This expansion is a lot better than the original game. The feature that makes it stand out more is the multi player. It has variety in the game modes and recently it added a duel mode with the patch 1.127. The multi player is really fun. Especially sieging and defending castles.

As for the single player campaign you create your character by creating his/her back-story with multiple choice answers and then you add points to different stats and abilities. Then you are let loose on the world to do whatever you want. The story of the single player is what you make it since the game is a sandbox. My only complaint is sometimes I went to a lot of castles and towns and could not find a quest.

Overall I find the game quite good especially after gathering quite a large army for battle.

Mount & Blade Warband is a brilliant Medieval combat game / RPG. It is a worthy successor to Mount & Blade, as, although there are not a huge number of changes, the changes add a lot.

A few new options in the singleplayer campaign, such as marriage, bandit bases, and a more detailed rulership system, make it far more enjoyable and detailed.

The big component is, of course, multiplayer. Multiplayer in this game is a lot of fun, but hard as nails. While starting out you will get thoroughly schooled in how to wait for a respawn, but when you get your first kill in a one on one duel, it's all worth it.

I found this game to be really unique in the fighting mechanics. It's a breath of fresh air to have a game set in such an unusual period for action games. Having not played the original Mount and Blade, I can't complain about the similarities between the two. Although the graphics aren't the best, I love the open-endedness and originality of the game. If you can get past the graphics, I would highly recommend this game for you.

Great game. I believe it to be better than Mount & Blade original. It has some great mods for single player. Although the best mods are for Multiplayer but I don't play multiplayer on this.

At starting out the game is harder because the camera angle and weapon angles and animations are a little different. However, once your character gets stronger you can clean house. And once you get used to the different angles of the camera and weapons you can handle yourself much better in combat.

The graphics are a totally different world compared to the original. It is spectacular.

You can open your own business in this game and get money automatically from it. From what I understand you spend money to start a trade business and don't really have any thing to do in running it personally but the wars and battles and economic conditions will affect your business. So you can affect your business in a positive way by fighting against or supporting factions. And why not knock off a competitors trade caravan.

Then there is marriage. haven't done that yet. I suppose the player would need to in order to become some sort of nobility in the game, but maybe not.

The troop commands are different than the original but you can get used to them quickly.

My advice for a single player mod is:
OSPW - Native.

It has a minimap and other great stuff.

This game is almost perfect, i mean its like a 3rd person Medieval Total war game i mean it doesnt get any better than that. Great work Paradox Interactive

I really like the multiplayer part of warband. The different online servers offer you enough variations of playing Mount & Blade Warband. Also I really like the fact that new patches are released. The creators of the game really listen to the community.

I've been following M&B since 2005, since version 0.7++ of its beta. It's one of the best -- no wait, make that *the* medieval mounted combat simulator that lets you command troops on the field while letting you take part in the action.

I love this game to bits. I've been playing M&B on and off for so many years, and never really tired of it. The problem was, M&B never really quite came out of beta. It had a slew of new features over the years - from being able to walk about in towns, to ragdolls (which most people once said was impossible), and to sieges. And yet, most of these features don't have the polish of a fully developed game. As an example, let's look at sieges: they're quite an embarrassing affair compared to the large scale battles that typically take place during wars, consisting of a game of luck and hoping your troops rush the enemy successfully. The map interface is also still balls - very clunky; and then, there are also the really frustrating quests like herding cows which take an immense amount of willpower to complete without bashing your monitor in.

Other problems that I still have with Warband, since M&B, include:

- dialogue is still rudimentary, and more of a monologue than anything else, since you do get to talk, but don't really get to say anything interesting; inconsistent animations (mounted combat animations are nice, but others, like walking and foot combat, still leave much to be desired)

- characters still look like Ron Perlman (males) and Angelina Jolie (females) - in fact, they stick out like a sore thumb amidst all the cool shader effects like HDR and reflective surfaces

- and of course, the game is still frustratingly unpolished in many parts, as mentioned in examples above.

