Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War

"KOEI Stoms Back Into The Scene With England And France's Most Respected Heroes!"

The Japanese video game developer/publisher KOEI has been known for their Warriors series (e.g. Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors), as well as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Kessen franchises. This year the company released Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War, which leaves their traditional Asian inspirations for their video games and elects to use the conflict between England and France as their main source material. I have been a huge fan of KOEI and of the European Middle Ages, so of course when I heard about this game, I had to check it out myself. With influences from their previous games, how does KOEI's newest experience fare?

As mentioned above, the game takes the Hundred Years War as their point of conflict, in which the medieval powerhouses England and France participated in. The game takes you, a fledgling mercenary, and lets you fight alongside the country that will pay the most for your services, whether it is the French or the English. During the game, the mercenary will encounter some of the war's most celebrated leaders such as Edward the Black Prince and Sir Henry Percy for the English as well as Joan of Arc and La Hire for the French. There are also some side stories that occur between you and other mercenaries you meet during the game that develop over time.

Graphically, this game does not encroach on new boundaries. With that said, the graphics are not bad to begin with as they are actually quite decent. The game's full motion videos (FMV) are designed to promote the action as much as possible. Just turning on the game and watching the introductory FMV shows a full-scale war between the English and French that looks phenomenal. Unfortunately, the FMVs are far from the actual in-game graphics. A lot of interface, as well as the characters themselves have been scaled to very small proportions. I guess they did this to fit as many characters on screen at once, but some of the details are just too small. For example, the battle map displayed on the HUD is incredibly tiny compared to the rest of the screen, so much so that it becomes very hard to tell where you are going on the map. The map can be “zoomed” in but the player then loses any sense of direction as a trade-off. Some of the in-game texts are also displayed in miniscule proportions. The battlefields are quite barren with mostly flat lands, a few castles and towns here and there and a forest to block you off from an area.

With that said, there are a few positives in the graphics department. As previously mentioned, some of the FMVs are really good. Very true to the KOEI art style. The characters are also very well-detailed and for the most part, look very true to the times. The frame-rate very rarely drops (I've only had about one or two instances of frame-rate drops). Plus, there's just something about watching hundreds of units on screen battling each other for supremacy.

The audio department is not stellar either. It just gets a decent pass for me. There are plenty of sound effects to be had in this game and they are all done well. The voice-acting is on par. There isn't a real sense of emotion or urgency with the voice-acting, but it gets the job done. Some of the scores in this game are magnificent. Characters and armies will shout and grunt to try and give you the full war experience. The problem is, even with the diversity of the audio, you will get a lot of repetition. There are only two real songs you hear during the game, one while in the tavern, and the other during the battle. Essentially, you will be hearing the same music over and over in the game. Then come the sound effects. I know its war and I know that steel hitting steel is basically the only thing you hear during a battle (and a few grunts here and there) but that is all that really occurs.

Now we'll talk about the gameplay. If anyone is expecting a similar experience to the button-mashing extravaganza of the Warriors games, you will be in for a big surprise. The action follows more closely to the Kessen franchise. Like Kessen, you lead a squad around the battlefield to dominate the side that refused to pay you extra for your services. For the most part, you'll just be holding the R1 button (for regular squad-on-squad action) and pressing one of three buttons that correspond to a special attack. You can also use items called Penneons which can be considered similar to bonuses for your squad or a detriment to the opposing squad if used on them.

Unlike Kessen however, there is a variety of squads your mercenary can choose when entering the battle. If you think you are strong enough, you can even fight alone, but that is not recommended. The variety of squads range from infantry, ranged fighters, and mounted attackers. Within these categories lies a myriad of different troops, attack styles and special attacks. Some of the squads can be considered “exotic” to the time includes war elephants, camel-riders, and Roman spearmen. Of course infantry ranged fighters and mounted attackers all have different strategies to employ to get the best out of them. You can't just expect to send your scouts to fight against charging horsemen as it will most likely be a suicidal move.

Though it's nothing close to a button-masher, the game still borrows some gameplay elements from the Warriors series. Bases require commanders to be defeated in order to be captured. This usually occurs after you either destroyed all the forces in the base, or if allied troops have entered the base. Once you capture the base, you will be rewarded with items or money or a combination of both. Sometimes you will find enemy officers in the battlefield. Defeating them will sometimes lead to treasure as well.

The objectives in this game are very simple. The underlying concept is that you have to gain fame. One does this by capturing bases, killing enemy officers or simply killing enemy troops. The game does give you missions to do such as capturing a certain base while defending yours. Upon completion of these missions, the mercenary gets paid and acquires fame depending on how well he/she performed in the previous battle. Occasionally you will get an extra condition such as killing a certain officer or finding an item which will be rewarded by more money. Money can be used to purchase items, armour, and squads.

The missions also require a certain amount of time that it must be completed or the mission will fail. These range from a few days or even an indefinite period. Days are separated in eight minute periods. Once battle lasts for eight minutes, the day would have turned to night and during this period all fighting must cease. When the new day arrives you can choose where you would like to be deployed and start the battle anew.

Like a lot of things in this game, the gameplay suffers from repetitiveness. All you really do is pick a squad and capture a base to fulfill you mission. There isn't really any meat to the gameplay, even after they give you an extra optional condition to fulfill. The battlefield is really your playground as you can do whatever you want in the large landmass you are trying to conquer, but the core gameplay and mechanics still apply and you will do the same thing over and over. The battles can be fun though, especially when the little strategy to be had is presented.

If you can get past the repetitive gameplay then this game has loads of replayability. There are many ways to play the game and the ability to change between the French and the English will ensure that the battles (with the exception of major story battles) will never be the same. Plus you could master a type of squad in one game and another in the next. Plus this is the kind of game that is good for just sitting down and playing for an hour or two as battles are usually over in a few minutes and there's not a lot that's required for the player to enjoy the game.

Whether you are a fan of the source material or just a fan of KOEI, this game will have something that you will like. The good thing is, you might learn a thing or two about the Hundred Years War and its many characters while playing the game. It is definitely a love or hate kind of game. Either way, KOEI has created a solid experience that deserves at least a rental to see if you would like the game. It is a great new addition to KOEI's large library of historically based games and Bladestorm deserves to become one of the company's venerable franchises.

Next Gen Review #3: Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War

Praises:
- Good use of historical material
- Battles that include hundreds of units on screen
- Myriad of squads to use

Criticisms:
- Repetitive gameplay
- Small interface
- Uninspired voice-acting

Story: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Replayability: 8/10

Overall (Not an average): 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/04/07, Updated 12/13/07

Game Release: Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War (US, 11/06/07)