XIII Century: Death or Glory
Preview
Meticulous realism and medieval battles.
by Marko Susimetsä
previewed on PC
Realism of the 13th century (cont.)
In addition to all of the above, the game comes complete with a so-called micro-encyclopedia that will give you the fine details on the real battles on which the game is based. So, you cannot avoid learning at least something while you play this game!
Onto the battlefield!
Historical recreation. That's what comes to mind when you take a look at what XIII Century: Death or Glory has to offer. The battlefields and units fighting on them have been recreated to the finest detail. The weather will naturally also play its part and has again been recreated according to real history. You will move your formations with a click of the mouse (click to select and click again to tell them where to go or what units to attack). In this fashion you should build your own versions of the historical battles, trying to hold back your mounted units until the perfect moment and never suicide them against lance units, while you try to position your archers to the perfect position to take down as many of the enemy as they can as they approach your units.
As the overseeing general, you are free to view the battlefield and the battles using a free-roaming camera. This gives you an edge that the real generals and commanders of the day didn't have, but I think that modern gamers would be bored if they were restricted to the tools and viewpoints that their medieval counterparts actually had. In any case, you can use the camera to zoom in on individual battles and even individual fighters, or zoom back to see the general overview of the whole battle and units still holding back before engagement.
How about recreating your own battles?
How about when you have learned the 30 battles included in the game by heart and could give the right commands even in your sleep? Well, the developers have heard the cry of the enthusiasts and are including a scenario editor that allows for deep customisation of individual scenarios. In addition, there's also a Custom Battle mode where you can adjust smaller details in individual battles if you are not interested in full-blown customisation. However, the game will not have a random scenario creator, so you cannot just push a button and have a completely new challenge in front of you – but I'm sure you will have enough new challenges downloadable from your fellow enthusiasts soon after the release of the game!
Looking forward to it
Yes, indeed I am. XIII Century: Death or Glory will certainly offer a great playing field for all those interested in battles in the medieval era. It will also be only possible to judge the differences between XIII Century and the competition (Medieval 2: Total War) after we've got our hands on the final version of the game, so there's nothing to it but hope that the Christmas passes soon and that 1C company and OSW Games will finally get this promising gem out.
