Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War | 
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| From: KOEI Corp
Category: Video Games
Buy New: $69.91
New (7) Used (2) from $49.99
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 7750
Platform: Playstation 3
Genre: military_and_espionage_action_games
ESRB: Teen
Media: Video Game
Edition: Standard
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 12 - 20 years
Operating System: Playstation 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 0162
Model: 00162
UPC: 040198001625
EAN: 0040198001625
ASIN: B000HCJ6QU
Release Date: November 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW , SEALED, IN STOCK
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| Features:
| • | Lead a mercenary force- Immerse yourself in the role of a mercenary commander. Lead a broad array of troops from varied nations, including heavy infantry, longbowmen, cavalry, cannoniers, and castle siege specialists. | | • | Real-time action- Control entire units in real-time. Issue offensive and defensive commands through an intuitive user-interface. Each soldier is independently animated and fights and reacts in a startlingly realistic and visceral manner. | | • | Conquer armies on a grand scale. Clashes are widespread throughout varied terrain. Richly-crafted battlegrounds span the breathtaking provinces of southern France to coastal settlements along the English Channel. | | • | Your fortune is limited only by your ambition. Establish a reputation as a formidable warrior and leader of men. Build your war chest and lure hardened soldiers to your employ. Achieve your mission objectives and more profitable battle contracts will be presented to you. | | • | Heavy Metal Thunder- Amass a battalion outfitted from an arsenal of over 400 weapons, armor, and other historically-accurate items from the battles that shaped medieval European warfare. |
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Product Description
When you consider Heavy Metal, you can imagine what a field of war was like in medieval times. Imagine a war that spanned a century! This is history. In the 14th century a quarrel over English succession to the French throne escalated into what history would call the Hundred Years' War. This ongoing war had exhausted the standing armies of both sides and there was a growing dependence on mercenary soldiers. An innovative action style enables you to command whole units and defeat countless numbers of soldiers with one cleverly chosen attack command. Outwit your opponents and overwhelm them with dominating force to be the last one standing when the dust settles on one of history's greatest conflicts. Relive Medieval history- Outwit your opponents or overwhelm them with dominating force. The fate of two countries is yours to decide.
Amazon.com
In the 14th century a quarrel over English succession to the French throne escalated into what history would call the Hundred Years' War. This ongoing war had exhausted the standing armies of both sides and there was a growing dependence on mercenary soldiers. Take charge as a mercenary leader and contract your army to the English and French. Watch the battle begin as arrows rain from above, knights charge on horseback and cannoniers fire volleys at heavy infantry. The style of action enables you to defeat large numbers of soldiers with one chosen attack command. Establish a reputation as a warrior and a leader and watch as the toughest of men will battle at your side. Outwit your opponents and overwhelm them with force to be the last one standing. Features:
- Lead an array of troops from varied nations, including heavy infantry, longbowmen, cavalry, cannoniers, and castle siege specialists
- Control entire units in real-time by issuing offensive and defensive commands through an intuitive user-interface. Each soldier is independently animated and fights and reacts in a realistic manner
- Battlegrounds span varied terrain from southern France to settlements along the English Channel
- The Free Mission system lets you contract your army to France or England. Achieve your mission objectives and more profitable battle contracts will be presented to you.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Great way to take up time! August 11, 2008
Bradford H. Armstrong (Bloomington, Indiana)
I first heard of this game through the demo on the PSN and enjoyed it. I purchased it, trusting that being from KOEI, whos games I have played before that it would be a fun way to take up time.
The general idea behind game play is much like the Dynasty Warriors series, however shifting from one sole character to your character controlling a squad of troops of your choice. It is a nice feature to be able to switch from different kinds of squads on the fly (that is if they are with in your area) from a swords man who is weak against horses to a spear man who is strong against mounted foes.
The story line does get a little repetitive but that is expected as how the gameplay works. There is a large amount of play time so it is worth the money if you can find it used. Fun for the people who enjoy action games but also like a little bit of strategy.
