Andrei
Veteran
There's been a lot of debate on these forums trying to figure out just which games are similar to M&B, and where M&B does things that we've never seen before. Two areas come up again and again as unique (or almost unique) to Mount & Blade: leading your army, and the mounted combat.
It looks like a commercial game could finally be getting to grips with mounted combat.
Looking at GameSpot's coverage of Age of Conan, the mounted combat is coming along nicely. They don't have lances - or at least I haven't seen them - but they do have decently-animated and controllable horses, and you can fight from horseback. Watching them do that looked amusingly similar to M&B; the designer held his sword back as he rode up to his opponent, and then swung it, using the momentum of the mount to smash through the target.
Naturally, there are still a lot of things M&B does better than Age of Conan. From what I can see, they don't have much in the way of a blocking system, for example. Still, it could bear watching, if only to see what else they do with their horse combat.
So, not suggesting you stop playing M&B, but just that those horse enthusiasts could keep an eye on this one...
It's due out at the end of the year, for those with good computers.
It looks like a commercial game could finally be getting to grips with mounted combat.
Looking at GameSpot's coverage of Age of Conan, the mounted combat is coming along nicely. They don't have lances - or at least I haven't seen them - but they do have decently-animated and controllable horses, and you can fight from horseback. Watching them do that looked amusingly similar to M&B; the designer held his sword back as he rode up to his opponent, and then swung it, using the momentum of the mount to smash through the target.
Naturally, there are still a lot of things M&B does better than Age of Conan. From what I can see, they don't have much in the way of a blocking system, for example. Still, it could bear watching, if only to see what else they do with their horse combat.
So, not suggesting you stop playing M&B, but just that those horse enthusiasts could keep an eye on this one...
It's due out at the end of the year, for those with good computers.