Stronghold Crusader Extreme review (PC)

May I just point out that re-releasing a game without apparently doing much to it and tacking on a criminally difficult “extreme” mode is a bit cynical in my book.

There is no manual in the case, just a card with the main hotkeys for the game. The manual is on the disc and is riddled with a silly number of typos. Installation of SCE went fine, as it should. Then came the running of the game and a little hitch with SecuROM, which kept telling me that the disc was a backup and I should insert the original. A few ejections and reinsertions later I had the game running. My first thoughts of the menu screens were that they were functional at best but worst of all was the fact that there were very little options to mess with and the highest resolution was 1024 by 768. No widescreen or fancy new textures for those of you who thought they were in for a visual treat with the 10,000 units onscreen doing battle at once. I didn’t see anywhere near that on screen at once but what I did see amalgamated into a God-Awful mess.

I didn’t play the original game but I did do a bit of research and I was shocked to see that it is basically the same game with some tweaks. Even the artwork on the case is identical apart from a flaming red sky this time around.

Micromanagement

I can handle micromanagement to a certain degree but when I am asked fight a battle or defend a castle whilst digging wells, planting crops, brewing beer, digging for iron ore, hunting for food, entertaining the populous with dancing bears and so many other tasks that they would need a mini novel in themselves then I have to say that the fun goes out of the fighting mainly because I didn’t have time for it on most occasions. If I want to play a castle sim then I can do without the peasants running off whenever they go in a huff and leaving me with no-one to defend their homes. I am not sure where they ran off too though, because the maps are tiny. You would be lucky to be able to build a castle big enough to swing a trebuchet in it.

As you can tell I didn’t have fun with this. I tried. Believe me I tried, but every time I came back and gave it another go it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, a bit like bad coffee. Apart from the shabby look to the whole affair and the bland run-of-the-mill sound there is a very deep game here that does have some pleasent touches, but is crushed by the terrible control scheme and antiquated 2D engine. The actual Extreme part of the game is so ludicrously difficult it beggars belief. So it’s apparently supposed to be for the hardcore gamers out there is it? Well those same gamers should stock up on large nappies because they will be wetting themselves with frustration within minutes of trying the extreme mode. The long time fans of the Stronghold series will disagree I am sure but that’s their choice, just like this is my opinion.

Extreme

There are other modes to try. The castle builder is self explanatory. Pick a map from a list and just build the castle and town you want. You still have to organise the nitty-gritty details of everyday life of course. You can’t very well build without the basic materials of stone and wood. You get a limited amount to start you off. To be honest, this part of the game I really liked. It gives you a rest from the depressing grind of the main game and I have always loved castles so building one of my own has its own rewards.

At the end of the day I can only recommend this game to hardcore fans of the genre. Others would find it hard to get much enjoyment from it, especially when there are a lot of great RTS classics out there. This game is six years old and looks it m’lord.