 Repetitive? Yes. However, if you like strategy games, you'll want to play this April 26, 2008
M. Su (Los Angeles, CA USA)
From a critic point of view, this game would get 5 out of 10 stars. The game is very repetitive, if you played 1 week, the rest of the game is about the same.
But hey, I'm not a critic, yes, it's repetitive, but playing something I love again and again is perfectly fine. It feels great to be in control of an army, the graphics are decent, sound is decent, nothing spetacular, but if you like war games, you have to play it.
This is defenitely not for everyone, probably only a small crowd would enjoy this type of game. If you like the KOEI games before, you'll like this one.
You play as a general, can take command of multiple types of armies. You can then level up each army to make it more powerful, buy skills, buy weapons and armor to equip, and spells for temporary powers. That's the small bit of RPG element in the game. The strategy would be where to attack, some rock, paper, & scissors army type balancing, and selecting the types of attacks to use. Then you get the button smashing, army smashing great powerful feeling. It's DW in a different light.
Only complaint is the loading screen when you start takes like 5 minute. Overall loading in the game is a bit slow, with a built in HD, you would expect that to shorten. Come home tired afterwork, power it on, do some button smashing, beatup massive armies, relieve some stress, works wonders.
decent March 9, 2008
J. Seng (USA)
good story line
good grapics for ps3
a little more complicated then dynasty warriors or samurai warriors
koei games made the user have more control over their little army vs
the asian way where it relates to individuals
Great Game but Historical Inaccuracies About January 21, 2008
Lisa Shea
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
This review was written by my son, James Shea.
Koei is famous for games that take liberties with historical events (see also the Dynasty Warriors and Kessen games), and now they've turned their attention to the Hundred Years War. Despite the questionable accuracy of the history involved, Bladestorm is nonetheless a fun, solid game that introduces a lot of unique game mechanics different than any of Koei's other games.
As indicated by the name, Bladestorm takes place during the Hundred Years War, and features many of the personalities present at the time: Joan of Arc, Edward the Black Prince, Henry V, and so on. The historical accuracy is not especially important, however; there are a multitude of fictional characters added in to make things more interesting. Furthermore, the unit types encountered in this game are not exactly accurate: from simple soldiers like pikemen and swordsmen to the more exotic like camels and samurai to the outright fantastic like wizards. Really, the background just provides an excuse to have one side be the "red" side (England) and the other be the "blue" side (France), as other than specific personas there is really no difference between the two.
The player takes the role of a mercenary (whose gender, face, voice, and name can be customized) who fights for both sides. In addition, there are many other mercenaries with whom you work with or against, depending on the job. If you take a job with England, for example, your fellow mercenaries may take a job with you or choose to fight for France. In this way, your enemies are constantly shifting and changing. There are ten huge regions of France unlocked during the course of the game, each with at least thirty towns and settlements. These locations may belong to either England or France, and most of your missions revolve around capturing a town and/or defending a town. Taking a lot of missions for the same side in the same region can affect the balance of power in that region, at which point you can opt to fight for the other side and conquer it all back.
The gameplay is the most unique part of the game. The mercenary does not fight alone; rather, he takes command of a unit of soldiers (between 5 and 30). These soldiers can be regulars found on the battlefield, or mercenaries hired and summoned to fight for him. Regardless of which it is, the mercenary must have the proper instruction book for the unit to know how to use it. Furthermore, using a unit will level up that unit type. For example, the mercenary must have the book Swords to use any sword infantry, which includes one-handed, two-handed, sword-and-shield, and dual-sword. The specialties are unlocked through tomes, or sub-volumes to the larger books. Defeating enemies with a unit type gives them experience, which is used to buy upgrades to the unit. Depending on the type, this can be in attack power, defense power, troop number, or movement, as well as others. The unit types also have different strengths and weaknesses, as well. For example, pikemen are one of the best infantry against horse riders of any kind, but suffer against other infantry. In contrast, swordsmen are very good against infantry, but not so good against cavalry. A mix of units and proficiencies is required to succeed.
