Stronghold: Crusader

"New graphic twist! A very fast game that will keep you addicted!"

Where to begin... well to start off, I'll just say that you WILL get your money worth for buying this game! One day I just decided to buy it off the shelf... and I LOVED it. You have to try the demo at least!

General Idea:

Like any other war game, you simply build your bases, and destroy each other. However, Stronghold Crusader takes it to a whole new level!

GAMEPLAY 10
Like I said, the graphics are very different! You'll find this to be a great relief after playing games like C&C Generals or Empire Earth. It is VERY HARD to slow down this game and gameplay is very different.

You play in Medieval times (duh) and you build castles with defenses while at the same time building your army to attack.

It isn't easy to balance a kingdom though. You will have up to 7 enemies fighting. You will have to gather food, trade, train troops, and keep your population happy... also you'll need to keep an eye on your enemies.

You can build beautiful castles complete with fire traps, moats, drawbridges, towers, and much more! You'll enjoy the beautiful animations when defending or attacking. Your armies can get up to 1000 troops depending on how many players are involved.

Your only objective is to kill the enemy lord, who will be surrounded by their castle. You must do whatever it takes to kill each lord to win the game.

There a plenty of different units to do this with. They range from assassins to ballistas! This is indeed a very good strategy game.

MODES OF PLAY/STORY 10

Absolutely amazing. You have the option of playing a story mode with 20 missions (5 missions in 4 campaigns), 50 linked skirmish missions on a game board, make your own skirmish (you can have alliances), map editor, and Internet play! If you have DSL or Cable, you'll be in heaven. Internet play is simply awesome because of the diffrent speedy graphics.

SOUND 8

Ughh... I hate nothing more than medieval music. No matter though, just run WINAMP with your favorite MP3s, and turn off the game sound!

REPLAYABILITY 10

Virtually endless. Speed and design leave you coming back for more. The 50 linked missions take forever to beat. It took me about 3 months to get through. They are NOT easy! Trust me, you'll love the graphic design if you've experienced full, slow 3D games like C&C Generals or Empire Earth!

OVERALL RATING

96% pure goodness

You WILL get your money worth. Also, note this game was about $35.00 when I bought it! A great buy. It is the 2nd of the series. I never played the first one, but that doesn't matter because they are not related!

The only thing that makes me mad is that this game is so ''undiscovered''. I think people would love it if they just stepped back from their die hard loyalty to Star Craft & Command and Conquer.

My all-time favorite game is C&C, but after playing this, I must say it goes right next to it on the top of my list!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/26/03, Updated 05/26/03