds, will iron out the few remaining issues pretty quickly.

You should definitely buy Mount & Blade: Warband. Whether you were a fan of the original or it is entirely new to you it has something to offer.

Then Boomtown clocks in with a 7/10:

Mount and Blade does have, appropriately enough, a small army of fans. Warband extends the gameplay with new features and multiplayer antics, and the hardcore enthusiasts will be able to overlook the flaws; it is the best medieval horseback combat and real time strategy kingdom building sim role playing game on the market. But then, it’s the only one, and the execution of Warband never quite lives up to the excellent concept. It’s just lucky it doesn’t have any competitors – yet.

And Out of Eight hands out a 5/8:

The highlight of Mount & Blade: Warband is the multiplayer, and it’s a mixed bag. The game is far more effective when you battle many lesser-skilled opponents in the single-player campaign. But when you are up against similar foes, the powerful combat devolves into a chaotic mess. The game is more enjoyable using coordinated attacks with friends rather than joining a public server where everyone is doing their own thing. That said, there are many instances of satisfying combat to be had, from demounting a riding opponent to picking off enemies from a distance. The blocking system means most one-on-one attacks are impossible to land, leading to a lot of frustration if you don’t work well with others. The game does feature a wide array of multiplayer modes and the class-based combat seems to be balanced where no soldier type of overpowered.