Amazon.co.uk Review
A very welcome expansion to one of the PC's finest real-time strategy games,
Medieval Total War: Viking Invasion throws into the mix more factions, more units and a far stiffer challenge that in the original release.
Requiring the original game to play, this time around the action focuses on the battles between the British and the Scandinavians some 1,200 years ago. And this is clearly a period of time the developers have had a lot of fun with. New units include the odd berserker, and on the weapons side, a nice cauldron of boiling oil isn't to be sniffed at. When you enter battle, things are better organised this time, primarily because you can sort your troops before and as hostilities commence. It's a big help; you can specify, for instance, the order in which the reinforcements arrive, while arranging those on the front line to maximum tactical advantage. That's the theory, anyway.
Fundamentally, this game follows the tried and tested route of the expansion pack by pretty much leaving the main game intact. However, if you're after more of the same, then you're in business. That's because Medieval Total War: Viking Invasion presents an engrossing, long-lasting challenge, that genuinely offers excellent value for money. The developers could have got away with something that only added a few hours' worth of gameplay to the original, but instead Viking Invasion offers an awful lot more than that. That said, as with the original, you can aim criticism at the sadly inevitable slowdown when thousands of troops arrive on your screen, although things tick along without a murmur for the majority of the time.
There's little doubt that Medieval Total War is an excellent game, and one of the finest ever seen on the PC. Its expansion pack is superb, marrying a terrific extra challenge with a bit more variety. --Simon Brew
Product Description
Medieval: Total War: Viking Invasion, the first expansion pack for
Medieval: Total War, turns the clock back to 790 AD, when the Viking hordes descended from their Scandinavian strongholds to pillage their neighbours.
Viking Invasion challenges players to control eight new factions, including the Vikings themselves, the Saxons, Scots, Irish, Welsh and Picts, and to embark on a campaign to dominate the British Isles. With a wealth of new historical heroes, players can lead a range of new units into battle--including Viking Berserkers, Saxon Huscarles and Fyrdmen--while conducting sieges enhanced by the introduction of flaming arrows and boiling oil.
Players can now plan reinforcements and scout enemy formations before taking to the field from a new pre-battle screen. In addition, there will be new playable factions and a new heavy weapon in the shape of the fearsome Organ Gun.
