The last time I played Stronghold was in 2002 a year after the first games release, when my parents had just bought their first PC and the Internet was off to a booming consumer start. My friends in high school were all talking about Playstation’s and Gamecubes and one of my friends said, have you played games on your PC? At the time this seemed huge, computers can run games? And I was introduced to a game where you can build your castle and armies and go to war on epic scales. To this day Stronghold is the series responsible for getting me addicted to the RTS genre. With its builder system and tactical gameplay it’s a game that disappeared until I heard about Crusader II and got excited all over again.
Upon starting up the game you are greeted with the signup page where it takes your username and allows you to select a shield, a coat of arms if you will that you carry throughout the game. More can be unlocked by signing up with your email address which takes about 2 minutes. The main menu covers “Single Player”, “Multiplayer”, “Extras” and “Options”.
For the sake of this review I will be covering mostly the Single Player portion of gameplay that I played. There is a tutorial which not having played in so many years as well as updated systems I thought I would check it out to familiarise myself with how the game is played. Upon starting the training level I was immediately greeted with “Site your Stockpile Sire” which was an instant throwback to the past games. Playing tutorials are quite self explanatory, you do what you are told to learn the basic aspects of the game and you then put that knowledge to use in some ass kicking battles. The tutorial level in Crusader II is very straightforward and informative so if you have never played a Stronghold game or are new to the RTS genre then I would highly recommend you start here as the skirmishes will be very confusing without knowing what you are doing. The game does walk you through everything step by step with a second tutorial going into more detail about some of the advanced mechanics of the game if required such as how to create military units and set them up for battle.
I decided that with a quick refresher I would jump straight into a skirmish that puts me against an AI opponent who for me personally was relentless. One thing I can remember about previous games is the that it is renowned for deadly AI, as the AI doesn’t really do much except pump every last resource into making units and giving you a hard time in your new settlement. Sure you’ll maybe take down the first few units without problems until they just keep coming out of the woodwork! Something that is great about this game is the detail that goes into the units. Be it the constant arrow volleys from your archers or the sheer stopping power of crossbowmen to the absolute death and destruction that your Knights and Sergeants At Arms bring. Of course to supplement all of this you have to manage the economics of the game as well, from taxes and living space right up to food rations and resources like wood and stone.
Something I have never been good at is managing my armies and my resources effectively and this always results in my downfall, and this is something that Stronghold does quite well. In order to keep your army strong and have enough reserves to back up any losses. In order to keep the flow of peasants joining your camp you have To have enough resources and buildings. Hovels allow you to house more people and in return create more jobs. Diary farms and apple orchards keep your settlement fed, woodworkers and stone masons will get the important resources for building walls to keep your enemies out as well as building other buildings like armouries to house your weapons like spears and bows and this in turn creates more jobs and driving up your taxes creating a stable income. One mechanic is city happiness with you, this requires you to balance taxes and food rations in order to keep peasants coming to the settlement.
All of this is presented in a flawless responsive interface which compliments the return of Stronghold. Unfortunately there are no tooltips as to what makes certain units stack up against each other, for example how are Rangers better than Archers given that they look almost the exact same? What units are they useless against vs those they are strong against? The game forces you into a corner in that you have to use trial and error and in the level I played the Sheiks armoured infantry were next to impossible to defeat with bows and arrows, and of course a degree of common sense comes into play if you’ve played RTS games before. Crusader also brings with it a fresh look with 3D and a new physics engine that is new to the series.
Stronghold: Crusader II is a lovely mix up of nostalgia and a taste of potential games to come. With its updates to make it more modern to its classic RTS Stronghold gameplay the game is a nice refreshing feel for a series that has been out of the fold for too long. It’s available for Steam and PC download and costs £29.99 with a Special Edition at 34.99 which includes the HD version of the first Crusader game as well as a Digital Artwork for the game.
Rating: 7/10 – Solid entry into the series with no new features to boast about other than an up to date look with engine improvements but keeps the classic Stronghold formula and an “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach.
Chris Sanderson
THE BABY IN THE BASKET SIGNED CAST POSTER GIVEAWAY
