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Pouring boiling oil on your enemies
as they try to break down the castle gate with a battering ram is a good gaming moment.
In fact, once you invest a little time into “Stronghold”, you will find many unique,
fun, and original features.
Stronghold bills itself as a castle sim, combining the best aspects from a city builder and
a real-time strategy game. Thankfully, for once this is not just publisher hype, but
darn close to the truth. Many people incorrectly compare Stonghold to Age of Empires II,
but after closer analysis (and many late hours in front of the computer), the better
comparison would be to Sierra’s 1996’s overlooked and under appreciated “Lords of the
Realm II”.
What sets Stronghold apart is the detail and synergy put into both the simulation and RTS
aspects of
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the game. Aa stand alone RTS, Stronghold would fall flat, and as a straight
simulation, Stronghold would rank right up there with "New York City Traffic Simulator"
(coming soon – look for the “big dig” expansion pack).
To gather a castle population, you have to do more than gather food and provide housing. A key
element of the game is your “popularity rating” as king. If you provide inadequate food, housing
or raise the taxes, people will actually leave the castle. In order to woo them back, you need to
either double the food rations or hand out bribes.
Food and resources are gathered in standard RTS format –build the applicable structure (farm,
quarry, saw mill, etc.) and send a peon out for work. The interesting twist with Stronghold is
that the characters and buildings are sized large enough so you can actually see smithy making
an axe, the farmer harvesting hops for ale and watch the hunter shoot a deer for food.
As resources, tax money and population start to grow, it is time to start building your castle.
Sitting out in the open is an invitation to lose. First, surround your camp with simple wooden
walls to keep out bears and small bands of archers. Then you can add a gatehouse and eventually
add stonewalls, large gatehouses, towers and a moat. You can have archers patrolling the walls
as scouts to keep an eye out for the enemy. One great defense is to fill your moat with oil, and
then ignite it as the enemy is making their final surge.
And the enemy will come – with catapults, trebuchets, archers, swordsmen, tunnelers (they dig under
castle walls), soldiers carrying ladders to scale the walls, and battering rams. It is amazing
(and fun) to see how few soldiers it actually takes to fend of an attack with a well-built castle.
Of course, it you leave one gap in the walls, the enemy will find it immediately and once the enemy
is inside the gates, it is an uphill battle from there. The enemy actually launched a dead cow
into my camp via a trebuchet to spread disease among my people.
Stronghold can actually be played were you get to attack a pre-built castle using the aforementioned
troops and tactics, but the game is at its best, and is designed as a castle sim.
The single player campaign takes place in England circa 1092. You play a feudal lord who is dueling
with 4 other lords for control of the country. As each battle is won, you control that province, and
get to see your influence and political clout rise with each victory. Lose a few battles and you lose
land, money and prestige. The goal is to conquer England, in doing so defeat the 4 opposing lords,
each who poses more of a threat than the last, with better troops, advanced siege weaponry, deep
coffers, ambushes and hidden alliances.
"So what’s missing Sliceboy?" you may ask. Well, the combat system is a little unwieldy, as troops
tend to fire at the closest enemy unless specifically directed otherwise. This doesn’t sound bad,
but it could lead to a group your archers firing on not-so-dangerous ladder holders, while a trebuchet
is pounding your main gate. Also, your peons continue to perform their tasks in the middle of a siege.
This is frustrating, because those caught outside the walls get killed instantly, and it is tough to
replace them after a long battle. A feature to call all peons into the castle would have been a welcome
addition to the game.
All in all, this is a well-designed, fun game. It honestly takes a bit of time to get into, but your
reward is an original game that sets it self apart from the endless mediocre RTS clones that are
currently flooding the shelves.
Sliceboy's Rating:
4 out of 5 Planets
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