Stronghold: Crusader

The economy is significantly more complex than most of the previous games in this genre, so it will take some practice to get good enough at building a stable economy that you can concentrate on warfare. (E.g. training crossbowmen requires: you are popular enough to have free peasants; you have crossbows, and leather armor; having weapons requires an armory to store them; crossbows require someone to make them, who in turn needs wood from woodcutters; leather armor requires a tanner, who needs to get cows from a dairy farm. Any one of these links can be broken, especially during warfare, and suddenly you can no longer make more crossbowmen.)

Compared to their first release (Stronghold), the minor tweaks have improved the game. A mercenary camp lets you build an army at the beginning, instead of waiting until the midgame. Trees and potential farmland are now limited to an oasis (this being the middle east instead of England), which has the effect that there are now resources to fight over from the very beginning.

But don't just take my word for it. Firefly/GOD offers a free demo (of both Stronghold and Crusader) with a few very playable, very fun levels. Get the demo and try it out! You can decide yourself whether you like the gameplay enough to purchase it.


This game is UNBELIEVABLE!!!   June 5, 2003
J. Swift (New Castle, IN United States)
38 out of 40 found this review helpful

This is the greatest game Ive ever played bar none. When I was in highschool I loved Civilization 2. I recently got a computer and wanted a good game. I bought Civilization 3 and it seemed to have lost something. I cant put my finger on it but it just didnt have the soul. Or maybe I have changed and need more exitement. Well anyway I took a chance on Stronghold Crusader and havent stopped playing since. This game is simply amazing. You build up a castle(kind of like sim city). You have to build houses for the people and cathedrals. The graphics are simply beautiful. The battles are very INTENSE. And strategy changes on each skirmish. What worked in one, dosent get you anywhere in another. This game has the soul I was talking about earlier. I really feel angered when my castle is getting burned down. I take it personal. How many games emmerse you to the extent that you get so involved in the game. I havent ever taken a game so much to heart. Take a chace on this one. Its not very expensive and has kept me at it for many days. Very addictive. And the thrill of beating a lord who has been given you a hard time. That thrill of victory is priceless. Go out and buy this game. NOW!


NOT MUCH FUN AT ALL   October 21, 2002
21 out of 43 found this review helpful

I can't believe all the great reviews. I guess the developers come in here and write reviews to promote their lousy game so people will buy it! The graphics were a bit disappointing, there is no level progression, some levels start with an AI opponent that all but prevents you from getting your castle started. It's too difficult to select your own units, when you click on enemies to attack it gives a move command but not an attack command. You have to keep clicking over and over... same problem when trying to attack buildings. Basically, the game [lacks]. It's a good idea though so I gave it a 2. Hopefully next time the artists will spend more time building good art, the coders will build a faster graphics engine (which doesn't require a 2GHz machine to display their bitmaps), and the units will have larger selection boxes (so you can click to attack them). It would also be nice if you could rotate your maps smoothly, not at fixed 90 degree turns (the technology has been around for a while guys) it's not that hard to put together.

If you are really starving for another real time strategy, and are ready to pull out some hair in frustration, then this is the game for you.


IS YOUR MARRIAGE ON THE ROCKS?   February 18, 2003
Chris (St Louis MO)
17 out of 24 found this review helpful

I've played several real-time strategy games and this is without a doubt, one of the best. I didn't believe the original Stronghold could be outdone--but it was by Crusader.

The large maps provide an excellent backdrop and challenging scenarios. Crusader has the first thing I look for in any game, the opportunity to build my own scenario maps. The graphics are so well done and detailed, that I am going to use the scenario builder in home schooling my daughter for a geography project. We will use it to build maps, creating various land and sea structures to make topology fun and exciting.

The super scenario editor, coupled with the in-game scenarios help to produce endless hours of medievilism. The 50+ scenario campaign takes you through the entire Middle East to attempt Christianizing the populace. The editor allows the oposition to be an unbeatable seven enemies at once on the same map. Besides the Age of Empires trilogy I know of no other map-building, real-time strategy game where this is possible (excluding those fantasy games, which I stay away from). If you are not in the mood to fight, you can build without a threat in the free-build map.

I have only made it through the first 10 scenarios in the giant Middle-Eastern campaign and already have had to restart a few individual scenarios more than once to try again. After finally getting through it in several settings, I looked on the score card and discovered I had spent anywhere from 7-9 hours on that particular scenario ... unbelieveable. I have a family, do I want to invest the time and energy in conquering the Middle East that Crusader demands ... YES! When I'm through I plan to replay the campaign in defense of the Middle East.

Crusader is not just a game. It is a time consuming hobbie that could cause a divorce if you let.


The best strategy game ever!!!   August 15, 2002
Iyad T. Alashqar (Houston, TX USA)
15 out of 19 found this review helpful

When I installed the demo, I thought this will be just another one of those boring strategy games. But I was 100% wrong...

This game is simply amazing to the highest degrees. And extremely fun and DANGEROUSLY addicting and time consuming. I know that the full version will have more features, but still the demo is awesome. You only have 3 options in the demo: Very Easy, Easy, and hard. It took me a whole week to beat all 3 difficulty levels. Richard the Lionheart was the most difficult to fight. It has features from Caesar II (the fire and mini video clips) and from Pharoah (tax control)...

It has a variety of characters, things to build, events, unexpected enemies, and a whole lot of new stuff that does not appear in any other RTS (Real-Time Strategy) game...
Enjoy...