If you like the late middle ages, and you want a break from action games that involve guns - swing a sword in WotR!
War of the Roses takes place in the late middle ages (15th century). There are two sides in each match, York and Lancaster; however they technically mean nothing in terms of playability as both sides allow exactly the same features (in some maps being York or Lancaster dictates whether or not you're part of an offense or defense). There are all sorts of weapons present in the game, ranging from swords, to axes, to pole arms, to spears, to bows, crossbows and even early firearms (handgonnes). Armor in the game can be light (peasant rags or leather garments), medium (chainmail gambeson and alike) or heavy (plate armor) - there are headgear equivalents of those also. Additionally, it is possible to customize a character so that it mounts a horse (this has its advantages and disadvantages).
The most important thing to realize is that each customized setup dictates its own style of play. A heavy armor knight with a pole arm can land powerful blows and take many hits, but he will have a harder time parrying and moving about; a medium armor guard with a shield and a sword can defend himself well and get out of trouble fairly easy, but his blows won't be as powerful; a light armored archer can run fast and find places to hide, as well as hit people from afar, but should someone find him, he can be more easily knocked out. There are cavalry set ups as well - you can be the master of an open field, but if you fall out of your horse next to an enemy, you'd most likely die. Of course there can be as many customizations (actual and cosmetic) as the mind can imagine. From my experience, however, not everything works - so you better experiment and know what you're doing, Each player can have several different setups, additional setup slots cost-in game money (that is earned as you play).
In terms of playability, do note that this game requires a fairly good computer, especially if you play in levels with many players around. The reason for that is the super demanding physical engine in the game that introduces an amazingly accurate hit detection - you can literally stab people through the open area in a visor. Similarly, if you're in a tight corner, you can't just swing your weapon normally and expect to hit anything - the thing would hit an obstacle instead. Melee weapons can normally be swung from four different directions - left, right, up, or down (in swords, spears, knives and some axes, down performs a stab). Similarly, you can parry with your weapon in those same directions (you have an indicator that shows you where an incoming attack might come from) - shields can simply be raised and block your entire frontal area (but they also affect your ability to utilize your weapon). Bows are charged using the right mouse button and released with the left mouse button. Crossbows require pre-loading but behave similar to bows in terms of aiming and firing.
All in all, the combat system in itself is extremely well thought out and well designed. You do indeed require skill to be good at this game - there are no shortcuts, just pure practice makes perfect. It must also be noted that game level progression has extremely little influence over how good your character is. You can create a good setup with as little as 15,000 coins (an experienced player can earn that in a single or few matches), as well as a totally useless set up with half a million coins. More expensive does not mean better. Each weapon in the game has its place, and the developers of the game have and are constantly working on balancing weapons, armor, perks and other customizable items in order to allow a heterogeneous gameplay with many players using many different load outs. Having said that, the 75/100 Metacritic rating that was given to the game was probably handed out before it had so many vast improvements - it is certainly above 80 today.
Last but not least, the game features four modes of play: Team Deathmatch (just kill the enemies), Conquest (much like how conquest works in BF), Pitched Battle which is just like Team Deathmatch, except there's no spawning (like in Counter Strike) and Assault which is a special mode that works very similarly to Conquest, but involves the destruction of structures such as gates and is based on defense and attack. There is also an additional mode that is not really a feature, known as Duel mode - this is basically a community enforced mode where players are expected to fight one vs one in a gallant and fair manner, there are of course people who break those rules (and are expected to get banned).
In this review I focused on what's important, but here's a technical score table:
Graphics: 10/10 - The game has very pleasing graphics that are certainly on par with almost everything out today.
Sound: 9/10 - Cool sounds, very good music. It's almost as good as it could be (some sounds sound somewhat repetitive).
Performance/Requirements: 9/10 - The game works well on two year old machines. Anything older on crowded maps can cause severe FPS issues. The game also has rare occurrences of crashing to desktop.
Team play/Communication: 6/10 - The game doesn't feature voice chat, a clan system or other means to coordinate your play. It does however have a simple squad system. As a consequence, public matches are often unorganized and are based on discrete intuition. However, there are many clans who organize and use their own communication means (TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, etc...) to conduct more organized plays.
Playability: 9/10 - Nothing matches this game in terms of sheer playability. There are so many ways to kill the enemy, and every one of them is rewarding and fun. I said nothing matches this game - but there's one thing that does, which is this game's younger brother: War of the Vikings (currently in early release alpha).
This game is available on Steam. Also note that a free version of this game is available as well - the only difference (which is quite important) is that the free version restricts the player to stock profiles (which can in fact work from my experience with high ranking free-version players).
It sells for 20 USD. Do trust me, it is worth EVERY penny. In fact, even if it cost twice as much, it's still worth getting.
If I haven't convinced you, get the free version and be impressed yourself.