Introduction
Hey guys, it's me ggteixeira and for this post I'd like to review the game Mount & Blade: Napoleonic Wars. With the post itself we'll be going over the game's setting, gameplay, soundtrack , maps, content and more. We'll be going through both the goods and bad to make sure that the reader knows exactly what they need to know about the game. Before every opinion post though I'd like to go ahead and note that this post is put together based on opinion, my opinion. That means you can and might disagree with parts of the post. Keep in mind that that's 100% fine and everyone is allowed to have their own opinion! Now with that out of the way, let's get into the actual post itself. I hope you guys enjoy the read!
Instead of jumping straight into the fine details, I'd like to give a broad overview of the game down below. This way for those of you who don't know much about it, you get a basic idea about it and what's going on. If you already have a grasp on the game's concept, simply skip down below this part and move onto the next! If you are also confused by anything I said, or do know about the game and feel like I left something crucial out, leave a comment down below in which I'll not only respond but edit the corrections right after!
What is M&B: Napoleonic Wars?
Mount & Blade: Napoleonic Wars is a DLC expansion to the game Mount & Blade: Warband. It was created by Flying Squirrel Entertainment and released in 2012. But don't let the game's age fool you from this gem's beauty; the game easily stands the test of time and it's community still very active. The community being active is not only crucial, but part of this game's great success. M&B: Napoleonic Wars is a multiplayer-ONLY game where up to 250 players on any given server do battle through a handful of different and unique game-modes with the setting being the near-end of the Napoleonic Wars. There's tons of historically-accurate content including weapons, artillery, uniforms, factions and so forth to pick'n'choose from giving players something every good game has, variety.
The battles in-game are intense. Sieging a castle with artillery rounds tearing down the walls while you yourself along with your team charge across a field with enemy fire and their own artillery raining hell down on you. You real feel like your part of the battle as you see nearby allies shot dead, knocked over by random shrapnel or torn to bits by a stray cannon-ball all the while hoping that your lucky enough to make it to the action. The guns in-game are mostly ineffective with their shoddy aim and long reload time, so when you finally break into a fortification, expect tons of close-quarters combat. Hearing metal clanging, gunpowder cackling and men screaming as you impale an enemy on the end of your bayonet all add to the game's great immersive fun.
Hell, even when the game isn't immersive it's fun. If you choose not to disable the chat, you'll see as both teams exchange WILD insults like they do gunfire, rifles being not the only thing exchanging shot (I'm proud of that one).
With the basic overview done, we'll be moving on and going over the core components of the game. Each section will be shown it's respective ups and downs, before giving a brief opinion on what I think of them
Gameplay
Mount & Blade: Napoleonic Wars' game-play is heavily reliant on it's module's game-play, Mount & Blade: Warband. A unique sort of combat where weapons can block in four different directions and attack in up to the same amount depending on the weapon, players must predict where their opponent will attack based on movement all whilst trying to deal an unpredictable blow of their own. This can lead to some really intense close-quarters moments where two or even more players juggle each other's attacks parrying each blow only to counter and have their own blow blocked! I've seen skilled players go at it for minutes before one finally slips up and is cut down-- Or one gets shot, can't forget there are guns in this iteration of the game!
Rifles, flintlock pistols, muskets, cannons, mortars and so on are all some of the firearms and artillery players can use out in the fray. Each have their ups and downs. The cannon is hard to aim and has a massive reload time, but upon firing deal some serious damage if striking a landing blow. The mortar on the other hand is easier to aim and more accurate for getting better angled, but not as deadly as the powerful cannon, and so on. When your not locked in melee combat, you're suppressed in range. Even when in melee players are still just as easily susceptible to firearms, you just can't escape them! Or, can you? All the firearms in this game have stupid-long reload times, I mean, they are gunpowder weapons. If you cross a river and get wet, you better find new ammo because all the ammo you were carrying on you is ruined. These are just some of the many downfalls that come with using old and faulty firearms.
When it comes to the graphics, they're old and outdated, especially compared to so many games nowadays. To someone like me this isn't really an issue, because the game-play more then makes up for it, but to others this is a real let-down. The movement can also feel wonky at times and is hard to adjust to, but once adjusted feels perfectly fine.
Content
There's tons of content in Napeolonic Wars with hundreds of hours to play through. From weapons, to uniforms, to maps, to game-modes there's so much to go through and choose from. Of course, all the weapons are tech-locked in their current era, so don't expect no assault rifle. Instead, expect muskets, older rifles, flintlocks and so on. They're still tons of fun to use and fight with in-game, especially the artillery. With cannons, mortas, explosive rounds, and scatter shots, players who specialize in the game's artillery will have tons of fun blowing others away from a safe distance. Then for all those close-quarters players out there, expect bayonets to be your main weapon. But there are still a handful of different swords and scimitars to choose from.
Moving on are the maps. Players can create maps, but almost all maps are relatively similar. They're either some sort of town, city, plains, hilly plains, or forest. But there are tons of different maps and sometimes, the creators do what they're suppose to and get real creative. I found it bizarre but crazy fun battling with my musket on Star War's Hoth.
Now where the game really gets it's juicy and vast content from are it's game-modes. There are two main game-modes that came with the game and remain the most popular to this day; siege and battle. In Siege, one team has infinite lives and the other five lives per each player with a time limit as the infinite lives team tries to break through the set lives one's fortifications. If the defensive team holds for the duration, they win. If the offensive team breaks through and secures a flag, they win. With battle, each team spawns with only one life per player and fight it out in rounds, where the last team standing wins. Then there's players who create their own game-modes that vary. I remember playing cops and robbers on one server, then zombies survival on another. Shit gets crazy out there.
Soundtrack
The game's soundtrack is filled with brilliant classics that really help immerse players into their Napoleonic era setting. The music goes even better when there's an actual player in-game playing it through his bagpipes as gunfire cackles all around you, metal clanks as player cross blades and artillery roars consuming everything in it's destructive path. Everything in the game sounds right, from the voice-lines the characters have to the gunfire to the shrapnel ricocheting off walls. This is the part of the game in which I think the developers have really, and I mean really, out done themselves. I put the intro song just above the header for anyone who wants just a taste of what's to hear.
Overall Review
I think I forgot to mention that this game is actually a DLC for a game! It's literally like an entire game for a cheaper price, which to me is amazing! With the endless hours of great content, amazing moments you can have fighting in the Napoleonic era and stunning soundtrack, I'm going to have to give this classic of a game a 9/10. If it's graphics were revamped, I'd hands down give it a 10/10, because to me that's the only thing at fault here. Mount & Blade: Napoleonic Wars is for PC only and you can find it on Steam for a relatively low price. On sales, it tends to go to an even lower, and I mean like 5$ low price, so if you really want wait until then.
Conclusion
Like I always do I want to go ahead and thank everyone for reading. I hope you guys enjoyed the post and if you have any concerns feel free to comment them down below. I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend (Thanksgiving for Canadians) and once again, thanks for reading!
Here's the game's trailer for anyone interested