(Game) Crusader Kings 2.

"The Killer`s breed or the Demon`s seed,
The glamour, The fortune, the pain, 
Go to war again, blood is freedom`s stain,
But dont you pray for my soul, anymore,
Two minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom,
Two minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb"


Iron Maiden - Two Minutes To Midnight.


Apt words from probably the greatest band ever to come out of Britain, they seem almost perfect to describe the tale of Duncan the Great, the once and future King of Scotland.

King Duncan was a genius, no doubt about it, by kissing the Pope`s posterior as often as humanly possible and by careful cultivation of his nobles and enemies he was one of the most  celebrated rulers in Europe.
My predecessors were careful custodians of the Crown, they did nothing to rock the boat and nothing to expand the territory of Scotland.

All that changed with the accession of Duncan to the throne.

Within a decade Scotland was unified, Ireland was half conquered thanks to my wonderfully devious Chancellor who was adept at creating false claims to territories i had my eyes on and best of all i had betrothed all 6 of my children to royal families across Europe.

Then it all came crashing down.

One by one my children began dying, the youngest son of Duncan died at age 3 and none of his siblings survived to come of age.

I discovered that my brother-in-law, a man i had raised from obscurity to to rule over 5 of my provinces was casually murdering his way to become the Heir to my kingdom.

Well, Duncan the Great was going to put a stop to that, i immediately attempted to imprison my treacherous relative but unfortunately he escaped my men and launched into full scale rebellion.

Duncan's action also riled up the Lords of the realm and three of them immediately joined the rebellion, suddenly i was fighting for my life and just as the last few Rebel armies were being crushed underfoot King Duncan died.

At 72 it was clear he couldn't last long but his untimely death led to the last heir of my house, the 22 year old Angus being catapulted into the monarchy, suddenly the nation launched into open rebellion, brother fighting brother and why? why was Angus so unpalatable?

Angus was gay.

Not a good thing to be during the medieval era, close-mindedness being a staple of the times,   this was simply unacceptable to the nobles and within two months of his Crowning Angus lay imprisoned, his only daughter betrothed to my former brother-in-law.

Game Over.

This is, in my most esteemed opinion, one of the reasons that gaming today is as good as its ever been, intricate, emergent game-play, utterly unscripted is simply better than the linearity of modern games.

The scenario detailed above is only one of the brilliant sessions i`ve had the joy of playing with this game and its something that every strategy games developer should be paying attention to.

This. Is. The. Way. Forward!


Paradox`s Deeper-than-the-Marianas Clausewitz powered Titan is capable of creating some of the best game play you will ever experience, accessibility is treated as somewhat of a dirty word by the enthusiasts but the company does at least nod its head in the direction of making the game easier for first-timers.

The interface of the game is excellently designed, even a complete newcomer to the, often imposing, Paradox series of games should be able to grasp it within about ten minutes of starting out.

Of course "winning" in this game is a series of trials and errors, you WILL be outmanoeuvred by the often brilliantly cunning AI into positions of no hope but I believe that this lack of hand-holding is utterly necessary to the genre, the sense of achievement you feel upon a successful conquest or diplomatic mission is magnified immensely when you figure it out on your own.

Medieval games have been rather hit and miss in recent years with only Creative Assembly`s Medieval 2 being a true success but where that game was entirely about your military escapades this game is about intrigue, plots and deceptions.

The importance of appointing good men (and women) to your council cannot be understated, you will never function properly without a good team to control everything from Spying to Religion and best of all, instead of Medieval 2`s rather bland array of characters, these characters have their own ambitions and secret plots.

Juggling these plots is one of the hardest things in the game, it truly does a wonderful job of replicating the era but there is a sharp difficulty curve there and the levels of Menus in the game can be incredibly intimidating.

Its also rather hapless when it comes to military battles, while you should assign characters to take control of the flanks of your army it never feels necessary, rather it seems that its just a question of numbers and luck as you see your army, depicted as a single warrior on the world map, strike at the other with the numbers relentlessly counting down.

So, should you buy it?

Difficult question as always but I feel if your into your strategy games and love a challenge then this game is a must play, its just so different to all the others out there.

If however your more of a person who enjoys his strategy on a medium difficulty level and love the base building, troop creating thing then I cant recommend it to you.

Its just so different to all the other games out there.

Demo.