Mount&Blade - Review @ RPG Codex

RPG Codex has posted a lengthy review of Mount & Blade.  There's a litany of critcisms, from lack of direction to issues with the mechanics to the broken economy...but it's fun:

Your goal in M&B is to mindlessly slaughter everyone you meet. M&B makes up for this by making mindlessly slaughtering everyone you meet boat-loads of fun. Oh sure, the more you play, the more experience you get, the more enemies you face, the larger battles you have. The endless battles just get bigger and more endless. Suddenly your drained by combat and without an army, you have little hope of achieving anything. Meaning you go for high troop numbers, get all the hero NPCs, level-up all their party skills (because they suck at combat) and essentially have the same character no matter what you do.

... but it's fun.