There are some nifty new features in Warband, including the ability to get married, having your own production facilities, and of course new main menu artwork! Kudos to the artist (I believe the person responsible is still Armagan's wife, Ipek) for the new designs. The main menu finally doesn't give off the beta release impression. Apart from that, nothing much in the singleplayer campaign has changed. It's still the same old good fun - forget about doing trivial quests like herding cows, the ultimate aim of the game is to get to the point where you're just booting lords in the hineys with 100-strong troops!

Multiplayer is supposedly the focus here, but I can't really comment on it, since there are no good servers in my vicinity, and I am unable to get a private server up on the Internet at all (having issues with port forwarding).

As with vanilla M&B, mods are also readily available. You definitely get good value out of them too, if the native Warband campaign is not your thing.

I love this game. Is it one of the best games I've ever played? Yes. And yet, at the same time, it has flaws so glaring they're hard to ignore. It is also hard to forgive the fact that the game has been given so many years of development time, and yet is still as unpolished as ever.

And yet, this game is still awesome.

Conclusion: get it at a discounted price. At USD30, I'd still think it's a bit too steep, but I got it at 50% off, and I think it's just about right - and that's not factoring in the multiplayer component.

What a squandered oppurtunity. I'm not going to go into the multiplayer, although it is one of the main features, because I'm not really into multiplayer and most people already reviewed it. Instead, I'm talking about the "improvements" to the single-player game. First of all, it should be noted that almost all of these, such as leading a faction or more satisfying equipment, may be found in mods for the original Mount and Blade, such as Expanded Gameplay 3 or Native Expansion. This is the case, so why spend money for this sequel when you could get a completely free mod? Speaking of which, this game doesn't feel like a sequel: it feels like an expansion. Why did we need to buy a completely new game just to experience multiplayer? Couldn't we have done it with a 10 dollar DLC pack? In fact, what did they really change or add besides multiplayer? Yes, there were some mild improvements to combat, such as automatic arrow blocking and the ability to kick, but I never really found myself hacking through enemies with my battleaxe, desperately wishing for the ability to kick the guy I was obliterating in the nuts. As for the "complete graphic overhaul," it's just abhorrent. I swear to god that the first game looked better. The combat animations are convoluted and confusing, the completely changed map of Calradia made me want to break my monitor, and it all just comes together for a single-player experience which, while decent, left me scrambling back to the original.

Very good sequel to Mount & blade, with a tiny price !
Many new features, interactions and pleasure ! The multiplayer is very funny, but not essential to my mind.

It is a very god game for people that like medieval things.If you dont like RPG's and Medieval things I do not recomend this to you, but if you like RpG's or Medieval things BUY IT NOW.

Warband is an excellent RPG in wich one you can do what ever you want, at the beginning you choose what history you want to play, what kind of heroe, what person you want to do, then you can conquest territories for a king... You can do what ever you want and the better thing is that you can play online too in a greateful experience. I never play a game like this and i really enjoy it too much.

this is a great game, i recomend it to everyone who like medieval games. it puts you in and it get addicting. besides that it takes too long to travel from spot to another and a litle difficulty when you become king also the limited upgrades of castles and towns, it is tottaly fun and it put you right in the medieval ages.
really good game.

The game is great and addictive in the beginning. The only problem is limited upgrades for your castles and towns. Also a problem when you become king, the relationship between your counts. Nice if there was a menu to see which count like's who. Except from this problems, the game is great and a must for anyone who played Oblivion.

Chances are if you played and enjoyed Mount and Blade, you'll enjoy Warband. I say this mainly because there isn't a whole lot of difference between the two.
Like in the original M&B you start off alone with money and equipment based upon choices made a character creation. The initial changes you'd notice is the slight improvement in graphics quality and the addition of a new faction, the Sarranid Sultunate, on the new and improved campaign map.
The moment combat begins M&B vets will notice quite a change in the combat system and may hate it till they get used to it (I personally love the more realistic motion and speed.)
Movement about the campaign map hasn't changed much except for an increase in bandit gangs and the new hideout locations. My favorite thing so far is the ability to forge your own empire, something sorely lacking in the original.
Not much else has changed, some improved dialog here and there and the ability to get married.
Multiplayer is the main reason I think they felt they should charge full price for this game. MP is insane when you get into a full 64 man server and you're trying to gain control of a castle. Already the community has released some custom maps and MP modes that are worth checking out. You can find those on the taleworlds forums.
IMO this is worth the buy whether you own the original M&B or not (though shelling out 30 bucks for what should probably have been a straight up expansion can be hard to swallow). The MP is a hell of a lot of fun and with the mod tools being released the community will be creating mods that are far superior to the original game. I'm talking to you RUS XIII Cent! If nothing else buy it for mods.

