Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War Review

By Dave McCarthy Published 16 October, 2007

Hundred out of a hundred.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Koei's Dynasty Warriors games just don't sell very well outside of Japan. The solution is obvious: take all the hallmarks of the Warriors series, and apply them to European history. Hence Bladestorm.

The opening movies are completely Koei: volleys of arrows rain down on banks of superbly CGI men-at-arms, who proceed to smash into each other, slicing through armour in extreme (and extremely stylish) close-up. They're not, strictly speaking, historically accurate, but by gosh are they superb - and anyway, if you want historical accuracy, you're probably better off with a good book (like John Keegan's The Face of Battle, for example). Bladestorm is as committed to fantasy history as all the other Warriors games.

But Bladestorm's familiarity isn't entirely helpful. If you set about the game expecting to dive into a European Dynasty Warriors, it's initially disorientating: instead of taking control of a character sashaying across the battlefield, shaping the conflict by direct and heroic action, characters in Bladestorm shape the face of battle by associating with other units and telling them what to do. Indeed it's much safer, most of the time, to hang back and make sure you don't get inextricably mixed up in the middle of a messy mêlée.

'Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War' Screenshot 1

During the game you'll get to command all sorts of troops. Certain specialist units, like knights or archers take a bit of getting used to.

The way it works is that you take control of units by walking up to them and pressing the X or A button (depending on your console). Once they're under your control, they'll follow you around and obey your orders: hold down R1/Right trigger to make them attack, and use the other three face buttons to perform special moves (that then take a little while to recharge). Most of the time you'll be given a few days to make your way across the battlefield and capture a key objective, but all of the time your focus will be on marshalling your men rather than single-handedly smashing through enemy lines.

So it's more Dynasty Warriors meets Kessen then, though even that fails to do justice to the novelty and ingenuity of Bladestorm. Like so many of Koei's battlefield action games, you'll need to keep a close eye on the overall map, and the ebb and flow of battle. Like several previous Koei titles, you'll need to decide whether to go for a high-risk direct approach and head straight for your objective, or to opt for the safer, but potentially more laborious tactic of capturing bases along the way. You'll need to keep an eye on any support troops, watching not to stray too far from them. And you'll need to decide whether to finish a contract early, or spend a bit longer on the battlefield in order to level up your abilities.

'Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War' Screenshot 2

Most contracts will see you taking over bases by doing in the base commander.

Crucially though, all of this has a very different feel because of the novelty of commanding banks of troops. First of all, you'll need to make sure that you don't get isolated from your unit, because if you do, you'll quickly lose out to weight of numbers. Second, each troop type has a very different effect in combat and you'll need to understand them all. Each unit has a different selection of special attacks, and some are especially strong, or weak against specific other types. You'll also need to consider how skilled you are at commanding a particular unit type: pikemen might be handy against cavalry, but not if you've never controlled them before and you're facing elite knights. But then you'll also need to balance the need to level up your skill with a new unit against the ease of falling back on familiar ones.

The way you learn to control new types of unit is by acquiring battle books, which brings us on to another major feature of medieval combat, Koei-style. Between contracts, you'll hang out at a tavern, where you can chat to NPCs, distribute experience points that you earn with each particular type of unit, and buy new armour and weaponry, before seeing what new contracts are available. You'll also be able to recruit your own units, who you can call into play during battle by pressing R1, or buy banners, to provide temporary power-ups, by pressing L1. Both are capable of dramatically shifting the tide of battle in your favour, which is handy, because your ultimate goal, by picking contracts that range across France and England, is to increase your renown as a mercenary and shape the course of history.

'Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War' Screenshot 3

The tavern is every bit as important as the battlefield, allowing you to tailor your rise through the ranks of mercenaries competing for renown.

While you're shaping the course of history, you'll benefit from a structure that offers a fairly generous learning curve - indeed the ability to pick contracts means that if you're finding a crucial mission a bit difficult, you can power yourself up by completing lesser contracts. And you'll get to fight on battlefields that are depicted with all sorts of technical flourishes: little bunnies and deer frolic and gamble during any quiet lulls; and the game boasts a suitably rousing operatic score. Sure, there are niggles like comically bad voice-acting and bizarre European accents, but then, this is a videogame after all, and a Japanese one at that.

It's also a very, very good videogame: another brilliant evolution of Koei's unique interpretation of the real-time strategy genre, and every bit as satisfying as previous efforts. What it lacks in terms of the speed and immediacy of, say, Gundam Musou, it makes up for with strategic range, design ingenuity, and conceptual novelty. Whether it'll sell any better than the Dynasty Warriors games, though, is anybody's guess. It certainly deserves to.

