Gaming and Information Technology: Strategy Lovers get ready !!!

Coming this year is a game that looks wonderful and surely would taste well.
It's time that the Total War burst out with their latest addition Medieval 2: Total War.
I am sure that the game is going to do big and wish to see it soon in the market.

March 31, 2006 - One of the games all of us at IGNPC are eagerly awaiting is Creative Assembly's Medieval 2: Total War. While the game isn't due out for a while, the developer's track record with the series points to some grand improvements over all of their past titles. Thankfully, this year's E3 will provide us with the chance to check out this new strategy beast first-hand.

Seeing as this is just around the corner, we figured it might be a grand idea to get in touch with the developers and see how the game is progressing, get some updated information about some of the improvements and find out what exactly E3 attendees will be seeing on the show floor.

Creative Assembly's Bob Smith, Project Director out of their Australian branch, took the time to answer our questions and pop over four new gorgeous screens. Make sure to check those out (and all of the others if you haven't seen them yet) in our image sectio.

IGNPC: How is Medieval 2 progressing? What have you been working on recently?

Bob Smith: It's progressing very well as we move towards alpha. Currently the team's main focus is putting together the demo for E3. Areas being worked on currently include the new weather system, vegetation and the UI. We've also just completed the first voice recording session, and the audio team are beavering away getting that into the game.

IGNPC: Are there any large improvements to the turn-based strategy game that players should be aware of?

Bob Smith: The turn-based game has many new elements and improvements compared to Rome: Total War. The campaign map itself will get a graphical overhaul and later in the game will extend to include the Americas for the first time in a Total War game. This discovery will have a significant impact on the turn-based game as factions scramble to conquer the New World and reap the rich rewards that are on offer. The faction that can successfully fend off the Aztec resistance and claim the New World will benefit hugely both financially and politically.

In addition to this new area of the map, the turn-based game also benefits from a new system for developing settlements that will enable the player to tailor the empire building by choosing to develop settlements as either cities or castles. The former will offer considerable economic benefits while the latter will open up further military options. This introduces a new layer of strategy as players have to think carefully how they develop their lands as they expand to suit a policy of economic or military expansion.

We've also introduced a new recruitment system, a new enhanced system for the treatment of religion, enhanced diplomacy, new trade options, improved missions, improved sabotage and espionage, improved AI, new tech tree buildings and new agent characters. As you can see there are improvements right across the board that will make Medieval 2's campaign game the richest yet.
IGNPC: How are cities going to be different in Medieval than they were in Rome? Are cities easier or harder to defend?

Bob Smith: Medieval 2 features a new rendering system for settlements that builds them around the environment. This means that settlements can now incorporate hills, cliffs and slopes in their layout, making them far more realistic. This system can also introduce another level of defense to a settlement as attackers may have to overcome environmental defenses before they can even think about breaching city walls. The city and castle defenses themselves can also be far more resolute. In some cases attackers will have to overcome both an outer and inner wall before they can claim the settlement so attackers will have to develop a more thorough strategy when seeking to seize a settlement. They can't simply throw numbers and siege weapons at the problem.

IGNPC: Terrain has always been a pretty important aspect of the real-time combat portions of the Total War series. What sorts of upgrades have been made to terrain to create a more realistic and interesting environment for battle?

Bob Smith: We have a completely new system for distributing vegetation across the battlefield, and have also added the ability to have impassable slopes and overhangs on the battlefield. These impassable areas will add new strategies to battles. A wise General will seek to exploit these areas of the environment and build their battlefield tactics around it.

Ground-texturing technology has been revised as well. All these taken together mean that our environments are vastly more attractive and varied than any of the previous games, while also provides more interesting gameplay challenges.

IGNPC: Can castles and smaller towns be built away from cities to provide extra defense and garrisons?

Bob Smith: We haven't made a final decision on this as yet. Although the idea sounds cool, there is a danger that it could introduce too many repetitive sieges of small garrisons.

IGNPC: Does the improved engine create new gameplay possibilities that weren't previously available?

Bob Smith: We decide what gameplay features we want to include in the game, and then craft an engine that can provide them. Our engines are custom built for the games we want to make, so they don't really limit what we can do in terms of gameplay.

When it comes to the new possibilities that Medieval 2's battle engine offers - the new rendering system has introduced enhanced siege situations while the improvements to the environment, particularly the introduction of impassable areas, will certainly bring new gameplay features.

IGNPC: Will the game be playable at E3 this year? If so, what will be available to play?

Bob Smith: The game will be playable at E3. We're not going to reveal specifics right now but we can say that those attending E3 will be able to experience Medieval 2's real-time battles first hand.

IGNPC: What do you think people who see Medieval 2: Total War at E3 will walk away talking about most this year?

Bob Smith: Medieval 2's battles are the most spectacular and brutal we've ever created and we'll be looking to show them off at E3. The new battle engine is a big jump from Rome: Total War and features like the new advanced combat animation and the introduction of individuality to troops combine to create battles that are far more realistic and immersive than those featured in previous Total War games.

Now let wait and watch!