Mount and Blade: Warband (Console Edition) Reviews
Mount & Blade: Warband may not have a carefully guided plot or even reasonably attractive graphics, but it recreates the sensation of living in a medieval world like few other games by allowing freedom to decide your own approach to carving out your destiny in a dynamic world of rapidly changing alliances. Controls are awkward at best, making it tough to appreciate how good the combat is, but there's a lot of fun here, especially in the eight multiplayer modes for up to 32 players. As a veteran of the PC version, which I love, I feel bad not being able to recommend the console version more highly, but this port doesn’t fully allow Mount & Blade’s charm to shine through.
Mount & Blade: Warband is a tough game, but at the same time you’ll lose hours to it just through trying to rise through the ranks in Calradia. At the beginning so many lords will look down on you that you want to prove them wrong. It is a game where you will face multiple setbacks, but with each a lesson is learnt. The tasks may seem menial at first, but when you get in your first proper big battle with all the chaos of swords clashing, archers firing arrows, and cavalry charging the game just comes together. Mount & Blade: Warband is one of the hardest games I’ve played and that just makes it so very satisfying when you succeed.
The steep learning curve and low production values may put many people off, although its open-endedness offers players far more replayability than many other games in the genre.
It’s got a lot of depth, at least more than expected for a game of this visual style and setting. Just everything that tries to shine is muddied with everything else. I could only recommend this to those with morbid curiosity in what a game with huge ambitions might have been like long ago, but then even still, other games at the time would have outclassed this.
A true curio in the most literal sense, Mount and Blade: Warband will sharply divide PS4 players according to the premium that they place on aesthetics. For those who can look past such failings though, hundreds upon hundreds of hours of play awaits with a game that combines medieval combat, strategy and role-playing quite unlike any other. Just don't stare at it eh? It's rude.
Six years after the original release, Mount & Blade Warband arrives on consoles, with its load of strengths and weaknesses. First among the latter is the graphics. The transition from the "Mouse + Keyboard" combination to the joypad, also, complicated the troop management and the precision of the controls.
Review in Italian | Read full review
There’s no doubt that some will be hooked and will find ways around the bigger problems but while Warband promises a lot and is truly ambitious in scope, this console version falls well before the battle is over.
While Mount & Blade: Warband hasn't really gained a whole lot in the jump from PC to console, it's great that such a deep and sprawling game has found a home on new platforms after so many years. It looks dreadful, but scratch beneath the surface, and Warband is an enormously rewarding RPG/strategy/medieval warfare sim-type thing that's becomes more and more compelling the more you play. Chaaaarge!
Bewildering at first, but with time you can discover a surprising amount of depth and originality. Sadly this PS4 version is rather unnecessary with poorly optimised controls and no mod support.
It’s surprising to see such little care done [in the console release], thanks to the age of the original PC version
Mount & Blade: Warband is one of the most unique experiences available on PS4. It's a game that people will overlook due to the slightly out dated graphics, but for those that do take the plunge, a polished and addictive gem awaits them.
Mount & Blade Warband is a really entertaining premise, and one that’s quite unique to boot. An RPG that is more about building an army and then leading it into battle is in many ways so much more interesting than an RPG where you’re in control of a one-man army and in pursuit of personal power. I only hope that the release of this game, now, means that there is more Mount & Blade coming, because there really is nothing else like it out there.
Mount & Blade: Warband is a very niche title that requires a great deal of time invested to actually get to the enjoyable parts. It's also filled with flaws that are hard to overlook, the graphics look horrendously dated, the combat controls are clunky, and there's so much repetition here that it will put off the majority of players. A certain subset of players will adore what Mount & Blade: Warband offers, but those that do will likely enjoy this more on PC.
It's been said that all's fair in love and War, but clearly not by somebody that had just been attacked by bandits four times in quick succession and reduced to wandering Calradia penniless, alone, sans horse, and left wearing nothing more than tattered undergarments. Mount & Blade: Warband does look and feel incredibly dated by modern standards, and while it can prove to be quite an absorbing experience at times, it's unfortunate that those are regularly countered by the frustrating mission structure, clunky combat, and regular progress setbacks. Ultimately this won't be a game for everybody, but those willing to overlook its many irritating quirks could potentially find themselves losing many hours on the lengthy road to victory.
The franchise is loved by many for it's online multiplayer and it does offer some interesting features. Player progression through the earning of gold and purchasing of new equipment and different modes such as laying siege to a castle all offer a bit of variety but when there's 30 people scrapping in a small area and the only thing you hear is the occassional shout and odd tinker of swords, it loses its flavor fast.
If you are someone who bathes in the next generation of gaming and is anticipating the next big release, then you won't find anything to whet your appetite here. It's about time we let history, be history.
Mount and Blade is not a bad game; it’s just a poorly implemented one that isn’t really suited to a home console. Those who are willing to invest in this game and put some serious time into it will no doubt garner a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment. But the sheer amount of effort needed to get to this stage will put off the average gamer and I can’t help but think that if this kind of game is really your thing then you will be playing on a PC in the first place.
Fluid combat and so much freedom makes the game enjoyable, however, the Storyline is lacking/non-existant
Excellent and robust PC title being brought to consoles results in a mess. Warband is basically PC version of the game with remapped controls to fit gamepad and it was a mistake. The game is unintuitive and makes even simplest of an action a challenge.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Ultimately, Mount & Blade: Warband is a thing of the past available to the modern populous. And due to its clunky mechanics, which are spread across every aspect of the title, in combination with poor and uninspiring aesthetic, Warband will only pleasure a very small sample of individuals who decide to undertake the challenge of becoming the king of the land.