Medieval II: Total War – Kingdoms
My kingdom for a hit
In the history of the series, each of the Total War-games has received at least one expansion, and most of them were very good: Barbarian Invasion added the eponymous hordes of horsemen and the element of night battles to the first Rome: Total War, whereas Fall of the Samurai expanded the battles in Shogun 2 to include early Gatling machine guns.
Medieval 2 was not blessed with this type of add-on. Instead, Kingdoms (not to be confused with 2021's Total War: Three Kingdoms) was released, a collection of four playable campaigns in which we were limited to specific areas of the Middle Ages. While the America campaign revolved around the colonization of that distant continent, the Britain campaign focused on the British Isles. The other two scenarios delved into the Crusades and the Teutonic religious wars in Eastern Europe.
So instead of expanding the actual game, the map was limited to a part of the game world, as was later the case with the Napoleon-expansion for Empire: Total War, but this part was then enlarged. In terms of numbers, this meant 13 new playable factions, over 150 additional units, new agent types, and various gameplay improvements. Conversely, the actual core of the game, global conquest, did not benefit from the innovations. This annoyed me so much at the time that, after a brief and primitive showdown with the Aztecs in the America campaign, I lost interest in the other scenarios and immersed myself in the main game again.
The score
Consequently, I have little bias regarding the accompanying soundtrack. Although it is not available as an OST, four gamerips for the respective campaigns can be found, ensuring at least some order. The music was once again composed by Jeff van Dyke in collaboration with Richard Vaughan and James Vincent, which suggests high quality.
All four scores deliver, but due to the gamerip format, they are not on the same level as the main game. While we hear a potpourri of medieval war sounds and atmospheric strategy accompaniments in the main game, the expansion albums are primarily limited to background music without the action-packed peaks. In general, many of the songs are characteristically short, some even only a few seconds long.
In the Americas-album, we are mostly served primitive drumming, which fits the setting but, due to uninteresting melodies, soon becomes more annoying than motivating. Rip Out My Beating HeartRichard Vaughan is fast and driving with its pan flute, while Earth and ClayRichard Vaughan sounds more like a shamanic jungle atmosphere. This is pretty much what we already know from the main game, only I didn't like it that much there either. An entire album doesn't make this any better.
Britannia is in a league of its own, sending us straight to the start of the parade at Buckingham Palace with Tally-HoJeff van Dyck – at least that's how it sounds. The score balances between snappy military and Celtic, features bagpipes and fiddles, and is most reminiscent of classic medieval fare à la Stronghold. There's even a brief appearance by a banjo in BanjooieRichard Vaughan . Why? No idea. In addition to female vocals that remind me of Enclave (Celtic TearsRichard Vaughan), there's also Black GardenRichard Vaughan , a track with deep male vocals that is unfortunately much too short. The best track on the album, however, is War of KingsJeff van Dyck, which also appears on the Teutons album.
As for the Crusaders wird’s mit Valley of DeathRichard Vaughan derweil gleichermaßen orientalisch wie martialisch, doch enttäuschenderweise nicht so genial wie bei den thematisch verwandten Lifted to the HotplateJeff van Dyck, Richard Vaughan, James VincentMedieval II: Total War and Crack Your Head with a TablaJeff van Dyck, Richard Vaughan, James VincentMedieval II: Total War des Hauptspiels. Bei Kingdoms holt mich das stereotype (mit Verlaub) ‚Gejaule‘ der Sänger*innen wie schon bei der Civilization-Reihe so gar nicht ab, weshalb Crusaders zusammen mit Americas wohl den unteren Bereich meines persönlichen Rankings belegt.
The Teutonic-album, meanwhile, follows in the footsteps of Company of Heroes, and, like Britannia, leans more towards marching music (Darker Skies AheadJames Vincent). It's an exciting approach, but for me it evokes associations with modern times rather than the age of chivalry. Or with stereotypical villains in fantasy games (Hungry SwordRichard Vaughan, Brothers TogetherRichard Vaughan). Somehow, this is not what I would expect from a Medieval-score. Whereas the organ in This Is ItJeff van Dyck, Richard Vaughan, James VincentMedieval II: Total War in the main game, for example, soulfully underscores the threat, here in Forest HazeRichard Vaughan it is clumsily used as a harbinger of evil, which in my opinion is more suited to the dark fantasy relatives from the Warhammer-series.
The credits theme Lift Thine EyesAngela van Dyck, Jeff van Dyck, which appears in each of the scores and is sung in good old tradition by the composer's wife (Angela van Dyck), is completely out of place. The song is based on The WidowJeff van Dyck, Richard Vaughan, James VincentMedieval II: Total War [Gamerip] The Widow from the main game, but after the intro it introduces futuristic synths reminiscent of Cyberpunk or a pop version. It's a real break in style, but one that I can live with given the nature of the credits.
Overall, the music in the add-ons to what is arguably the best medieval game unfortunately falls well short of my expectations and is only recommended to a limited extent, even for fans. It lacks sophistication and uniqueness—or perhaps I'm just not looking at it through rose-tinted glasses.
