fantasy

I was raised on the original Lords game, and played 2 a little bit as well. I was certainly surprised to find this little gem for 19.99 on Amazon...so I decided to pick it up.

What started out as general interest turned to disapointment rather quickly. The geniuses at Sierra decided to relinquish most of the aspects that made the predecessors fun. Now all you do is build an army, wait for the troops to swell its ranks, and unleash your hordes upon your foes. Rinse and repeat.

You have the option to engage into each individual battle, but that matters little in the later stages. You end up furiously managing each army all over the map (no thumbnail or country map to quick scroll too-frustrating) and when you feel satisfied with your tasks, you wait. And wait. And wait. Feeling the need to provide strategic help to your troops? Good luck. It seems to me the battles are basically won with rudimentary plans and superior numbers. My heavy cavalry takes on some swordsmen and ends up routed? WTF?!

Economics and empire management have been completely phased out of this game. EVERYTHING is delegated to your vassals. Yeah, you have to build a farm, a city for income, but overall? Build armies, move around, fight, rinse and repeat.

My suggestion - save your money, and buy a total war. I picked up Medieval, and hope I won't be as disappointed as I was with this once proud classic...

Perhaps they should have built a rather large badger. This is a huge disappointment and the original version was way way way better than this. You have amazingly little control and there is amazingly little strategy for a strategy game. Get Medieval Total War if youre looking for Dark Ages fun. I miss my $20.

Okay, so I'm being really nice giving this game 2 stars. I am a huge fan of Lords of the Realm II so I thought I would purchase this game and have a go at it. Well.....that didn't go to well. The game, although it has great graphics, is extrememly confusing and hard to follow on what you can and can't do. It is really different from the previous Lords of the Realms and thus makes it hard to play. I wouldn't suggest not buying this product, but if you are a huge Lords of the Realm II fan, then I would say advise you not to. You will most likely end up being upset with yourself (and your computer!!).