Stronghold 2 Review

Stronghold, a game of feasts, wenches, taxes and everything else that comes from being the Lord of a Castle. UK based developer Firefly Studios returns with a sequel to its 1.5+million selling RTS/Sim hybrid, promising many improvements, a sophisticated 3D engine and an all-new Kingmaker mode.

Continuing in the same vein that helped its predecessor to stand out in a crowded genre, Stronghold 2 merges the â??Simâ? side of building, maintaining and running castle-life along with the â??RTSâ? aspects of fending off invasions from rival counties and establishing your presence at the same time.

The sequel introduces a wealthy selection of new modes and features, with the gameâ??s â??Simâ? and â??RTSâ? sections split up between â??The Path of Peaceâ? and â??The Path of Warâ? respectively. Itâ??s a shame that the two modes are distinctively split as such, as the game definitely has the â??two-halvesâ? feel to it and we canâ??t help but think that a smoother integration between modes would have resulted in a more encompassing experience. Itâ??s not to say however that you wonâ??t have to worry about the odd bandit raid during the Path of Peace, or have to establish the basic foundations of your castle while playing the initial stages of the Path of War; however the emphasis is determined largely by your choice at the start of the game â?“ an alternative way of looking at it, is two games for the price of one!

Itâ??s a shame then however that the RTS side of Stronghold 2 canâ??t hold a candle to the micro delights of its Sim campaigns, with its crude AI and lack of innovation contrasting starkly to the delights of the micro-management lurking beneath maintaining castle life.

The Path of Peace campaign essentially challenges the player to assist the King in rebuilding his county, taking every opportunity to demonstrate economical nuance along the way. Whereas the Path of War has a definite storyline and heavily intermitted cut-scenes, the Path of Peace acts out at a more restrained pace, more akin to a sandbox environment.

The â??Peaceâ? campaign naturally revolves around establishing and maintaining a castle, building various units and managing many micro-economies. The usual selection of units is available to the player, with a handful of buildings establishing the various economies that are crucial to progress. Building a Granary and various food production units such as Apple Farmâ??s and Hunter Huts help to collect food and maintain the all-important peasant morale. Food rations can be altered, with an increase in size naturally having a larger morale boost amongst the population; however show too much generosity and the peasants will soon be revolting over the shortages. The StockPile allows the player to store various important resources such as wood and stone, which are then used to build new units and trade between other estates. Progress through the game reveals a satisfactory number of â??tradesâ? available to construct and reap the rewards from, such as looking after sheep and spinning cotton cloths, to growing hops and producing ale for the peasants to get merrily drunk on!

Itâ??s not all about gold and the peasantsâ?? morale however, with a knightâ??s Honour paving the way for future progress within the game. Honour comes from a number of features such as rewarding the peasants with extra rations to holding a jousting contest; attending the church and majestic weddings. Not only does this add a certain layer of charm to the proceedings (albeit in a slightly hammed up, cheesy kind of way), but also bestows certain benefits to the player via a levelling-up system that advances from starting as a "Freeman" and ending as a "Duke", rewarding the player with more buildings and units to construct along the way.

Finally the all-important â??Treasuryâ? provides a place for Peasants to pay their way, often knocking a few points off the overall morale levels but providing the coffers with some much needed gold to continue further expanding within the game.

The many micro-economies to be found within Stronghold 2 come together surprisingly well, creating a thoroughly engrossing experience that works because of its intuitive nature and not trying to drag itself down with too many retentive detractions. Thereâ??s a wonderful sense of balance to the many facets of economy within Stronghold 2, itâ??s finding these that often provides the solution to a particularly tricky situation and allows the player to control the shape of the game with surprising ease and flexibility.

Particularly one of the main strengths is the ludicrous level of detail to be found within the game; often God/Sim games excel in this area, however Stronghold 2 still manages to impress with a huge number of animations and little touches that bring the game world to life â?“ pages curtsy after delivering a banquet, pig farmers unceremoniously slaughter their stock while hunters shoot birds from the sky as the hounds collect them on the ground! If we had one complaint itâ??s that animation sequences often have a nasty habit of awkwardly transitioning into another, slightly detracting from the overall illusion that a world is happening beneath you.

Itâ??s a shame then however given the strengths of the Peace campaign, that the Path of War campaign focussing on the RTS aspects of combat comes up a little short. In much the same vein as the more sedative campaign, players still have to build various constructions and establish economies to begin the game, however the emphasis is very much on unit formations and castle sieges for the armchair general. In most ways the game is sufficient, providing plenty of tactical options and an impressive selection of units, all of which feature the traditional formation controls and branching upgrades that we've come to expect â?“ one notable highlight being the ability to send squads on patrol between various checkpoints.

The experience is somewhat ruined however thanks to some woefully inadequate AI; one example saw a castle siege, result in the castle walls being stormed - imagine how easy it must have been for the troops to be fighting only to watch in disbelief as opponents merely yards away seemed blissfully ignorant of the bloodshed happening right behind them! The visual effect and tactical opportunities is somewhat diminished as well, when dozens of units somehow amalgamate into what appears to be two or three units.

Much like its predecessor, Stronghold 2 is likely to become a firm multiplayer favourite, with a variety of returning features and an all-new â??Kingmakerâ? mode. Building upon the foundation laid within the Skirmish mode, which saw players rushing to construct a castle and launching an attack on an opponent, the Kingmaker mode introduces a number of tactical features to take this to the next level.

Each map is divided into estates, which are then categorised as either village estates or castle estates; village estates can be purchased by spending Honour points, while Castle estates must be acquired through force. When new estates are added to a players collection, any resources created by that estate will find themselves back in the players castle. Fighting for domination of the map and the rewards this grants isnâ??t an entirely new concept, however the integration of both gameplay types come together effectively and will likely keep strategy fans happy for months to come. Away from this there are plenty of Skirmish options along with an extensive Map Editor, ensuring thereâ??s plenty of replay value for Stronghold fans.