Year: 2002
Type: Gamerip
Composer(s): Jeff van Dyck
Number of tracks: 35

★★★★★

Mediocre medieval

Ah, Medieval. What a perfect game you are, aren't you? Your beautiful graphics, your atmospheric soundtrack, th- wait, that's not Medieval II: Total War, but Medieval: Total War from 2002 we're talking about here, the predecessor to Rome and successor to the first Total War-spin-off Shogun: Total War. Since I only got into the series with the ancient spin-off, I can't really contribute any insights into this game. But while I'm here, I should perhaps say something about the soundtrack.

This was also written by Jeff van Dyck, not bad at all and in many places reveals motifs and concepts that can be found in the aforementioned successors. The Battle- and Mobilize-tracks in particular are worth listening to, sounding powerful in a way that is characteristic of both Total War, and van Dyck and are skilfully complemented with vocals. However, you can also tell that there is still room for improvement here and there in terms of finesse and variation.

Shogun: Total War (2000)

Medieval: Total War (2002)

Rome: Total War (2004)

Total War: Pharao (2023)

Especially in comparison to Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom , which was released in the same year, the tracks seem almost clumsy due to their brute nature, which fits in well with the fun mass brawls, but is somewhat disappointing on its own and in direct comparison to other scores by the artist. Tracks such as European (Summer) 2 , whose reduced instrumentation and dreamy violin solos are reminiscent of Celtic wreaths à la Hope from Heroes of Might and Magic IV don't help either.

Well, it was one of van Dyck's early works and only the second entry in the series, but after all, I can only evaluate what I have in front of me without nostalgia. And this is a gamerip that already heralds the genius inherent in the later compositions, but in this iteration it falls somewhat short of expectations. Because those expectations are high when I think of the soundtrack to Medieval II: Total War , which is better in all respects and thus symptomatic of both games.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Arabian (Battle)	Jeff van Dyck	5
02	Arabian (Battle) 2	Jeff van Dyck	4
03	Arabian (Battle) 3	Jeff van Dyck	4
04	Arabian (Lose)	Jeff van Dyck	3
05	Arabian (Mobilize)	Jeff van Dyck	3
06	Arabian (Mobilize) 2	Jeff van Dyck	3
07	Arabian (Mobilize) 3	Jeff van Dyck	4
08	Arabian (Summer)	Jeff van Dyck	2
09	Arabian (Summer) 2	Jeff van Dyck	2
12	Arabian (Tension)	Jeff van Dyck	2
13	Arabian (Tension) 2	Jeff van Dyck	2
14	Arabian (Tension) 3	Jeff van Dyck	2
15	Arabian (Win)	Jeff van Dyck	3
10	Arabian (Winter)	Jeff van Dyck	2
11	Arabian (Winter) 2	Jeff van Dyck	2
36	Credits	Jeff van Dyck	3
16	European (Battle)	Jeff van Dyck	4
17	European (Battle) 2	Jeff van Dyck	4
18	European (Battle) 3	Jeff van Dyck	4
19	European (Lose)	Jeff van Dyck	3
20	European (Mobilize)	Jeff van Dyck	4
21	European (Mobilize) 2	Jeff van Dyck	4
22	European (Mobilize) 3	Jeff van Dyck	4
23	European (Summer)	Jeff van Dyck	1
24	European (Summer) 2	Jeff van Dyck	3
27	European (Tension)	Jeff van Dyck	1
28	European (Tension) 2	Jeff van Dyck	1
29	European (Tension) 3	Jeff van Dyck	1
30	European (Win)	Jeff van Dyck	3
25	European (Winter)	Jeff van Dyck	1
26	European (Winter) 2	Jeff van Dyck	2
31	Viking (Battle)	Jeff van Dyck	3
32	Viking (Lose)	Jeff van Dyck	2
33	Viking (Mobilize)	Jeff van Dyck	3
34	Viking (Tension)	Jeff van Dyck	2
35	Viking (Win)	Jeff van Dyck	3