I'll start off by saying that Mount & Blade: Warband is basically Mount & Blade v2.0. If you liked M&B, then you will like Warband as it's more of the same. And it's a *better* more of the same. The single-player has had a huge update with more interaction with the other lords/ladies, more weapons and armour, upgraded combat mechanics, ability to open the gates in a siege, an additional faction, improved tax collection and the ability to become the ruler of your very own faction. Long awaited competetive multi-player has been added and fighting other players can be very, very satisfying.

If you're considering getting Mount & Blade I'd suggest you just skip ahead to Warband. M&B is still a great game, but Warband is even better. If you allready have M&B and are considering Warband, then consider no more: pick up Warband, it's definitely worth it.

Only really buy this game if you got time to put in it. Unlike the first Mount and Blade where you kinda sucked in the beging you really suck in this one till you get a good amount of battles which are pretty hard cause your dude will suck. Over all its in ight game with decent multiplayer. Recommend buying it just because the mod community is pretty good.

Mount and Blade Warband for me cleans up some basic issues in the original. For instance in the original Mount and Blade when fighting on heavily vertical terrain the "dropping" and "slipping" of people caused major lag. This has been cleaned up in MBW. Im using the exact same laptop so truly there is no improvement in my hardware.

I havent gone into the multiplayer. Its still been worth buying.

On the very initial release there was some hiccups. Patch 1.11 fixed these.

Lance strike is a little harder but quite doable after patch 1.11. I do find it helps alot to jump between 1st and 3rd person view with the R key.

As others have commented MB original was uber modded to make many other games. Modders have already gotten to work and some things have ported over easily.

The romance pursuit is pretty linear. You collect points by showing up when she asks, telling her poems you pay bards to teach you. There really isnt any personality to her in this.

Still... the game is about riding around and fighting people. It does that super well.

Look for the mods to multiply the value of this purchase!

The original Mount and Blade was a fantastic indie game. It was a medieval sim with no storyline but plenty to do and with enough content for any player to create their own story.

Warband is a stand alone sequal to Mount and Blade and in my opinion a bit of a cheeky rip off. The major difference between Warband and M&B is the multilayer. You can play against many other players in a variety of settings and it is quite good fun though the fun doesnt last for that long.

The single player has had a few extra features added such as the ability to create your own kingdon officially and have your own vassals but ultimately it remains unchanged.

Out of the box the game is so buggy it is almost unplayable and it even has features of the game which, when utilised bring up a message saying not implemented yet.

The combat has been changed somewhat to cater for multiplayer which means it doesnt really work nearly as well for single player.

To summerise, if you have M&B and arent that bothered about the short lived fun of multiplayer then i would not reccomend you buy this game. The features add only a little for the game and the ludicrous full (indie) price for the few extra features are NOT worth it.

If you dont have M&B you might its touch and go as to whether you are better off with Warband or M&B as the new features are fun but the actual combat single player combat is not as good.

So here we are a big medieval RPG with absolute freedom, what could be better, well you could play world of warcraft...Oblivion...OK there's allot of things you could play that may or may not be better. So how does Mount and Blade mount up? (OK sorry for the bad pun)

Story: ummm i don't really know what to write for this. Mainly because it's one of the choose your own story type of games. For example i was a brutal commander trying to find away to become king any way possible because it made my ball feel big (not saying that there not already big). The game reluctantly made this possible all you need to do is to stage a war by burning towns or raiding caravans. I've also talked to some friends who have this game and they say it's very reluctant in there games to.

