Eador. Masters of the Broken World

First, let me start this review by saying that this title has much potential, *if* the developers continue to improve it which no one but they know if that will happen. As for my review, while I had great hopes for this game, unfortunately it was rushed out in a very unfinished state. The 3rd beta just started about 3-4 days ago and there were many, many bugs, some of which were fixed but many more were not fixed before release. On top of that, we have several very large missing features, including Mutliplayer which is basically completely missing (they added combat multiplayer but no actual multiplayer or hotseat either one). Check the forums here for a detailed list of all the missing features, buyer beware. My recommendation: Play Eador: Genesis for a month and then come back and see if they managed to patch this game worthy of an actual release. I have no idea why it was rushed out the door unpolished and incomplete, since there was no Publisher putting pressure on them.

Well, I guess my mistake is that I never knew it was a remake of Genesis. Since I've dug in to Genesis just recently thinking that MOTBW will continue the story I felt really down when I saw that most of the things that were in Genesis (icons, maps, STORY) just got copypasted into MOTBW. Of course if you play it without touching Genesis it would be great experience with animation and graphics - it's still a candy and it's tasty, but I've got the same flavour only the wrap is different.

I was almost scared away from this game due to raging fan-boys blasting away with hatred from the beta tests, comparisons to Eador: Genesis, and trouble-shooting errors. Luckily I decided to buy this gem anyway. I couldn't be happier with my purchase and how great this game is, in my opinion. MotBW has many elements but the core of the gameplay is simple and easy to understand. The real depth & strategy comes from how you govern your territories, how you build you castle, and how you perform in battle. Choosing to be a lawful ruler or a sinister one also plays a role in some decisions throughout the game. There is a clear progression during a 'match' and you always have different objectives that you can pursue. The main component, to me at least, is the battle interface. In these you play in a tactics/strategy style, similar to games like Final Fantasy Tactics, and Fire Emblem. The overall management gameplay is fun and simple. Think of playing a game of Civilization V with one-city challenge and you can only capture city-states, that are on basically every tile. You build infrastructure/units/gear/etc. in your castle, while claiming new lands for resources, which will in turn provide income that can help sustain higher priced units for your armies. Believe me or not, but I've had ZERO glitches or errors that have hindered my gameplay. This game is an awesome title and if I had listened to everyone crying over the same rehearsed things I would've really missed out!

You have to take the good with the bad. I love this game. If it didn't have any bugs, it would be one of my favorite games of all time. But the bugs cannot be ignored and they detract from the experience a lot; the bugs always CRASH the program. You might be in the middle of a tough fight you are winning and you kill an enemy but his body stays there. Whether or not you realize it, you just lost the battle and have to reload because of the bug. I've logged over 150 hours and the game has crashed or bugged to the point where I have to load at least 50 times. The fact that these bugs remain so many years after the release of the game reflects poorly on the company. Continue to develop your existing products before making new ones.