'Players will also be able to custom-design their castles by adding defensive features, such as catapult towers, palisades, and outer walls. 'Siege warfare was a very important part of Medieval warfare, and we’ve dedicated a lot of time to making castle sieges an incredible experience,' offers de Plater. As well as towering stone keeps and forbidding ramparts, the whole lot will be fully destructible, with players able to field mangonels, siege cannons, trebuchets and ballista. One of Shogun's few weaknesses and conversely Medieval's greatest single innovation, is the game’s castle battles. Sieges have now become an important part of the game and the 12 playable factions each have their own unique units, tech trees and strengths/weaknesses, with more than 100 different unit types in 1 total, from Knights Templar and Bedouin Camel Warriors to Brigands,! Archers and Peasants.' What Is This Castle Called That Stands Hard By? 'The 3D battlefields are now as varied as they are spectacular to look at - with everything ranging from deserts to lush European landscapes. 'We’ve kept the basic premise of Shogun: Total War but completely redesigned the gameplay to make it suitable for the period,' says Michael de Plater, creative director of The Creative Assembly, on die differences between both games. It’s no small complement when we say that Shogun was the most important strategy game since Dune 2 and, if we dare carry the analogy further, Medieval could be to Shogun what C&C was to West wood’s ground-breaking first RTS. A potent mix for sure, and one that worked perfectly.

For those who missed it, Shogun was, of course, a delicate blend of Warhammer’s epic table-top battles, mixed with a healthy dose of Civilization-style turn-based complexity.

No matter how many billions more will buy the recently renamed Medieval: Total War on the basis of its setting, the signs look good that gameplay-wise the game will build upon its predecessor’s solid foundations. Similarly, how many of you can have claimed to have seen Rashomon or Seven Samurai? How about Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves? Exactly. Not that we’re complaining but, understandably for most, it’s far easier to relate to a knight in shining armour than it is a samurai in hakama or kataginu - leaving aside the problem of pronunciation. Despite its all-round unrivalled excellence, there is one aspect of Creative Assembly’s BAFTA award-winning Shogun: Total War that perhaps held it back in terms of multimillion sales: the fact that it was set in medieval Japan rather than medieval Europe.

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