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Dave.

About Dave McCarthy

Read more articles from Dave by visiting the Dave McCarthy archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (40) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 4 years ago

    I liked the demo. Nice review... but TBH with the abundance of games available this one will have to wait for a budget pick up.

  • RedPanda #2 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • Scimarad #3 4 years ago

    Loved the demo (PS3) and would definitely be buying it if I could spare the money.

  • Steroyd #4 4 years ago

    When I first downloaded the japaneese demo and didn't know what the heck I was doing I was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't a Dynasty Warriors game in the sense of the hacky hacky.

    Was even more pleasently surprised when the english demo came out.

  • imperial_seal #5 4 years ago

    Dynasty Warriors is great (if you know the storyline behind it), which I do, funny enough.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #6 4 years ago

    I enjoyed the demo as well. It takes a while to get into but I'm afraid that with PGR4, Orange Box and Metroid Prime 3 I will wait until it gets a bit cheaper.

  • Artemis_Matsas #7 4 years ago

    Yes, the demo was cool. This is one to look for when the price is right.

  • steoc4 #8 4 years ago

    I'm with everyone else, enjoyed the PSN demo a lot but there's just too many other games fighting for my time right now. Will pick it up if I see it cheap at a later date (then I've also said that about Skate and Stranglehold)

  • SIDEARM #9 4 years ago

    Brilliant demo - definitely a first day purchase!

  • cyacomini #10 4 years ago

    Havent tried the demo yet and probably wont.

    There are just far too many great games coming for the 360 over the next few months. PS3 owners though might want to pick this up to 'bulk out' as it were.

    Perhaps when it hits £17.99 after the Christmas rush - I always seem to end up with £20 of Virgin vouchers left ;)

  • philw #11 4 years ago

    When I saw the review caption I thought it was going to be another 10/10!

  • Ihya #12 4 years ago

    Probably buy it sooner rather than later as a palate cleanser for all the FPS's I've been playing of late! So happy to get my teeth back into a good Koei game.

  • Jos #13 4 years ago

    Absolutely loved the demo. Can't exactly put my finger on why - I think it's something to do with it being a slightly slower paced game than usual RTS fair, or rather the way you control it is slower paced, as the battles are pretty frenetic when you watch them play out...

  • asphaltcowboy #14 4 years ago

    Played the demo, had no idea what was going on. Thought it was a bit pants really...

    EDIT: Apparently not designerheadache!
    Edited by 1 at 16/10/07 @ 10:03

  • dancingphil #15 4 years ago

    It sounds a bit like Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders on the original Xbox. I bought that a few weeks ago. I'm surprised it didn't do better--it's the best RTS I've played on a console, mainly because it's got the control scheme right.

  • cheeseweasel #16 4 years ago

    Shouldn't that be gambol rather than gamble?

    Or are they actually betting?

  • GamesConnoisseur #17 4 years ago

    Yeah loved Kingdom Under Fire, shame it did not get enough attention. Intrigued by Bladestorm demo (tried both platform).

    The good review score cemented it for me to get this when I could, as Dave did say it deserves better attention. I did not really buy into Dynasty Warrior but this is a bit different.

    /Pondering if Koei would get a bit bored with all the uncountable hacks and slashings by now?

  • spelk #18 4 years ago

    Any mention of Multiplayer (co-op? vs?) capabilities?
    How does the PS3 version compare with the 360 version?

  • Pulsar_t #19 4 years ago

    Apparently PS3 owners are overwhelmed by the quality of the demo :p

    I kid, I kid!

  • ZuluHero #20 4 years ago

    wow 100/100 - so better than Ha...

    Im sorry i just can't..i can't....

    Seeing as the demo is getting such positive reports i guess i'll try it out - sounds like I nearly missed out on something pretty decent because of my KOEI and Dynasty Warriors preconceptions...

    we'll see though ;)
    Edited by 1 at 16/10/07 @ 10:36

  • SIDEARM #21 4 years ago

    I have played both demos and the gameplay as you can imagine is exactly the same. 360 version had anti-aliasing which seemed totally absent from the PS. Personally ill go for the 360 version as the SIXAXIS gives me hand cramp.

