Crazypillz

This game caught my eye and it did not disappoint. With RPG elements of the campaign affecting your kingdom and armies and personal choices affecting your knights, this game has a lot to offer. Some people have complained about the text based side quests but they aren't terribly heavy with text and are a fun break which provide moral dilemmas and puzzles. It's possible to pick at various parts of the game, but this game is FUN. I've had more fun with this game than any other game I've played in a long time, and I play a lot of games on a regular basis.

Despite its faults and technical difficulties, Kings' Crusade is a well made game that is a blast to play. There are other games on the market with better graphics, although KC's graphics are still good. With settings on max, I can zoom all the way in to view my soldiers trudging through fields of grass and weeds, or the dust they kick up in the desert. Each soldier is well detailed and if you watch them fight close up it's fairly entertaining on its own. The soundtrack does its job well, being in the background and providing an overtone for the game as you play through. The music doesn't awe or inspire me but is still solid and well written in its own right. As far as combat goes, archers own the field, but they can be gimped with a click in the menus to balance the game much better. Tactics are still required to win and although the AI isn't perfect it's certainly on par with Total War (Some people may argue this point, but lets get serious, any AI can be manipulated). The game's unit upgrade and equipment allocation is surprisingly addictive, especially at later levels. I found myself excited about upgrading light cavalry to crusader knights among other unit upgrades, and equipping your favored units with better armor and arms gives you more attachment to a unit than you get in any Total War game. Units also level up, which lets you personalize units to your play style. Some skills are passive and thus hands off while others are active and hands on if you care to micromanage. Quests and factions can add a new layer to the game. Most quests involve picking a certain faction to help, which in turn causes other factions to disapprove of you. The happier you can make the factions, the more things you will unlock for each faction (additional skill points, heroes, new units, minor bonuses). Unlike Neocore's King Arthur, KC has no kingdom to manage, just side quests and army growth which I prefer. If I wanted to have to occupy a town with my whole army for 12 turns until the local populace calmed down enough to not want to rise against me, I'd play Total War. This game is addictive and fun even though battles can sometimes get repetitive. Some people on various forums have experienced technical difficulties, but since the only thing I've had trouble with is an occasional crash (which happens with most of my games from time to time) I won't really go into it. To summarize: Good graphics, or at least very passable. Good sound, or at least very passable. Addicting game play and army/hero management and upgrading, though battles can sometimes be repetitious. Quests and factions add a fun layer to the game. Some people have technical trouble. All in all, I would say this game is a 7-8. I am rating it a 10 to counteract the ignorant review from rwh1, who states the game is fun and the gives it a zero. This game is worth picking up if you have the money or it pops up on sale (which it does frequently on steam).