Gameplay: You set out with nothing a small amount of money and one quest to kill a set of bandits that have made camp somewhere and stolen someones brother. Your task with getting a small group of people from villages and set out and kill the bandits. After that your left on your own out in a big wide world. It's a big scary place and your not quite shore what to do.

So what did i do? Well i got a big group of men, stole cattle forced people to give me there goods for free. then ran away from any type of authority. Then the rest is history became a commander back stab the king and when everything started to collapse around me, well i just retired up you herd me you can as a option give up. Then there's a text monologue and your done back to the start. There are some issues one time when i was playing, a big log of code errors, which presumed was a AI error because a big (and i mean 200 men big) came up to me and attacked me, i managed to win but then it happened again about one minute later, and there's a hole lot more bugs.

So should you pick it up? well it depends on what you want. So if you want a game with total freedom to do what ever you want buy it. If you want a game where the objective is clear then don't buy this game (you must have a silver spoon stuck in you head if you pick this option).

Liam Hackett

feralentertainment.blogspot.com

The Single Player has a few new features, but the main reason I would recommend this game is the awesome multiplayer matches.

Battles with up to 64 players, fighting over castles, villages, fields and all kinds of places is just great fun.

The original Mount & Blade has proven to be one of the most moddable PC games on the market, and Warband will follow. Endless possibilities for additional maps, reskinned equipment, new models (such as the helmet I made here), and even new factions are waiting to be discovered. Taleworlds wastes no time in releasing multiplayer patches, almost ensuring their dedication throughout the process as bugs and balance issues are discovered. This is the kind of developer you want to support.

A very great game!

If you like Mount and Blade. You'll like this one. It is the same game with some new features. Now if you haven't played Mount and Blade then get this one and you'll love it. You wont be disappointed. This is one of those games that you will play again and again.

Good game. This is more of a new version. Well worth the money. This is the type of game you play for years. I can't wait for the modes to be available.

I bought one of the first Mount & Blade versions and of course I had to get this one since I love sandbox games and really there isn't anything that has gone backwards from going to Warband. I'm not that much into the multiplayer part of Warband but it surely isn't negative. Anything that Improves the sandbox style of the single player is a plus for me. If you liked the original you'll like this one even more.

Warband is a big leap from the original Mount & Blade. The graphics have been updated and the game now supports HD. Multiplayer is the big new feature with up to 64 players. The servers are great with no noticeable lag that I noticed. A new faction and a new map and many more improvements have been added.

Overall Warband is a very fun experience espeacially online.

Warband is an improvement over Mount & Blade mostly due to some graphics and mechanics and online play.

Is it a totally different game? No not really.

It has been however built to better perform on higher end PC's and now naturally has the ability to expand battle size to 150 without the use of the battle sizer. It handles well and the new choices are certainly for the better.

There are more quests now, and a starting quest when you first arrive in Caldaria, which was pleasantly surprising and quite well done, taking the span of 4 quests which are of course voluntary.

Multiplayer is one of if not the biggest draw of Warband. Fighting up to 64 people in Mount & Blade style is quite fun and challenging. It's not perfectly balanced, and half the game is spent watching people with shields look at their feet. I'd avoid the battle mode in multiplayer since it's like Counter Strike where you only get 1 life per round and the wait can really ruin it, but that's more of a personal opinion.

Haven't tried the romance yet or founding your own kingdom, but I am happy with my purchase.

At first glance not much has changed from the original game. But as you continue onwards you find dozens of new obtions and possibilities in the singel player part, among other things the long awaited option to control your own kingdom. However the game is also plagued by CTD's and weird bugs. But from my experince from the old mount and blade the developers will propertly launch some patches in due time that will fix it all. Would however recommend for the buyer to buy this for the multiplayer part and not the singelplayer, since it is in the multiplayer part most work has been done.

I loved the first M&B however this one is pretty sweet, I like how you can be king and everyone doesnt attack you becuase you have no king. New quests, weapons, armor, bandits and the new faction are really cool. I dont like how it has the same exact music though as the first, coulda done something else but whatever. Sweeter graphics. Just an all around awesome game like the first. However I personally think they coulda just made an update to the first one and added most of the new features to the original but hey, its all about the money.

