From the makers of King Arthur, itself a Total War clone, The King's Crusade is basically a clone of Medieval: Total War, set during the crusades. The game features the same gameplay elements as the Total War series, such as a turn-based strategy mode with realm management and a real-time battle mode in which you command entire formations (not individual units) in battles of respectable dimensions. The game also features hero units based on historical personalities and light RPG elements.

In technical terms the game is okay, but like any Total War clone it doesn't come close to the visual fidelity of Creative Assembly's dominating strategy series. Still, The King's Crusade fleshes out a scenario only touched by the Total War franchise, so it's definitely worth a look.

A collection of very well done battles, together with an upgrade-and-equipp your units / heroes in between - part. Well done, once you get around a nasty crashbug in the very first mission. Reminds me of the old fantasy general, but obviously in real time.

The main part of the game - the battles - play fluidly, have a nice graphic and are - most importantly - allways different enough to keep the game interesting.

All in all: While not in my personal "Top 10 Best Games Ever"-List, still surpsisingly good.

If you like the Total War series, you will certainly want to take a look at The Kings' Crusade. Like other Paradox titles, this is a very well crafted, well balanced strategy game (of the RTS variety in this case). Personally, I find the interface a little "old-fashioned" for a 2010 title. I'm usually not picky on visuals if the gameplay is satisfying, but I wasn't all that enthusiastic to continue the game between sessions.

I am not a big fan of DLCs. For this reason, I waited for the "collection" edition. But must be said, the DLCs are undeniably excellent and should not be missed.

The Kings' Crusade is basically a throw back to the Crusader: Thy Kingdom Come. You don't have a grand strategy map, battles go mission-by-mission, and RPG elements in between. Two Campaigns are featured, both give you quite different feeling. It's still recommanded to get the DLCs or the collection edition, since those DLC contents actually effect you campaigns.

An interesting RTS with influence from both Total War and Warhammer games. Getting your tactics straight is a bit more important factor then overall strategy, as you conquer the map mission by mission. There are several RPG elements - skills of your heroes and weapons/training of your troops, which is a great feature.

If you're a history nitpick, it may bother you that some historical figures make appearance here, when it's not either their place or time (Joan of Arc for example), but they do add to the fun element of the game.

The graphic is nice, though the ability to rotate camera is hindered and the zoom is locked to much down for my taste.

Much of the core gameplay of Lionheart involves situational military unit relationships that can be affected by terrain type and height. For example, if a large group of cavalry rush your front lines, it's a good idea to move out spearmen to meet them. If you've got archers set up on a hill and within a wooded area, they'll be far more effective at wiping out enemies below as they attempt to encroach on your elevated position. If you're moving light infantry at the archers, you're probably screwed, but heavily armored soldiers would stand a much better chance. Mounted units can punish standing forces by using their weight and speed to their advantage by simply running unprepared troops over. It's not the most complicated relationships between unit types, but serves as a solid basis for interesting tactical combat.

A great tactical RTS in the vein of Warhammer Shadow of the Horned Rat or Dark Omen where you take a persistent army through a campaign to conquer the Holy Land. You will upgrade and buy units, equip them with bought or hard won artifacts, armour and weapons, do deals with various factions to benefit from their exclusive units and skills.

Battles are objective based unlike in Total War which usually just has you fighting to defeat the enemy rather than attaining a specific goal. These are varied and fun.

Graphics are very good though the engine is a bit sluggish and less smooth than the Total War games. Controls are also a bit unresponsive, but maybe that's due to me having an older PC(as a benefit it runs fine on lower resolutions on even a 6 year old machine like mine).

The Crusader campaign is also more fully developed than the Saracen one. I'd recommend getting the Arabian Knights DLC to make the Saracen side more fun to play.

Biggest gripe(apart from the occasional crashes) is the lack of saving mid mission. some missions are very long and one mistake at the end(or a crash) and it's all the way back to the start. Would have been nice to at least have autosave checkpoints after you complete a sub-objective.

Regardless there's a lot of game here and overall it's very good value.

With that said, Lionheart King’s Crusade is a fun strategy game with RPG elements. The promise of DLC packs sounds encouraging and hopefully multiplayer game play takes off because the game is fun to play when it works. I’m personally not comfortable with religious warfare, but if you don’t mind that aspect or possible desktop crashes you may find this game enjoyable.

Another thoroughly enjoyable RPG/Strategy/Tactical hybrid from the makers of King Arthur:The Roleplaying War Game.

With an emphasis far more strongly focused on tactics than RPG (unlike its predecessor, which went the opposite direction), this game sets itself apart from King Arthur from the get-go, despite the vast similarities in interface.

It consists of two distinctly different campaigns, one for the Crusaders (the easier of the two) and one for Saladin's army. Unlike King Arthur, neither campaign has a linear, rail-driven story. Lionheart feels a bit more like a Total War title, with its free-form campaigning and ability to control your conquests on the map without worrying about botching up the plot.

The combat is almost identical to King Arthur, which puts it basically on par with earlier Total War titles, but with the inclusion of strategic mission objectives.

You do have the ability to cultivate 'hero' characters and level them up as they accrue experience, but don't expect to have more than 2-3 of these characters per campaign. Unlike King Arthur (where you could have 15 split into a dozen different army stacks), you have a very finite unit limit and relatively few of your available slots will be allocated to heroes at all. That said, the process of leveling (and gearing) them up is quite rewarding and enjoyable.

All in all, this is a worthy follow-up title to King Arthur:TRPWG. I enjoyed it slightly less, because I found KA's atmospheric storyline and world to be a bit more engrossing. But there is much to be said for taking all of the finer points of that engine and transplanting them to a much more freeform game of conquest.

A solid offering that I was plesantly suprised by. The campaign is fun and engaging, and getting to pick new untis and perks really helps to add replayability. Some battles can tend to seem all alike, but there is some variety. The AI holds it's own well enough for a gamer to enjoy it and fell some tension during battle.

A realitily cheap game for what you get and it will suprose you with its replayability.