Chivalry: Medieval Warfare

There's nothing Chivalrous about Chivalry, but for what it is - it is great! The easiest way to describe it is that it is like Battlefield but with knights instead of soldiers, and it comes with the similar unlocking weapon and equipment tree for each of its four, very different classes. Knights are the slowest but can take a truck load of damage, Vanguards dish out the most pain, Archers can hit from a distance (with a lot of practice) but are otherwise prone to decapitation and my favourite - the man at arms who is both the quickest and nimblest of all four, being able to dodge attacks if you have good timing.

The expansion of Deadliest Warrior adds other factions but since the gameplay there is restricted to team deathmatch or free for all I tend to stick closer to the main game where the Knights of Agatha and the Masonic Order both try complete objectives with alternating defender/attacker roles (always harder to defend) which is absolutely great fun. Pity there are only around six maps for it though, and that sometimes Team Objective games are empty.

Having to be up close and personal really adds to the tension too with wide swings able to hit your own team mates. Even sniping archers need to be ready to melee at any moment, and finding foes of equal skill level to you (as a player) makes for pretty good duels. Some guys are just fantastic in their swordplay while others intentionally wait for the enemy to be distracted for a back stab. If only there were more campaign type missions I would give it a higher score. Still, since it is pretty damned fun I give it three trebuchets out of five and recommend it for any who like this sort of martial diversion in their games.