Mount & Blade Review

The Escapist reviews Mount & Blade and while noting flaws seems impressed by the core of the game.

Using a lance is as easy as building up enough speed and aiming the pointy end in the right direction. Galloping around battlefields, smoking enemy troops off their mounts as you plough through their lines like a runaway train is tremendously fun. Rag-doll physics ensure satisfyingly lifelike animations for your victims who either slump over in their saddles with a deep groan of death or fall from their horses with a rewarding crunch. Hit the horse instead and it eats dirt, sending its rider flopping to the ground for your infantry to swarm and dispatch. Once you’ve mastered the fine art of maneuvering your steed-slowing down for sharper turns and swiveling the camera to line up your targets-combat shifts into top gear. You’ll be weaving in and out of the battle like a needle, stitching a pattern of death across the ranks of the enemy. Awesomeness ensues.

There’s so much fun in these moments, all of them unscripted. You’ll ride up next to a foe and land a perfect slash of your blade just as he lowers his shield to take a stab at you, painting his face red with blood. You’ll race behind a faster enemy, whip out your bow and launch an arrow straight into his back, full of pride for having successfully compensated for the distance, trajectory and speed. You’ll block blow after blow with your shield until your enemy hesitates and you seize the moment, letting his face know what your axe blade feels like.