Stronghold: Crusader

For those who may have not played the original, you will want to buy this after you have played Stronghold, or you may be disappointed. You don't have to play the original to appreciate this game but it helps.

For those who are new, the idea is simple: keep your people fed, protected, and happy, and they will serve you well. Build an army, make sure there is enough money in the treasury, keep an eye on your rations, maintain sufficient resources on your stockpile, stock your armory with weapons, and eliminate your enemy. It is a wonderful real-time war game, that requires you to focus on more than war.

The regular one-player story mode has about 50 missions, so it will take you a while to complete that aspect. All of the other modes will keep you occupied if you get bored with that, and if you are totally bored, create your own maps and scenarios. I use the term bored losely because it is almost impossible to do with this game.


this game is awesome!!!   October 31, 2002
11 out of 13 found this review helpful

this game is awesome especially for people who like age of empires or the first stronghold which is not as good but still fun.I highly recomend you buy this game and if your not sure then just play the demo.this game is from a helocopter point of view except not that far up and theres lots of things you can do.This game rules with diffrent traps that you can use against the enemy thats trying to get in your casle.PLEASE advice that this is not easy and YOU will need practice which is another reason i like this game.Its all that and a bag of chips.


Excellent game. Dangerously addicting   January 14, 2003
mad gamer (Chicago, IL United States)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

The gamer who gave 2 starts to this game obviously has no clue of good games. I agree only on the part that rotation could be better. Thats it, the rest is awesome.

Graphics: 9
Sound: 8
Concept: 10
Difficulty: 9

You have ability to build your stronghold castle the way you want it and this game requires you to think every move you make to crush your enemy, otherwise you'll loose it fast.

Therefore, your success depends on food supplies, religion(building church or temple), tax rates in order to grow your population (HINT). In addition, stone, iron and wood supplies
will allow you to build strong castles with all kinds of towers and add armory and other buildings. The more people you have the faster army you can build and you have to keep them happy(again enough food, good tax rates and bless them with your priest), otherwise they leave your castle and you loose it.

From Archers to Horse Archers, from Swordsmen to building Catapults with Engineers to knock down enemy castle you are in control of your battle.

I have 1MHz Pentium III Dell machine with 384MB of RAM (PC 133) and decent 64MB geForce 4 TI 6200 video card and DO NOT HAVE ANY technical issues especially controling the characters.

The bottom line get it, enjoy and ignore bad reviews. Those people cannot run todays games on 16MB video card and 64MB or RAM. I dont have top-of-the-line PC, however yes I recently added more RAM and good video card and enjoy it since.


Sequal to Stronghold with AI skirmish in Singleplayer mode!   September 20, 2002
10 out of 18 found this review helpful

* Relive the heroic battles of the historic Crusades in FOUR distinct campaigns - Lead the heavily armored European Knights as Richard the Lionheart and command vast Arabian armies as Saladin, the Sultan of Syria.

* Attack the strongholds of fierce rival lords while forging an impregnable bastion of defense during intense Skirmish Mode!

* Either multiplayer or Singleplayer mode againts the computer AIs, no need for humans players if you wish, a great improvement over its first Stronghold precessor.

* Experience ruthless medieval combat in a hostile land where Assassins silently slay their victims, Horse Archers combine deadly accuracy with frightening speed, and common Slaves can shift the balance of power!

* Protect and defend thy loyal subjects from the horrors of Greek Fire with Water Pots, Fire Watchmen, Moats, Killing Pits and more!

* Storm enemy barricades with over 25 units including Arabian Swordsman, Teutonic Knights, and Grenadiers!

* Witness unparalleled siege weaponry including mobile Fire Ballista, imposing Siege Towers, crushing Trebuchets, and destructive Mangonels just to name a few!

* Design challenging new scenarios to thwart thy friends with the full-featured map and scenario editor!

* Crush thy friends in an ultimate crusade for the crown! Battle up to 8 computer and human lords in multiplayer Skirmish Mode via a LAN or over the Internet.


Good Game   January 13, 2003
Joseph Valentine Dworak (Minneapolis, MN)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Stronghold: Crusader, the follow up to Stronghold, does a good job fixing things that did not make sense in the first game, and bringing a whole new look to the second version. The idea for battling in new terrain is excellent. The challenge is to fight for every spare inch of irrigated land for your food, without it you are dead. The new units such as Arabian Horsemen and Fire-Throwers are excellent. One pick with this game is why is there no level selection? You can only play on one level, and on the first version you could choose between many different levels of difficulty. Also, there should be an easier way to look at the entire playing field instead of just being able to turn on 90 degree angles for viewing. But overall, this game is done well and you will be playing for hours. Almost a perfect comination castle simulation and city/economy simulation. B+

Joseph Dworak