Mount and Blade - wow.

Mad Mike

http://www.taleworlds.com/
Superb knights and horsies combat engine tacked on to a fairly crude RPG. This game generated quite a bit of internet buzz last year but I only got around to playing the beta two days ago and I am hooked.

It's still a Beta release but most things seem to work. Apparently it's a garage project of a husband and wife team in Turkey. You can play up to level 6 for free but after that you must pay for the game. The price you have to pay goes up as the game gets closer to completion. It currently costs $18 and it is going to cost $29 when it is complete. The RPG backdrop is paper thin so I can't vouch for lasting entertainment but the battles are incredibly good. Quite simply the best first person hack and slash game I have ever played. Fighting on horseback is just too good to believe.

The game has already put me in awe of the power of a good warhorse. My lowly level 4 warrior can overcome large groups of foot bandits by riding them down and slashing or skewering them as I ride past. Missiles fly past my ears as I pull the horse around for another run. Once I got overconfident and tried to plough straight into a group of seven pirates but they unhorsed me and killed my horse!!! I was stunned to discover than my all powerful knight on horseback was very much an easy target on the ground. I tried to fend off the blows with my shield but a shield only blocks from one direction and I was surrounded. The heavy armour that protected me on horseback was a distinct liability on the ground - I couldn't run away as they hacked me to pieces.

BlitzKrieg

is it a mmo? or is it just a singleplayer game that look like mad fun?

Sarky

Single player. I recall Raphael waxing lyrical about it a month or two ago. Had a go myself, and it's not bad I must say.

Mad Mike

Yes no mulltiplayer unfortunately - pity because it would be awesome.

I have just realised you can get a lance and joust! How cook is that.

Unfortunately the documentation is a bit sparse but the controls are reasonably easy to pick up. Juts don' tmake the mistake I did of trying to use the mouse button to talk to npcs - you end up hitting them instead.

Heres a very quick guide for anyone trying to start out:

Movement - WSAD
Look around - Mouse
Action key - F (Action depends on what you are looking at - For instance to dismount your horse look down at it and press F)
Block - right mouse button
Strike - Left mouse button - This is a two stage process press LMB readies a blow - the direction you are looking at determines the type of blow - Look left readies a swipe from the left look up means an overhead swipe etc - Release the LMB actually strike - the strike will be aimed at where ever you are looking at the time of release. Sounds comlicated but its fairly intuitive in practise.
TAB brings you to a map mode from where you can travel in the wilderness - you can also access your inventory or character sheet from here.

I haven't played enough to give sensible advice about character creation but I do recommend picking up the following talents and skills:

Horse Riding (The most fun part of the game)
One Hand Weapons (To allow use of shield)
Shield (Very useful for blocking missiles)
Prisoner management (Allows you to take slaves which can be sold for cash)


EDIT: I've just found an excellent third party manual - reccommended reading: http://momaw.ravensky.org/mbs.htm

Pugsley

When I got this game it was $8

Excellent game, with a really solid modding community, some of the mod's like 1066, Dark mod, The last Days (Lord of the Rings) are all really top notch, theres also a star wars mod which is well on its way, its quite fun as it it but clearly not finished, I must have over 150 hours racked up on that game, best $8 ever