Once upon a time, there was a game called Medieval Rampage, an arena shooter featuring a whole lot of arrows and a whole lot of enemies lining up to be turned into pincushions. Although it was fun enough, sloppy enemy hit detection and a handful of other design issues made it more repetitive than fun to play. Enter Medieval Rampage 2, disappointingly not titled "Son of Medieval Rampage". With 25 levels of varied enemies, different play modes, a level editor, new melee weapons and spells, 170 achievements and more, it's a significant step forward in quality and design.
The point of the game is to stay alive throughout each of the 25 levels, amidst increasingly crushing waves of enemies. Armed initially only with a bow, you'll have to slay every one of them to progress, picking up the cash and items they drop to arm yourself. The farther you go, the stronger you'll get, gaining points to enhance not only your own abilities, but those of your weapons.
Controls in Medieval Rampage 2 are fairly simple, moving around with [WASD] or the [arrow] keys, aiming with the mouse, and clicking on things you would like to be, you know, dead. Pressing [I] will open your inventory to let you swap equipment or sell things, while pressing [E] next to the building on each level between waves will open up the store for purchase. If you buy a new spell or melee weapon, you can switch between them by pressing the [Q] or [E] keys during battle once you've equipped them.
Analysis: It's always good to see a game series that actually evolves as it progresses, beyond slapping successively higher numbers at the end of its name. While it's still far from perfect, many of the problems from the original have been addressed, if not ironed out completely. Enemies still occasionally get in a hit even if you've moved back out of range by the end of the attack animation, for example, but it no longer happens nearly as frequently as it did. The game is fast-paced fun while it lasts, if not particularly demanding when it comes to skill. Can you hold down a mouse button? Then congratulations, you can play Medieval Rampage 2. Here's your certificate, and a target to slap on your back. Have at 'er.
The shiny new locales you'll visit are neat. But the most welcome changes are the enemies themselves, who are a little bit smarter, and a whole lot more diverse. Tree monsters that leave sticky sap on the ground when they die, slowing you down. Lava creatures that can blind you temporarily with a flash of light. Rock beasts that burst apart when you destroy them, showering the field with harmful flying debris. Werewolves that die and... turn into rocks, I guess? Not all of it makes sense, but it's still a nice touch. Many ranged enemies will also now attempt to keep their distance from you instead of wading in like an enraged hippopotamus. Interestingly, the Bestiary lists this as an "ability", rather than "self preservation" or "common sense".
I would have liked to see a greater difference between each bow at your disposal, so it didn't always wind up just coming down to picking whatever packs the biggest punch. Adding in some special attacks would have gone a long way towards making the combat feel more involved. The bosses don't have enough personality to make them feel different and exciting, and nothing is ever unexpected. These creatures are supposedly the baddest in the realm; there should be more to it than having a ridiculous amount of hit points.
The inclusion of melee weapons and spells is a nice touch, especially for those of you who enjoy achievements and require a bit more variety with your combat. But at the same time, they're also mostly unnecessary. Neither the melee weapons nor the spells are effective enough to actually make you want to fork over the cash for them instead of a bow. But if you want them, buy them fast, as old items vanish to be replaced with new ones in the store after each boss stage.
There's something really enjoyable about a well made top-down shooter. Don't misunderstand; this is still a game where "strategy" means "all out endurance fest". It does, however, showcase what happens when a developer is aware of what needs to be done to grow. Medieval Rampage 2 is a great example of the genre, and addictive to boot. So strap on your bow and arrow and set out for adventure, glory, and an untimely, painful death. Or, you know, skip that part.
Really, really buggy. Where are my electric arrows that I just bought? Why can't I upgrade my spell? Items seem to disappear from your inventory. I had 6 potions, bought one, and the number went down to five. What? The lag becomes unbearable, too, especially during boss fights. Also, spells and melee weapons are useless. Sorry, can't recommend this one.
also, the achievements page is all screwy.
(I'm giving it another go from scratch, because maybe I did something wrong and saved it like that. I really want to like this game. My hopes are low.)
JohnnyCaps: try the game at a different site
I had problems too with the one on ArmorGames.
Dora: I also stayed away from melee weapons until I had the extra cash, but I discovered that melee weapons are really great and add a lot of variety to the game.