The unit itself is handled in the following manner: there are three special attacks, and a "fight at will" option. The special attacks include temporary strength or defense increases, raising shields to guard against enemy attacks, and even more exotic techniques like shooting blasts of energy. The "fight at will" option makes all the soldiers in your unit charge at the nearest enemy. Movement is controlled with the left analog stick; the soldiers do not have a formation, per se, but tend to stand in two boxes in front of the mercenary to guard him from the front and sides.
Unlike Dynasty Warriors, your allies are often fairly important in Bladestorm. Columns of troops, consisting of several types of squads, will set out from towns to attack nearby enemy towns (marked on the map as a large arrow going from one town to another). Players can join up with these columns to strengthen their own cause; while the mercenary may not get as much experience, he or she is covered by the diversity of units present. Capturing an enemy town requires the player to either slay a certain number of guard units or for an allied unit to enter the town (another advantage to traveling with allies). However, no allies can be commanded in the game; the player is a mercenary, not a general.
The graphics in this game are fantastic. Especially considering the wide variety of units and the number present on the screen, there is a huge amount of detail and effects on each soldier. The character designs range from feasibly accurate to ridiculous, but all are decently done. There is also a wide variety of armor for the player to buy, with many of the designs seeming reminiscent of games like "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess". The one complaint I have in this field is the large amount of effects that cover the game (thankfully, the damage numbers that pop up when anyone takes damage can be turned off). The sound is sweeping and epic, but doesn't distract from the game. The voices for the mercenary (three male, three female) quickly become familiar, though the ranges that can be picked are kind of wide considering how few there are.
As a whole, I was pleasantly surprised by this game. It's fun, it's well-done, it has good AI (not once has my unit ever become stuck on a wall, though allied units have done so once), and the only thing I can really say that's bad about it is the fact that it tried to be historically accurate at all. They should've just made it a fantasy game, so nobody would have to worry about the fact that there are ninjas and wizards present.
Rating: 9/10.
 Competent but in Need of Improvement January 17, 2008
Jonathan D. Oakley (Baghdad, Iraq)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The game is, at its core, an able action-tactics piece set in a little-used (for games, anyway) historical period that nicely compliments the playstyle. The 'sensation' of combat in the Hundred Years' War--if not always the details--is spot on, and it gives a very good sense of leading troops of men into pitched melees, constantly ordering different types of soldiers to execute tactical maneuvers to counter the enemy's own.
An example of this in play would be charging into battle at the fore of a cavalry group to run down enemy infantry, only to have to fall back while being showered with arrows. Then you might bring in shield-bearing swordsmen in the blink of an eye to advance on the archers, only to have enemy cavalry plow through your shield wall after you reach them, forcing you to quickly muster a group of pikemen to form a hedge against them while your own archers pick them off. Then the enemy's light infantry circles around your pike wall to take them by surprise and slaughter your archers, and you have to bring in your own heavy infantry to run them off...
This, at least to me, seems like it captures the essence of the war very well. The only problem is there are a lot of non-historical 'fun' units--war elephants, chariots, chakram-wielding martial artists and 'magical' alchemists--which, unfortunately, while you can choose not to use yourself you really can't stop the enemy from using. A few of the 'historical' characters are a bit spotty, too, but they can be excused for the sake of adding some drama and color to what would otherwise be a pretty stale war simulation.
Another issue that arises is a somewhat weak story. The idea of making the player a mercenary that plays both sides might have had potential, but ultimately it pans out a lot weaker than simply having two dedicated storylines (one for each side) would have. There's honestly too much poorly-acted mercenary fluff, too, to such an extreme extent that the Hundred Years' War itself almost seems to take a backseat to random gibberish about characters who barely impact the game and didn't impact the real war much at all.
Speaking of which, the sometimes-decent cast is largely wasted. There are some interesting characters and scenes, but they're always little more than extra-large HP totals in practice, so you'll probably never develop any attachment to them. As with most areas, the game is competently executed in this regard but could have stood with serious improvement, such as some system for tracking and developing 'allegiances' or 'affinities' with other mercenaries and legendary soldiers of the war. As it is, you can kill them all day long or save their lives in a hundred battles, and it never seems to make a bit of difference.
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