Medieval II: Total War

Medieval II: Total War was developed by The Creative Assembly in 2006 - 2007 and published by SEGA. I worked on this title as a Quality Assurance Tester for SEGA Europe. I worked on the full test cycle of this game

About the Game

Medieval II: Total War is the indirect sequel to 2002's Medieval: Total War, and the fourth game in the critically acclaimed Total War series from The Creative Assembly, developed by Creative Assembly Australia. The game is set between the years 1080 and 1530. Like the original Medieval, it focuses on medieval warfare, religion, and politics in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. However, unlike its predecessor, the time-frame stretches into the era of the historical discovery of the New World, and simulates the discovery and conquest of the Americas.

Similar to previous titles of the Total War series, the game consists of two modes of play: battles and single-player campaign. Battles can be played in multiplayer, in user-defined scenarios, or in historical scenarios which simulate real battles such as the Battle of Arsuf or the Battle of Agincourt. Battles are also featured in the campaign.

The campaign allows the player to assume control of a faction of the time period, and build a civilisation, economy and military in order to conquer other factions. Gameplay consists of controlling the faction's military, economic, and social systems via a large campaign map. During the player's turn, armies, fleets, and agents can be moved on the map. When an army engages another army, the player can choose to fight the battle personally, in the battle mode, or automatically calculate the outcome.

The goal of the campaign depends on which type of campaign is played. The short campaign requires the player to defeat one or two enemy factions (for example, England must defeat its historical enemies Scotland and France) and control at least 15-20 settlements. The long campaign requires the player to control at least 45 territories and one or two significant cities, such as Jerusalem, Rome or Constantinople.

Skills and Experiences

Working on this title was very similar to working on Barbarian Invasion. However this was a much larger project because it was a full sequel, rather than an expansion. This game involved extensive single and multiplayer testing and relied heavily on testing AI and balancing.

This was one of may favourite games to test, and a stand out for me amongst all the Total War games I have now worked on. I remember especially enjoying the multiplayer Historical Battles, which haven't been seen in the series since. The siege mechanics were also outstanding, with multi-ring settlements and castles providing fantastic gameplay and challenge.