I don’t know why exactly, but the Napoleonic Wars DLC for Mount & Blade: Warband is the best multiplayer game I have ever played. It is simple, silly, repetitive but I had so much fun with it and can play it anytime over and over again.

I skipped the main game Mount & Blade: Warband completely back then and tried the Napoleonic Wars DLC immediately, to play with some friends. The whole atmosphere the game offers, the setting, the community, the mechanics, it is just great.

In the core, it is just Mount& Blade, with the same awful shooting mechanics, the same stiff movement and the horrible graphics, but you can now play with 200 freaking people on a map, making for some intense battles. You choose a faction, join the team, select your style of musketeer or cavalry to play and lets go. Most of the maps consists of a fortress or strategic location, that one team defends, and the other tries to take over.

The graphics are the same as Mount and Blade: Warband, and are ugly as hell. In this game however, I don’t give a flying sh!t. It is functional and that is what matters.

The animations are also hilariously bad but again, I don’t care. The smoke from musket fire and canons do enhance the graphics and overall atmosphere greatly, and bodies stay on the ground for a fair amount of time.

The classic renaissance soundtracks in the background are great, and really gives you the feeling that you are fighting in France, in the year 1780.

The controls and aim mechanics are horrendous, but this is the whole charm of the game. You try to aim as accurately as possible, and pray to God that you will hit. When it happens and you see the enemy go down, a feeling of euphoria is washing over you.

Because of the huge amount of players, battles are intense and feel very realistic, despite the God awful graphics and animations. You see a bunch of players approaching when the wall is finally breached, and immediately, fifty other players set up defensive positions near the breach and try to stop the incoming attackers.

Speaking of realism, everything from running to reloading your musket is as tedious as possible, just like real life. It takes ten thousand years to reload your musket and when you miss, it is either poke the enemy with your bayonet, or accept your death.

The best aspect of this game is the role playing of the community. One player takes on the role of an officer, commands several other players that are grenadiers, to follow him, form a line and stand their ground. Meanwhile, some idiot with a flute is walking back and forth while the bullets fly around across the field. On a mountain, you build fortifications, the officer commands you and your squad mates to stand behind it and wait for the orders of your officer. Meanwhile, a full squad of enemy cavalry is rushing toward you, finishing you off one by one. A moron with a drum meanwhile, is trying to run for his life, while playing a catchy beat.

It does not get any better than this game and I can play Mount & Blade: Warband – Napoleonic Wars any day, any time.

Definitely recommend this game.