Stronghold (PC)
	Developer Firefly Studios Publisher Gathering of Developers Version 1.1 (retail + patch) Reviewed by Brad "Markup" Cole [Feedback] [Author Bio] Review Date January 1, 2002

Rating (out of 5.0) 3.0 out of 5.0*

Judge for yourself

Strengths Many types of buildings Decent-sized multiplayer community Weaknesses More RTS combat game than "Castle Sim" Construction of buildings is unrealistic Single player game is extremely linear

Screenshots MORE SCREENSHOTS

* Notes Gaming Voice ratings are based on the technical and/or gameplay merits of a given product as well as the developer's choice of features and delivery of same. Our rating is not an endorsement of the thematic content of a given title. Gamers and parents are cautioned to determine if such content conflicts or coincides with their values and beliefs.

Gameplay: Why Stronghold Isn't a "Castle Sim"

Stronghold is not a "castle-sim" as the box implies.

The basic concept of Stronghold is easy enough to grasp: you are the lord of a keep, and must protect that keep from harm. In order to do this, however, you will have to fend off attackers and lay siege to the castles of your rivals -- all the while making sure your people have enough to eat and that your raw materials do not run out. It isn't easy, of course, but then who ever said being a ruler was?

This being a game, though, things are a lot easier than they would be in real life. Players select from a list of buildings, each with a specific function, and place them on the map. If enough resources are available, the building will appear instantly and be fully constructed. Should a peasant be available (and you'll know if one is because all of the lazy, out of work slobs sit around outside your keep when they don't have a job), they will be magically transformed into a skilled laborer of the type needed to operate the building and sent on their way. The converted peasant will then work day and night until one of three things happen: you dismiss him; you overtax him to the point of rebellion; or he is killed by enemy invaders or random wild animal attacks. The worker will not sleep, play, or even take a sick day -- he will just eat and carry out his job until the end of time...or the end of the game.

Creating an army follows similar lines. Weapons and armor are crafted, then stored in the armory. Once a peasant becomes available, he can be instantly transformed into a soldier of the specified type. There's no "5-day waiting period" for crossbows and swords stored in the armory, so the new warrior will be (unrealistically) ready for battle as soon as the player decides he is needed.

You can end up unable to continue because you didn't buy a building that harvests the resources you need to play.

Of course, all of this creation and building requires resources. These resources are gained, strangely enough, by building structures near the unharvested materials you need. A woodcutter's shack, for instance, requires wood to build, and should be placed near a forest. Yes, that's right: if you're not careful with your starting resources, you can end up unable to continue because you didn't buy a building that harvests the resources you need to play. That said, the two most important resources are wood and food. Wood, obviously, comes from the cutting of trees. Food is available in four varieties from different types of buildings: apples from orchards; meat from hunter posts; cheese from dairy farms; and bread from an interesting combination of wheat farms, mills, and bakeries. There are, however, five more resources that you might need: iron, animal hide, stone, pitch, and hops. Players must choose the location of their castle carefully so that they are close to these resources and can protect those workers harvesting them -- otherwise, a prolonged battle might deny them the supplies needed to survive!

On top of all this, players must also worry about their "avatar" in the game, the lord of the keep. If the lord dies, the game is over. Period. To make sure that he can't be hidden away, the game does not allow the lord to be moved IN ANY WAY other than to attack someone. He walks a random path around the castle, often picking the most inopportune times to check the readiness of the gates -- usually right before a major attack. Since you can't order the lord back to his keep, he often ends up getting killed and the game ends -- even though his army might still be alive.

For those of you wondering why I went into this level of detail about the gameplay elements, the answer is simple: so that it would be easy to show that Stronghold is not a "castle-sim" as the box implies, but a "build and battle" RTS game. In a castle-sim, after all, players would spend time actually managing a castle; In Stronghold, they spend most of their time making soldiers to siege other castles or defend the walls with. A decent castle-sim would have semi-realistic physics and construction; buildings simply "appear" in Stronghold when players want them to. A good castle-sim would also tend to focus on a few castles, or even one. In Stronghold, players get a new castle in almost every "chapter" of the game. To put it more simply: those of you expecting Stronghold to be "Sim Castle" will be disappointed; those of you expecting it to be Warcraft with walls and no magic will not be.

Single Player Game: Puzzles vs. Strategy

Stronghold has a number of single player game options designed to appeal to different types of players. The first is the military campaign, which can be considered the traditional "single player campaign". Then there is siege mode, which drops players into an historical castle as either the attacker or defender. Invasion mode places them into a set battle (usually as the defender). The economics campaign is also available, and allows would-be lieges to focus more on providing for their people rather than enemy sieges. All of the modes are interesting, but the military campaign and economics campaign stand out as appearing to have the most work put into them by the developers.

The story arc of the military campaign is simple enough to follow: The king went off to the crusades and was captured, which caused political turmoil. The player's father, a lord loyal to the king, was killed by usurpers. Now, the player must go from fiefdom to fiefdom with what men he can find and retake the lands from the four traitors currently in charge - a collection of misfits known as the rat, the pig, the snake, and the wolf. Each scenario/chapter of the military campaign adds to the story, but there is little your actions can do to alter it. Lose, and the story stops. Win, and it continues. Players are not so much "creating" the story with their actions as they are uncovering the next chapter -- which, sadly, is the way most RTS games seem to be handling the non-combat parts of their games of late.

More disturbing, however, is the "puzzle solving" nature of the military campaign. The odds seems to become more and more stacked against you in each chapter/mission, to the point where you really can't win unless you use the one bit of new technology and/or tiny strategic flaw in your enemy's plan. Because of this, players just don't have that many options in how they solve a mission - solve the "puzzle" and the scenario is won; don't, and you'll lose.

The economics campaign is MUCH shorter than the military campaign, but is still worthy of mention. The player will have to achieve goals such as "create 12 bows and 8 swords for the king's armory" while dealing with bandits, thieves, wolves, and other nastiness. This version of the game comes closest to the legendary Castles. However, with only a few chapters/scenarios, it alone isn't worth purchasing Stronghold. Rather, it is a nice break from the constant combat of the military campaign.

Multiplayer Game: GameSpy Again!

There's no "5-day waiting period" for crossbows and swords.

Multiplayer games in Stronghold are usually negotiated over the GameSpy network, but you can do direct-connect and LAN games as well. There are few options other than the usual "build a castle and kill your enemy" game, though there is a sort of "king of the hill" variation in which players get points for controlling a specific region. You can a set many options in a multiplayer game, including starting tech level, what goods can be traded, and whether troops cost gold. The on-line community is also pretty large, and you can usually get into a game on GameSpy even during off-peak hours. Though I had a few problems, all-in-all it played very well in multiplayer mode.

Quick Comments

• Stronghold has a decent editor that allows you to make new maps for every aspect of the game - including the economic campaign and multiplayer game. The interface is easy to understand, and allows for decent control and creation.
• The manual is pretty good. It provides a good overview of the game, and is easy to use as a reference later when you need semi-specific information on troops and structures.
• Stronghold has a large German following. Many on-line games are held on GameSpy using only the German language. (Perhaps it's time to break out the Berlitz course -- eds.)
• The graphics certainly aren't cutting edge, but they could be worse.

Final Thoughts

While Stronghold certain isn't a "Castle-Sim" as the box states, it isn't a terrible game, either. RTS fans may enjoy the setting and strategies, but it really didn't leave a lasting impression on this reviewer. Give it a try if your other games have grown stale, but don't expect it to be "the next big game" when it comes to castle-building.