Bladestorm Nightmare: Game preview

Following the lukewarm success of 2007's Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War, Japanese developers Koei and Omega Force once again have collaborated to re-release a remastered and updated version of the game for the current generation of consoles and PC.

In Nightmare, players take up the mantle of a mercenary general to fight in the Hundred Years War. The war takes place between 1337 and 1453 and players can side with either England or France. Firing up Bladestorm Nightmare, you're given the option to create your personal custom character. The customization is extensive and unique. You can fiddle with the basic aspects of your character such as the gender, skin color etc.

Apart from these you can tamper with even more specific features of your avatar; from the amount of fat, limb length, a myriad of facial structures and features to pick from and finally you can even tweak your avatar's pupil size. This level of customization is very rare in titles such as these.

The battles and the combat mechanics in Nightmare are reminiscent of Age of Empires, but not entirely since it blends action and strategy together in a neat package. Selecting missions and upgrading your character is done from a pub.

At this stage, you can choose which side to fight for. Fighting for both sides will maximize your earnings considerably granting you the ability to buy even more upgrades. When it is time to wage war, you'll lead an army of 200+ soldiers ranging from light infantry, cavalry, archers and mounted units. Each of these classes have their own sets of strength and weakness.

During the course of the combat you'll also be juggling with cooldowns of the units and ordering them to attack strategically. Finding the perfect balance is key to surviving the war. Players also have the option from switching between different commanders on the battlefield constantly, this is a huge advantage; if the light infantry is overpowered at the front line of the army, you can order your archer unit to flank the enemy to take them out without much effort.

There's also a mechanism that allows you to combine these forces as one massive unit to attack the enemy head on. Like stated before, there are a wide array of strategies and tactics to outsmart and trick your opposition. Usually, battles have specific objectives for you to tackle. Majority of these involve in capturing enemy bases, where you'll have to lead your army to enemy camps invade and pillage them for resources and other valuable materials.

These assignments must be completed during the daytime only and two to three bases at a time can be captured on a single playthrough during the day. At dusk the warfare comes to a halt as both armies rest up for the next day to continue the carnage.

In this remastered version of Bladestorm, there are several new additions on top of the existing elements of the game. There will be 32 new characters from the legendary Joan of Arc, Edward the Black Prince of Wales and a French general named La Hire who shows up in the game occasionally.

For the sake of incorporating an outlandish, fantastical twist to the game, there's a new mode called Nightmare mode. Any sort of historical accuracy is also dropped to entertain these ideas. Funnily in this mode you'll find the English and French armies duking it out against legions of enormous terrifying monsters looking to rip their enemies to shreds. At that point, it becomes humanity versus the bloodthirsty beasts.

At its essence, Bladestorm Nightmare offers massive battles and a multitude of strategic options at your disposal. The blend of historically factual event and outlandish make this updated version much more tempting along with the strategic and tactical style gameplay.

Another huge plus for the history geeks out there is the entire experience of one of the biggest wars that ever took place between the French and English, not to mention the medieval setting of the game.

To conclude, if you have a propensity towards large scale skirmishes and bloodshed with an action-heavy flair Bladestorm Nightmare could be the game you’ve been waiting for.