Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War

"Very entertaining, but there are better games"

It's been a really long time since I've played a Koei game. The last one I played was Nobunaga's Ambition on the NES. Yeah, that long. For those of you who are not familiar with Koei, their games tend to be strategy games based on true stories, allowing players to relive or even rewrite history.

In Bladestorm, Koei has set its sights on the Hundred Years' War, a long and grueling conflict between England and France. It all began in 1328, when King Charles IV of France died, and had only daughters as heirs. At the time, the laws of France dictated that women were not allowed to rule. So King Edward III of England claimed France's throne, but the French nobility chose a different relative, Philip of Valois, to be the new king. Of course, England didn't recognize this, and eventually declared war on France. Historically, France won the war. But you can change that...

The gameplay is essentially a mash-up of Final Fantasy XII with RTS elements. Players control a single mercenary on the field, and then recruit soldiers to fight other soldiers. Success in battle depends mainly on the experience of and tactics used by both sides, as well as the fact that some weapons have advantages over others. For example, swordsmen have a difficult time against mounted lancers, but archers can knock them down as long as they have distance. There is _no_ difference between English and French units.

The game's graphics work for what they do, but they're not all that impressive or memorable.

The music in this game is great; very memorable and always works well in each situation. I cannot say the same about the game's voice acting, which is terrible. Fortunately, the voice acting can be turned off.

As you'd probably expect from a game that allows players to relive or rewrite history, there is no sweeping character-driven epic story here. However, the story that is present is well-told, although it often compresses decades of real-world history into a much smaller time frame. For example, in real life, the Black Prince Edward died several decades before Joan of Arc was born, but you wouldn't have guessed that by the game's opening cutscene.

Bladestorm takes a somewhat moderate amount of time to finish, and there isn't much in terms of bonus content.

Overall I'd say the game is fun to play, and not frustrating. But it is not a game of the year candidate, and there have been better RTS games released.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/07

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