Melee weapons have the following advantages:
the most important is that all enemies in a given stage will die with one hit from the highest-available melee weapon. This is a huge deal, as even the best available bows and arrows need several hits. Then, multiple enemies can be hit with one attack. The disadvantage is, obviously, you're more vulnerable at close range. But if you take the risk, killing multiple enemies with each swing can make the levels go by much faster.
I found melee weapons really well balanced, because I would switch back and forth depending on the enemy I was facing, or the concentration/spread of the enemies. Lots of enemies, spread out and far away? Bow. Clusters of enemies closing in? Melee. Low health? Bow. Lots of health and little patience? Melee. Agile high-health enemies? Herd them into clusters and use melee.
I didn't, however, explore the magic much. That didn't seem to be much different from the bow except for adding in another gauge (mana) to keep track of and run out of. But I could be wrong.
[Edit: The game is sponsored by Armor Games, I doubt very much there would be a more recent version someplace else. I'll contact Armor Games about it. -Jay]
Overall, I really liked it. It's not too hard, upgrades feel megalomaniacal enough, and the overall game doesn't take long to beat once through. Perfectly sized, satisfying and lots of fun. The grinding can slip into tedium, but I think the melee option rectifies that.
well its a good game but the reveiw is imo way off. i can't judge based on my knoledge of the last spell and last melle weapon alone but i had fully upgraded everything and i finally bought the spell and melle weapon you unlock last and i was able to kill anything with the melle in one hit and the spell's dot was almost as high whereas the bow took way too much ammo to kill anything
also i was confused as i was picking up money and i found after a certain point silver wasnt giving anything and a few of the arrow pick ups also werent registering
also i wanted to apologize for not rereading for spelling but is midnight and im in a hurry
Ran totally smooth for me in Firefox.
same here, no problems running game on firefox - except for level 25 with the best arrows (the animation on hit made it get a bit screwy, especially with the rate i was firing them :D)
fun game, ive racked up 2 hrs game time without trying, and still learning new strategies, the three save files is a godsend, or else id have played the game once and given up trying all teh acheivements
Attention game designers: You MUST include an option for turning music off. I realize that somebody spent time creating the music for your game and you think people should listen to it. This game is a perfect example. I started playing it, seemed fun. About 15 seconds later, I stopped playing because the music was driving me crazy and there was no option to turn it off. I guess I could turn all the sound off, but that seems like a pretty dumb choice to force players to make.
Apparently I have 600 heavy arrows and 200 fire and ice arrows. Yet I don't see it in my inventory. That inventory screen REALLY needs some fixing. A nice feature would also to let it display the stat of the item you're selecting and also the amount of gold you get when you sell an equipment or arrow
Misterpo Tatohead - it's a task, which is why I don't imagine it's obvious. So I'll keep it cryptic and enter a spoiler.
Random letters hold the key, a mute point, but kind of obvious. ;)
Oh, and this game seems pretty fun. I like Armor Games unnecessarily necessary tasks and achievements. :D
Noticed a bug:
The first time I visited the shop, I pressed the "buy" button with no item selected. My money was set to "NAN," and I could spend if as if I was infinitely rich.
I haven't attempted to repeat this, but it's worth a try.
I think it's a great game (I hadn't experienced any outright bugs). Just a few things that could use some more polish. It's frightfully hard to see your mouse cursor sometimes, meaning the only way you can find it is to watch your arrows, but the problem is that it can be anywhere along the line that you are shooting. It would be nice to sell items at the same time as buying them (as the extra cash might be just what I need to buy that new gewgaw). It'd also be nice to see some descriptive text when I hover over an item before selling it. I realize that the picture indicates that I just picked up another boring crossbow, but my mind is saying "Oh no, you just sold the magical, only found once in a millenium, Crossbow+!" I was also a little annoyed when I finished the first stage after the first boss and was excited that I could finally purchase my first armor, except wait... there's no $1000 armor anymore, but for only $2000 I can sell you this nicer set!
I think there are more bugs in this game than actual game, what with all the inventory items disappearing, music cutting out whenever you restart a game (which is one bug I don't really mind), and the achievements list which is so broken it's hard to tell how it's supposed to work at all.
