Sometimes it's just your day to get slaughtered, as David Brown found out recently when he logged on to a multiplayer preview of Mount & Blade: Warband.

Mistake number one was probably skipping the tutorial, as he'd never played the original Mount & Blade - but we were running behind so we agreed it was best to go for an 'in at the deep end approach'.  Of course, David had no idea what he was doing and I'd only had a brief encounter with the game so my shouted instructions were useless.  He was dead within seconds, unrelenting hordes of players who had more experience (or perhaps were just better prepared) making mincemeat of him.

A few more deaths followed but undeterred we decided it was best to persevere.  After more error than trial David mastered the keys.  Lo and behold, his horse was racing forward!  And there was an enemy approaching!  And his sword was drawn, ready to do battle!  And he would vanquish... oh... he was dead.  Again.

It was rapidly becoming clear that Mount & Blade: Warband was possibly not for the fainthearted or perhaps just not for the unprepared (or perhaps just not for David).  However, after a little while he began to progress nicely - by which I mean, he wasn't really doing anything useful or causing anyone any damage but he wasn't getting killed either. It did give us the opportunity to have a better look at the game.

Firstly, there are many multiplayer options available, ranging from siege to deathmatch and inviting a number of players to pitch in together.  Cooperation is vital: whilst running round in circles might help you stay alive, it certainly doesn't win your team any points.  Luckily, it seems there's always someone on hand in these situations who is willing to take the bull by the horns and issue orders (even if those around aren't always competent enough to follow them!).

Despite the unfortunate number of deaths David experienced, being removed from battle did give us an opportunity to follow some other players and get a feel for the game setting.  The locations are impressive, with hills, rivers and fields available to explore and fight across.  Unwilling to spend any time customising his character, David plunged in looking like the local pacifist farmer had suddenly been handed a shield but there were others who had clearly taken more time and presented much more menacing knights.  Whilst other people were obviously still getting to grips with the mechanics of the game, there were some clear leaders taking full advantage of the chat options to issue instructions to their respective teams and there was plenty of slaughter going on (mostly of David it seemed).

There was a clear lack of success here for us but we still found this an enjoyable preview of the game's multiplayer mode.  Having never been huge multiplayer fans, it was probably hardly surprising that even a cooperative effort with the two of us couldn't bring forth more satisfactory results.  However, everyone else seemed to be getting on pretty well, which was certainly good to see (if not to experience).  It's probably fair to say that the multiplayer aspects of Mount & Blade: Warband show promise.  It's probably also fair to say that we do not. 

Play through by David Brown
Write up by Donna Haw