But that's not going to creep into this review though, just to show no bias.
The game is not bad... it's by no means good, but it's also not bad. It's decent, average, "alright".
As per the title, it takes place during the Hundred Years' War between France and England. You play the part of a mercenary, who will work for anyone, even the Frogs. Out of morbid curiosity, I decided to side with the French and was instantly greeted with a "Game Over" screen and then my PlayStation 3 turned off in disgust.
In the game, you have to take control of battalions of archers, infantry and cavillry. Most of the game involves holding R1 to attack nearby enemies and have your allies do the same (unless you're taking control of archers, who have a different system). You also have three "power moves" or whatever they're called, these vary between the three unit types and just seem to be more power. Except for the archers, who have no R1 attack. Their face button power movies fire poison arrows or allow you to aim at an area in first person mode. It's hard to fault the controls, but I found myself almost exclusively on horse back, the other two unit types sidelined. I've probably made it sound more comlicated than it is, but the in game tutorial is very good, so it shouldn't matter.
The mission from the demo seemed to require me to capture an enemys base, this basically requires you to go in and kick ass until the commander shows up and then you just kill him to take over the base. Simple idea and not really difficult for a 1st mission. I was left wondering if the game offers anything else, though, I'm not sure how the game can progress without mixing it up, sadly, I doubt I'll buy the game and find out.
Overall, this game has a very small fanbase. Koei have already alienated everyone else with their Dynasty Warriors games, but I can see this appealing to someone outside of that fanbase as well... people who like Warhammer.
Bare with me.
Warhammer is a tactical game where you control a large number of units, so is Bladestorm. They also both feel like you're doing very little while you progress trying to take over more of Normandy. If Koei had got a Warhammer licence for this game it would have sold so well to that crowd.
As for the rest of the game, graphics are ok, if not kind of bland, you've a large number of people on screen, but they all look the same and the AI leaves a lot to be desired... that said, smart AI would probably make this game impossible, since your control is so limited. The camera also has a few problems, it won't stay behind you, which is annoying when you're trying to circle around to take out a base commander. The voice work was also pretty much the worst I've heard in a game this gen.
Overall, though, like I said, it's really not a bad game, it just appeals to a very small audience, one I don't think they'll find on either PlayStation 3 or XBox 360.
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