Even better, you'll fight with a variety of weapons, from swords to javelins to bow and arrow. You do get the option to allow the computer to auto-aim for you, but that just robs you of the satisfaction of the well-aimed kill. And perhaps best of all, you can fight from atop your mount, which gives greater speed and strength to your attacks, such that you can mow the enemy down quite handily if you time it just right. There's nothing quite like the thrill of charging in among a throng of troops and laying about yourself with your blade

The real-time nature of M&B extends to the entire world. Many have decried its open nature and lack of guiding storyline, but you really need to take this title on its own merits. By allowing you to choose your own destiny, as it were, the events feel much more realistic and immersive than any kind of game-managed experience. You'll do a lot of traveling around the land to find things to do, and a fiefdom you left in peace an hour ago might be overrun with enemy barons in the interim, and you'll never know it because you there is no medieval equivalent to a telephone. And that's genuinely okay. In the same way that a massive, many-against-many melée battle seems ridiculously chaotic and overwhelmingly confused -- and that's by design -- you will have to learn to enjoy the feeling of verisimilitude the game provides, and that will put you in just the right mindset to play. Things were messy and non-choreographed in those days, and M&B reflects that.

That's Mount & Blade. What's coming is their first expansion, Warband, which offers a host of improvements to the original. First, the main reason for the expansion is to offer multiplayer, supporting up to 32 simultaneous players. If what you love M&B for is the straight-up combat, then this will scratch that itch by removing all of that bothersome quest stuff.

Warband also provides more depth overall. New weapons and armor, more diplomatic options, improvements in enemy AI, better detail in graphics, different ways to progress as a character, etc. You can choose, for example, simply to live the life of a merchant, amassing wealth and learning the economic trade. Or you can choose to throw in with a local lord in his rise to power, eventually growing in rank yourself, gaining vassals and building up a mighty empire. And let's not forget the siege warfare combat, as depicted on this page.

However, the focus will always be on the combat, as it should be. I spent so much of this review just talking up Mount & Blade aside from the upcoming expansion because I'd like to see it get the recognition it deserves. If you are willing to accept the game on its own terms, you'll be rewarded with an experience that completely entertains and rewards the investment you put into it with gameplay like nothing else out there.

For a look at gameplay, check out these two GDC presentation videos, also available in HD.