The next age of medieval warfare is on its way with Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms, the expansion pack for the massively popular 2006 game Medieval II: Total War. Also published by Sega, and due to be released in Autumn 2007, Kingdoms will offer four all new campaigns, adding over 75 hours worth of gameplay.

One campaign will give gamers the opportunity to fully explore the New World, which was revealed towards the end of Medieval II. You'll retrace the steps of Hernan Cortes in 1519, as he attempts to conquer, explore and generally give the Aztec or Native American factions the boot all over again. Or play as one of the New World factions and use the power of their vast armies and Gods to be sure that boot is used to walk Cortes right onto a boat back to Spain.

The three other campaigns are “Magnifying glass” campaigns. They take place within Great Britain, Northern Europe and the Holy Land, with many new regions to explore. History will continue to play a part, letting players recreate bloody historical conflicts in the Northern European Teutonic Wars, the Britannia campaign or an expanded Crusades campaign.

Of course, Kingdoms will include a medieval sized helping of the standard expansion pack goodies. There will be 13 new playable factions, over 150 new units (such as the terrifying Greek Flame Thrower) and several new legendary hero characters (Richard The Lionheart and Saladin). If that's not enough, there will be six new multiplayer scenarios and 20 new custom battle maps. And in case your friends don't have computers of their own, the campaigns will be playable with a brand new Hotseat multiplayer mode, making this an essential addition to any Total War fans' collection.

March 30, 2007