02-07-2006, 03:52 AM
As I mentioned yesterday, I downloaded the Beta version of the 'Europa Barbarorum Mod' for RTW and fired it up last night.
So far, I'm pretty impressed. It still has as many bugs as you'd expect for a Beta version (for example, the advisor in the Campaign mode is a guy, but has a woman's voice, which can be distinctly disconcerting - a bit like being advised on strategy by a barbarian drag queen), but it's playable enough.
I began playing as the Sweboz - the Germanic faction. It proved a bit harder than I expected because I made the mistake of building a 'Heroes Hall' to allow me to build lots of those nifty new Germanic units. Unfortunately the cost of this left me bankrupt. All the AI factions, on the other hand, invested their money in building armies, so after some initial successes, my bankrupt tribe was left with a few small armies which were rapidly outclassed by much larger armies built by my neighbours.
So I'm starting again with a new campaign tonight.
The units and skins look great and generally very detailed and realistic. The rest of the mod - the huge map, the splash screens etc - all look very good and the use of accurate names for the factions, cities and leaders adds to the realism aspect.
I'll post a longer review once I've played it a bit more, but so far I actually like it even better than 'Rome Total Realism'. Highly recommended.
So far, I'm pretty impressed. It still has as many bugs as you'd expect for a Beta version (for example, the advisor in the Campaign mode is a guy, but has a woman's voice, which can be distinctly disconcerting - a bit like being advised on strategy by a barbarian drag queen), but it's playable enough.
I began playing as the Sweboz - the Germanic faction. It proved a bit harder than I expected because I made the mistake of building a 'Heroes Hall' to allow me to build lots of those nifty new Germanic units. Unfortunately the cost of this left me bankrupt. All the AI factions, on the other hand, invested their money in building armies, so after some initial successes, my bankrupt tribe was left with a few small armies which were rapidly outclassed by much larger armies built by my neighbours.
So I'm starting again with a new campaign tonight.
The units and skins look great and generally very detailed and realistic. The rest of the mod - the huge map, the splash screens etc - all look very good and the use of accurate names for the factions, cities and leaders adds to the realism aspect.
I'll post a longer review once I've played it a bit more, but so far I actually like it even better than 'Rome Total Realism'. Highly recommended.
Tim ONeill / Thiudareiks Flavius /Thiudareiks Gunthigg
HISTORY FOR ATHEISTS - New Atheists Getting History Wrong
HISTORY FOR ATHEISTS - New Atheists Getting History Wrong
