With PlayV’s massive release we were also given the chance to try out Crusaders : Thy Kingdom Come.  Crusaders is one of the latest releases from Neocore Games.  To easily compare it to any other game is simply the “Total War” Series.  To begin the game you are allocated a certain amount of command points or gold in which you can spend on a hero and some troops to back that hero up.  You got a wide variety of hero’s which have certain attribute advantages and also give you the use of specialized units.

You also have quite the army, the game is based in the time of the Crusades (Obviously) so you have your standard infantry, archers, cavalry and then your hero units.  But depending on what hero you choose you then open your choice to specialized units such as Crusader Knights which are a more powerful form of infantry.  I didn’t see much of what was on offer as I pretty much head to head with Brian Faller Marketing Manager of PlayV, but once you’re in game, dotted around the maps are white flags which are capture points which can be captured once your forces get close enough to it.  The maps are massive and so is the army in which you’re given.  You do have complete view of the entire battlefield so you do have a heads up of what’s coming.  There’s two simple ways to win.  By destroying the enemy army.

Even though capturing the hold points don’t provide any kind of bonus to your war effort, they do provide great strategic placements in the map which will give you the advantage.  The game is all very much tactics based, you need to send your infantry in first while getting your archers to support fire.  But if enemy archers are giving you a problem simply rush them with your cavalry.  The visuals are quite pleasing, even though the maps are massive it makes easy work for some of the simplest of computer rigs.  The background effects are well made and provide nice battle maps for you to continue the war! 

The units formation is quite well implemented how once in place your regiments will take shape and stay until given further orders.  By double clicking you can make your troops double time to make them work that little bit harder.  Also things are made easier for example your archers are given a shoot radius so it simply displays your archers line of fire! 

In my 1v1 with Brian I managed to control four hold points while keeping his army busy with other matters.  In fact I was losing until that point so it’s a nice example of how the game can switch in terms of whose winning and losing.  The game will feature a full single-player campaign on release for players to go through.  Or they can go straight online with friends.  I am actually quite looking forward to the release of Crusaders.  Check back for a full review.