This is a great game. It combines the good things of the original with new innovations, such as passive blocking and a great online multyplayer. Yet do not think that the singleplayer has not changed. There is a new map with a new faction and you can now even marry and create your own kingdom. The graphics have been updated as well. All together I would rate this game an 8/10.

First of all you should really read all the previous review of the game this revamped version is based on : the original Mount & Blade (that you find in related product on this page). Then you'll have an idea how awsome people find this game.
It is a game you can purchase blindly, it will bring you a lot of fun.

Warband for the first time introduce multiplayer in M&B. Maps are various, the multiplayer system is smooth, allowing fun skirmishes, with a reward system depending on what you kill during those fights.

Also for the first time, you can pretend to be a ruler, and built your own kingdom, taking care of diplomacy, convincing other lords to join you, or appoint your companions as new lords giving them lands. Or if you fail, asking protection of another king as a vassal, to secure your hardly gain assets.
As an independant ruler, you have different management option throu a minister, either some civilian you appoint the first time, or one of your companion (they have better abilities). In the beta i havent tested all aspect of forging your own realm, i wasnt yet able ie to make other kings recognize my right to rule. The ultimate goal is to claim the throne of Caldaria, whatever path you choose to follow as a king.

As an independant king you also have to carefully watch diplomacy. The diplomacy system is now something you can influence, unlike M&B where it was just a faction friendly/foe marker.
You can send emissaries to other kings for various purpose (in the beta, asking for vassal protection, recognize your power, declare war). You can work for an other faction to improve your relation ship. Forge "alliances" when marrying a lady of the realm, if possible from a powerfull familly, to gain influence. Or work on gaining lot of vassal to show your house power...
Generally your most probable ennemy (after having secured your assets by making peace with them) will be the faction you took your new castle/town from.
AI diplomacy now favours short skirmishes between faction that long warfares, with various variable (skirmish between 2 realm over a village, provocation from a player mission on trade, military campaign to regain lost land, or to weaken another realm that the attacker find dangerous...).
So basically war and peace will alternate a lot, with possible external influence from mission like when a lord ask you to provoke war between two factions, or when a city guild master want peace to secure traders route.

About trade, it is now a vital factor in game, as caravans have a direct impact on economy. The more you attack them, the poorer its original city will be, thus having a direct impact on an entire realm economy. (I'm not sure yet if it also impact army levy from AI lords).

There is so much thing to write about this game compared to original Mount & Blade, i'm still discovering slowly all its aspects (everything wasnt working in the beta yet), and it is so mych fun !

Pla

This is a great game! I don't regret buying. Warband has improved graphics, gameplay, AI, multiplayer, reworked map, new quests and much more new stuff. I give this game 5/5 stars.

Having played and loved the old Mount & Blade game i was seriously disappointed to find that the actual combat and way you strike with your weapon(s) have changed to a degree where i cannot hit anything anymore. This has totally ruined the game for me as i saw absolutely no reason to change that part of it. Sorry, 1 star out of 5 for ruining the main part of the game.

Mount and blade.. A fantastic game that will draw you into the medival world were you can lead huge armys and siege castles and desided your own destiny.
This is the new version of the game that allow multiplayer and it also have a few other features. Now free prisoners from prison, get married or become king of your own country. Basicly the game is the same af mount and blade 1 and there are not that many changes, but if you are are a fan i recommend this game.

As far as I can tell from playing the Beta Mount and Blade Warband is a pretty big improvement over the awesome original M&B. The first big thing is that they added 64 player online play! I participated in the closed beta before the pre-order was up and I have to say it is pretty cool to go medieval on real player rather than just bots. There's a little lag sometimes, but that's likely due to the Beta stage and bad connections (stuff you deal with in any online play). The single player also recieved an overhaul in terms of adding some more gameplay elements, a new world map, a new faction, new weapons, new armor, some new horses, new bandits, etc... Basically it is way worth it to buy Mount and Blade Warband for anyone who was a fan of the first or likes medieval history, so me and my axe will see you online soon!