Stronghold Crusader II Review

“…I could easily put numerous hours into playing it.”

Stronghold is a well-known name when it comes to the subject of classic strategy games. Recently, the franchise’s latest instalment, Stronghold Crusader II, has hit the market, aiming to bring the classic strategy name into a new era of gaming. As the title suggests, Stronghold Crusader II takes place in the setting of the Holy Land (or the Middle-East as it is called today), during the period of King Richard III, “The Lionheart” and his infamous crusade against Saladin. It is not the first time that the franchise has touched on this setting and period of history, and recently the original Stronghold Crusader has been released with a HD graphical overhaul. The question is then, does this new fully fledged re-imagining and re-creation of the Crusader branch of the Stronghold series make for a truly updated and more fulfilling strategy experience?

Learning to play the game is handled with a quick tutorial, which does quite clearly and easily teach you the ropes. Following this, you can play a full set of learning campaigns before you head on to the “real” missions which make up Stronghold Crusader II. These learning campaigns start off simple and straight forward, however before long the missions do start to feel as though they may as well be the main missions of the game in terms of difficulty. You are almost coerced into believing that you are being eased into the game, only to trip into the deep end which you thought you had so tactfully avoided being dropped in. Learning to play is easy then, but learning very quickly becomes teaching yourself once you have completed a few of the game’s simpler tasks.

The learning campaign of the game in fact appears to make up the entire campaign featured in the game. Otherwise, the main challenge of the game lies in a number of pre-set skirmishes, set out almost exactly like campaign missions but with the only goal being to defeat the enemy lord, and no other side missions coming into it other than pure tactics. The skirmishes do test you in different ways however, such as limited resources, the enemy holding the high ground, and simply within the different play styles of your AI opponents. They are challenging from the first one you play, so there is certainly no easing in involved in this part of the game – it’s tactics or go home from here on in! The skirmishes are fun, and do test you, but it is a shame there is not more of a story-driven element to them. As fun as it is to just get in there and dominate anyone (hehe), it is also nice to know some reason for why you are doing so. In terms of strategy missions however these skirmishes are excellent fun to play!

In-game, there are some positive and negative features to mention about Stronghold Crusader II as a title in its own right. Firstly, I very much liked the small idea of peasants being happier and houses being more effective as a result if they are located closer to the lord. This just seemed like such a simple idea, but one which made sense and had been integrated well. There were however a few issues with the game which I could not get my head around. Firstly, the game cannot decide on its pace. Buildings and soldiers train instantly, meaning you can crack straight on with play. However, if you need to wait on resources or march an army over distance, you have to sit and wait for this to happen as the game has no speed controls. So you can really be going for it one minute, but the next you are sat bored. One way or the other would be just fine, as there would be some consistency, but as it is gameplay feels very stoppy and starty… When you are waiting on resources, it also bothered me that I could not see production progress. This seems like a simple feature to integrate, but it is not present in this strategy game, which can make it difficult to plan ahead… The only other thing that really got me was that fires are weird. They spread very oddly, and their effect on people and objects appears very bizarre. It is hard to explain, but they are not quite right in Stronghold Crusader II, that much is for sure.

My attempt to try out the online play in Stronghold Crusader II was thwarted by the fact that apparently nobody in the world is playing right now. Hopefully this is because the game is still in early days or because they are still wrecking their way through the many missions they can choose from offline, but sadly it was impossible to try the online multiplayer because nobody wanted to play with me… So naturally I headed my final option in Stronghold Crusader II; a Custom Skirmish. You get a good level of choice and control over the parameters of these, and if you have ever played a strategy like Age of Empires II, this is the sort of adaptability options which you are met with here. It is just as fun playing a custom game like this as it is playing the pre-set skirmishes of the game, but it would certainly be more exciting to play another human rather than reverting to computer opponents as I had to. With a bit of luck, the online multiplayer will heat up, but right now, it is sadly dead.

In terms of how the game looks, it looks good, but not amazing. The graphics remind me of something like Age of Empires III, which looked very nice when it came out, but it also came out a few years back now. This is not to say the graphics of Stronghold Crusader II are bad, but they certainly don’t push the limits. In its own right, the graphics suit the game fine however, not taking anything away from it and equally making it clear what everything is. There are some clipping issues however, such as trebuchets on hills dipping into the ground to fire, but otherwise things seem to agree with each other just fine. Sound effects in the game are… mixed. Voices are annoying – that is a consistent feature. Every person who speaks in Stronghold Crusader II quickly becomes irritating. Some sound effects are also a little odd, such as a wooden barricade being knocked down sounding like an explosion, initially making me exclaim “what the hell was that?!” when I heard it. Otherwise, everything else seems to sound fine, so there can be little more to be said on that front. Presentation wise as a whole then, Stronghold Crusader II is fine, but is by no means cutting edge or polished.

Stronghold Crusader II, despite a number of small shortcomings, succeeds in being an entertaining strategy game. I recognise its issues, true, but it also got me hooked and I could easily put numerous hours into playing it. Its not as nicely polished, carefully presented, or even super in-depth as some of its current market competition, but it is a good game. It keeps you wanting to play, and play for some time too, without getting bored. It has issues, but it is still great. In this way, it is almost built like an older-style of strategy game, perhaps more like its predecessors than what we see emerging today, and this works for Stronghold Crusader II even if it has not worked for others. The game is not perfect, it is far from that from an objective perspective, but I personally enjoyed it and don’t doubt that many others, Stronghold fans in particular, will enjoy it too.

The Good:

• Challenging from the start, and varied so that these challenges never become old.
• Small details in-game give the game its own charm as a strategy title.
• Easily provides numerous hours of entertainment.

 

The Bad:

• Perhaps too hard too soon for some players.
• The game cannot decide on its own pace.
• It is hard to monitor progress of production buildings.
• Fires are weird, not working quite like fires should…
• The voice acting in the game is annoying.
• Nobody is playing online.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.