Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War

[vinitwins]

Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War

 

Published by: KOEI

Developed by: Omega Force

Genre: Real-Time Strategy

Number of Players: 1-2

Release Date: November 2007

Available On: X360 | PS3

 

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http://www.gamesradar.com/us/xbox360/game/...002144115721067

 

KOEI sends word that a demo of its historical slasher Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' war will hit Xbox Live and PlayStation Network this Thursday, ahead of its retail release in November.

 

In case you missed it, the generically-titled action game tells the tale of the 14th century conflict over the English succession to the French throne. Epic battles are promised, including appearances from historical celebs like Joan of Arc and Prince Edward. Fingers crossed for the King of Cartoons.

 

 

 

 

V

[reaper]

some screenies ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[reaper]

Bladestorm Hands-on

source: ign.

 

Bladestorm Hands-on

Another Koei game, another thousand soldiers laid to waste.

 

After conquering ancient China and feudal Japan in countless upon countless Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors games, Koei decided it was time to finally change continents and move the battle to Europe. The demo for its latest title has just hit the PlayStation Network in Japan, and we strapped on our full battle armor and hit the fields searching for some faces to slash.

 

Bladestorm!

 

The demo, and presumably the game, starts you in a bar where you'll first pick a gender, face and voice for your character. The bar acts as your hub between missions, allowing you to purchase weapons (available as one-use items in the game), recruit new soldiers (who again are one-use recruits), check out your stats, talk to folks for information and take on missions from the bartender of all people. You're a rogue commander, so you can switch sides between the English and French at will and take the missions that net you the most cash.

 

 

The game is something of a mix between the button-mashing Dynasty Warriors series and a real-time RPG battle system in that while the clock never stops, you can only perform a certain number of moves over a given period of time. So for example, if you have swordsmen at your disposal and perform their sword-slashing attack, you can attack until the sword meter is depleted and then must wait for it to refill again before you can attack. This can take up to about 30 seconds in which case you must either stand around and wait for your turn to attack again, or leave those tired souls to their own peril and pick up a new group.

 

The main difference between Bladestorm and Dynasty Warriors is that you're able to go near a group of soldiers and "grab" them with a press of a button. This puts them in your command, and they'll do exactly whatever you do, matching you blow-for-blow. The demo has a number of different unit types including basic swordsmen, archers and cavalry. Each one has a basic attack, like a sword attack or a volley of arrows, and a strong attack, like a shield slam. Swapping between various groups and making the best use of their abilities is the main gameplay mechanic here, though as you must walk up to whatever group you want to control, it doesn't play anything like a top-down RTS.

 

Bladestorm's namesake comes from a power-up that you'll earn for slaying enough enemies. After filling up a power bar, you'll see the word "Bladestorm!" flash across the screen, and with it you and your soldiers will glow with a red hue and move at a much quicker pace. You don't have unlimited attacks, though you do seem stronger and more capable of taking down groups of randomly-spawning soldiers that appear next to the edge of woods at random. After much practice we've determined that you get the most out of the Bladestorm experience by yelling "Bladestorm!" in your best movie-guy voice anytime it appears on the screen. If you don't then the game simply feels like an attack timed version of Dynasty Warriors, so make use of that voice.

 

 

Look familiar?Much like Koei's other titles, the goal of each battle seems to be to take control of enemy strongholds which scatter the battlefield. The battlegrounds are massive and fortresses and encampments litter the hills. You'll have certain places that you need to take control of for each mission, but it seems to be a good idea to take out whatever you can along the way to strengthen your overall army. If you've played the Dynasty Warriors games you'll know that taking these over only means that you need to kill the general at each location - you never actually get to go inside, unfortunately.

 

As we've hinted at plenty of times already, Bladestorm(!) very much feels like Koei's Dynasty Warriors series. The bulk of the game has you slashing at hundreds of enemy soldiers on the battlefield, though with the ability to grab a group of soldiers and take them into battle, it at least does introduce a new mechanic to the gameplay. We're not quite sold on this one yet, but we'll see what happens with the full release.

 

Bladestorm!

 

 

i seriously have my doubts on this game ....

[MarketTantrik]

Bloody KOEI are stuck on the same rails.

[MarketTantrik]

Bladestorm goes gold

 

From Xbox360 Fanboy

http://www.us.xbox360fanboy.com/2007/10/26...torm-goes-gold/

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Today, KOEI made the announcement that Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War has officially gone gold and will be on retail shelves November 6th. And just in case you've forgotten, there is a Bladestorm demo currently residing on the XBLM (available to all Xbox Live regions) if you're feeling the need to give the game a test drive before November comes. That's about all we've got for you as far as Bladestorm news goes, so now we think we're going to head off and try to perfect the ancient Chinese art of hacking and slashing. Stab, swing, duck, stab, stab, swing, duck. Repeat.

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