Strategic Releases: Medieval II, Warhammer And More // UPDATE

This should be a week to remember not only for Sony and Nintendo aficionados (for reasons I need not repeat here), but also for hardcore PC strategy fans. Already released over the weekend, or planned for release today, are four new strategy games - starting of course with Medieval II: Total War, followed by Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, Heroes of Might and Magic V: Hammers of Fate, and Blitzkrieg 2: Fall of the Reich.

By far the most imposing of them all is The Creative Assembly's latest game in their Total War franchise. Medieval II spans four and half centuries of the most turbulent era in Western history and provides players the reins to experience and rewrite one of the most fascinating periods of history to become the greatest power of the Middle Ages.

"Medieval II: Total War drives the Total War franchise to a new level by completely upgrading the game's battlefield rendering system, eliminating the clone armies of the past games in the series and including a new, more realistic animation system. With over 10,000 troops now to command and hundreds of unit types, players can experience massive battles in graphically rich environments enhanced by dynamic weather effects and vastly diverse terrain. Leading armies across Europe, the Middle East, and even the Americas, players will encounter brutal real-time battles and the pure bloodlust of medieval warfare. As players progress, they will shape their empires by strategically determining whether to build castles for military power or cities for technology and trade, allowing for a greater depth of gameplay."

Straying away from historic events and into the realm of fantasy, comes Warhammer: Mark of Chaos from Black Hole Entertainment. Heralding the game's release, publisher Namco Bandai also put up a Mark of Chaos launch trailer today, which you can download or stream locally.

"In Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, the focus is set squarely on the battlefield with a real-time combat system that gives the player unprecedented customization and control of his/her army. Warhammer: Mark of Chaos centers on the armies and battles, while de-emphasizing the tedious aspects of base and resource management. This heroic quest reveals a grand sense of both scale and detail, in which monstrous demons and vast customizable armies clash with thousands of characters in intricately detailed environments. Buildable features and destructible terrains such as forests, swamps, plains and tundra change the shape of the battlefield and add a layer of strategy to provide players infinite replayability."

As for the last two strategy titles, they are both add-ons, and both developed by Nival: one is (or should be, later today) Ubisoft's Heroes of Might and Magic V: Hammers of Fate, and the other CDV's Blitzkrieg 2: Fall of the Reich.

You can visit each of these games' pages on Playfuls for more details, screenshots and trailers. Patches are also sure to follow shortly...

UPDATE: Valve has just informed us that Medieval II: Total War will also be released via Steam tomorrow. The digitally-distributed game will be available to customers in North and South America on November 15, for $49.95. [14.11.2006, 20:34]

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)