  • Avenger1324 #22 4 years ago

    With so many really big games demanding to be played this is probably a bit too niche for most to buy before Christmas. Will give the demo a try, but with PGR4, Skate, Stranglehold & Halo all sitting on my desk, and Orange Box, Hellgate, Crysis & NFS Prostreet released in the next month I can't see myself getting Bladestorm this year

  • Gibroon #23 4 years ago

    I enjoyed the demo and there seemed to be quite a lot of depth to the units and strategy.

    I couldn't help but feel it would of been good to pull back from the battlefield to see where all the troops were. Is there an option to do so?

    This is the sort of game my pal is looking forward to when he eventually gets a PS3.

  • Darts_Venom #24 4 years ago

    Gambol rather than Gamble? Unless the bunnies stop for a quick game of poker!? Looks awesome will try and pick up a copy!

  • Lead #25 4 years ago

    I wish you could shoot the bunnies and deer with the sniper archer mode. That would remind me of D2 on the Dreamcast :)

  • JediMasterMalik #26 4 years ago

    Not surprising after the demo, I'm glad Koei actually decided to change the formula, and quite a bit. I do wish the combat was more hack n slash though.

  • jachap #27 4 years ago

    Oh man. Not another game I should buy. Some of the big releases before Christmas better be utter shit.

  • tesco #28 4 years ago

    Brilliant demo, I think the review score is a fair one. I'm not impressed by the usage of the word "and" to start a sentance though.

  • groovychainsaw #29 4 years ago

    Its going to sell 4 copies, sadly, because there is too much competition. Which is a shame, cos i like dynasty warriors, thought the demo was great, but am still trying to get through PGR4 and halo3, and will be for the forseeable future.

  • BobsUncle #30 4 years ago

    Jap crap.

  • Bongo #31 4 years ago

    You stupid fuck.

  • reality_cheque #32 4 years ago

    I shall be buying this when I've finished the other 15 games still sat on my shelf :(

    Convieniently, by that point it'll be about 20 quid.

  • davisorle #33 4 years ago

    Well.. If i had a ps3 Id have to buy it since not much out for now and maybe another year.. But I got from Halo 3 / orange box/ bioshock/ MoH: Airborn etc etc to play with and Bladestorm really wasnt any good for me. A bit nice to play in the demo but nothing spending the money for when you got so many other options. Maybe like Dizzy said when there are spare money but still for me there would be probably other choises than that one. That's simply my opinion for those who havent tried it use the demo.

    ( reminds me of another game so much ingame that I cant remember it's tittle :S )

  • toy_brain #34 4 years ago

    Love Dynasty Warriors, loved the demo, will be picking this up on or just after release day and it'll probably get priority over whatever else I'd bought previously.

    Really impressed at the shake-up Koei/Omega Force have given the DW formula. Demo had a far more 'tactical' feel to it than a regular DW game without compromising too much in delivering instantly accessable action.

  • groovychainsaw #35 4 years ago

    I thought the voiceovers were brilliant, made me laugh my head off, I have no idea what country the barman is supposed to be from - Mars?

  • trooper6 #36 4 years ago

    Played Dynasty Warriors...and it was okay. At first I really enjoyed it...but then I kept getting more powerful...and my enemies weren't that much of a challenge anymore...and then it was a whole lot of repetitive hack'n'slash--really not much strategy when I can hack'n'slash everybody all by my lonesome. Finished the game, but it is going to be traded back. The history was very good though, and the game wasn't unenjoyable.

    On the other hand, Bladestorm seems to have the cool things of Dynasty Warriors without the repetitive hack'n'slashing...so I will certainly pick it up...I might wait for a used copy...but I will certainly pick it up. I do hope, however, that it won't throw me a Kingdom Under Fire curveball where if you hadn't leveled up a particular unit type, there is no way to win the battle.

  • Guv #37 4 years ago

    really liked the demo, think I'll pick this up some time this winter when everything has calmed down a bit. Any idea on how long the campaign is? or is it an open ended thingy?

  • Darren #38 4 years ago

    What a dreadful game (based on the demo). It starts off deceptively good with nice graphics in the intro scene but once you start playing it, it feels a mess. Empty bland landscapes straight out of a PS2 game, inverted camera controls which means I keep rotating it the wrong way, laughable animation, dull combat, it's like a poor man's Kingdom Under Fire. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Definitely will NOT be buying it. It's a typically rubbish game from Koei.

  • BBIAJ #39 4 years ago

    "...typically rubbish game from Koei..."

    WTF!?

  • AZA #40 4 years ago

    I thought the demo was quite good, something just clicked for me.

    I may get it but probably when its in the bargain bin.