And after unlocking some of the cheats I thought it would be fun to try them out, but unsurprisingly they are buggy too. "Night Mode" works but I with there were a way to turn it off; "All Bows" does absolutely nothing as far as I can tell, and "Maximum Arrows" shows you in the shop that you have 9999 of each arrow, but they don't show up in your inventory, even if you buy some more or pick some up. A more accurate name would be "Zero Arrows."
I really want to like this game but I have to wonder if the developers actually even played it before releasing it. There are so many things wrong with it that either they didn't test it or they didn't care.
A couple more bugs I've noticed, in case the developers read this:
- I started a new game, and on my first visit to the shop, I clicked the empty space next to the Compound Bow and clicked "Buy (this gave me an achievement that said "undefined"). It said "Intentory: NAN," but when I started the next level my inventory was full of Compound Bow +. I sold all but one of them and made around 800,000. After that, however, I was unable to buy any weapons or spells (clicking "Buy" had no effect and my inventory stayed at 0). I could still buy arrows and potions.
-Sometimes when walking over the inky black patches and getting "Blinded," I can still see my character and enemies but not the surroundings; sometimes the entire playing screen becomes black and I can see nothing. I'm not sure which of these is supposed to be the correct outcome.
I really like the idea of the game, but it needs some serious debugging and also some polishing for the interface.
For example I'd really love the items in my inventory to have names so I know what they are ... that drove me crazy.
I have to agree with many of the above. The concept is fun, but the execution lacks polish. This starts with the lack of a sell option in the shop (yes, I know, inventory, but you have to manually sell before you enter the shop, else your next chance is when the next level starts). Occasionally it seemed to produce a "+x" floaty text showing how much stuff sold for, but if and where that appeared seemed to be entirely random.
Some expected convenience is also missing: when running out of an arrow type, it switches to the default arrow, but does not switch back if more of the previously used arrows are picked up. Of course, for that arrow pickups would have to register reliably in the first place, which at least in the last level, they did not at all for me.
Then there's the common misconception that "tedious" and "difficult" are the same thing. The last level is no harder than the previous ones, it's just longer -- the dodging required is about the same.
Last, but not least, the placement of the HP bar also felt a bit odd. XP is the most prominent and, at the same time, most useless bar, then there's mana which I never needed, and HP is tucked away in the top left corner surrounded by a lot of junk effectively cloaking it.
Before this comes across as pure moaning, the game is still reasonably fun, but it just feels like it could've been that much better with some more attention to detail.
In the lava/volcano levels, everything blends in to the background. Those rock monsters and the shrapnel they explode into are almost indistinguishable from the ground.
I'm going to add my voice to the option to sell AND buy at the same time. I mean come on, you can sell things WHILE you're fighting but you can't before you buy something in the shop? The logic fails.
I like this game, though, liked the first one. My only beef is the increased cost curve is steep. You can either focus on armor OR weapons. Even only buying arrows a little at a time and then only health and mana, I was never able to get new armor. Just one play though, I'll give it another shot.
This game really needs to be taken down. It isn't close to being finished and basically people are being recruited as beta-testers without being told that is what they are doing every time the play. But the game idea is great so keep at it and resubmit it when its ready.
i think you're missing teh point. its a free game which would have taken many hours of coding to create, its not perfect, but even with all the bugs pointed out, its not the end of the world, even the end of the game, as in my view the quality of the gameplay over weighs the numerous glitches and thats why i gave it 5 stars
the electric arrows just bought are hiding in the monsters' moms
This game needs polishing, yes, but I didn't encounter any major bugs just some "facial" ones like text and of course sometimes when buying stuff but I didn't mind.
One bug is that the Acid Arrows have the description of Poisonous Arrows and cost 1000 gold instead of 500.
I also didn't like the steep cost curve, but it depends on your strategy.
First off, I started out range. I got all the arrows and bows.
Second, I played again with melee. I can buy Armor now without it changing levels, important since I'm now in close range.
Third, I played spells. You can buy armor too here. I think this is the best strategy since it is range. You just have to splurge on mana.
Finally, try playing on Kongregrate. Right click on the game, go to settings and set your storage to unlimited. Almost no bugs and no lag on Firefox for me.
its weird, i pressed buy when it said nan; then suddenly i had 2 bows that i sould for 100000 each(but i kept one) and i got an achievement, i think thats the best bow :DD
what button do you press to melee?
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