On first look, the graphics in Seven Kingdoms 2 may seem rather unappealing due to the empty and lifeless maps (the unit and building graphics are beautifully painted though). Beneath those simple and functional graphics however, lies a very deep strategic core. Like any other RTS, the military option to eliminate your opponents is always available but there're more indirect, subtle and equally viable ways to win in Seven Kingdoms 2 via diplomatic intrigues, espionage or economic warfare. Players who are accustomed to conventional RTSes might find Seven Kindgoms 2 a refreshing change from the usual routine of gathering resources, building an overwhelming superiority in units before steamrolling over the enemy. Money in Seven Kingdoms 2 can be earned from trade, tributes, taxes and war. With this money, you train troops, research new nation-specific units, build war machines like catapults and ballistae or hire powerful mercenaries and heroes to gain a military edge over your opponents, which can be one of 12 mighty human nations from Carthaginian to Viking or one of 7 monstrous Fryhtan races out to enslave humans. While building up your armies in Seven Kingdoms 2, it's essential to keep a close eye on the amount of money flowing in and out of your treasury. Though it makes sense to haev a large and better trained army than you enemy, a large standing army incurs substantial upkeep costs while not being fruitfully engaged in war and the spiralling costs can easily wreck the economy. An empty treasury of course means that troops start losing morale or desert due to unpaid wages and buildings like forts, mines and buildings start falling to bits. Killing enemy troops and sacking buildings does help to offset the costs of maintaining armies though. Each nation trains a different infantry unit by default, from Japanese samurai to Roman legionnaires. Another special unit for each nation can be trained upon further research from magic-blasting Celtic druids to Egyptian chariots which will determine the tactics in battle. Conquering enemy or neutral towns of other nationalities grants you access to different units to complement and provide more well-rounded and flexible armies. Other than the troop types, the special abilities of the greater being for each nation will affect the choice of nation to lead. Some players may prefer fearsome offensively-oriented gods like Thor of the Vikings who hurls lighting bolts at the enemies while others might be more interested in Isis of the Egyptians who grants population bonuses to your towns allowing more troops and workers to be trained. The sheer variety of nations makes Seven Kingdoms 2 an exceedingly replayable game. And that's excluding the Frythans (unfortunately only available in skirmish and not the campaign) which require vastly different strategies to win. As mentioned earlier, diplomacy and espionage play an important role in Seven Kingdom 2. While the AI is sneaky enough to infiltrates spies into your forts or towns in the heat of battle and turn the loyalties of your generals and troops and provoke dissent and rebellion, I believe that these options would be better experienced in multiplayer games with humans rather than the AI. In summary excellent for gamers who crave a game with more strategic depth than conventional games of the genre.
Playing Stronghold is like watching sieges in movies : attacking soldiers charging towards the ramparts and getting shot ful of holes, catapults blasting gaps in the walls, towers crashing down and furious troops storming breaches in the walls or scaling ladders to cut down the archers on the battlements. Unfortunately, it's usually your castle being besieged :) Gamers expecting a more combat-focused game might be slightly disappointed to find that withstanding sieges successfully in Stronghold involves more than simply building strong fortifications and raising an army of archers and crossbowmen to make pincushions out of anyone reckless enough to appear within range of the walls. As most missions usually devolve into battles of attrition where the invader throws waves of troops at your castle (or what's left of it) during each successive siege to attempt to overwhelm your ability and resources to both repair the walls and replace the troops killed, Stronghold can be thought as more as a economic simulation with a military veneer add some excitement and urgency to the town management :) Higher level troops like the heavily-armoured swordsmen are prohibitively expensive in resources and gold to replace and a well-oiled economy makes recovery after repulsing each assault much, much easier. And frankly speaking, there isn't many tactics available to the besieged apart from building towers in mutually supporting positions and stationing enough ranged troops on the battlements and towers. Boiling oil, flaming pitch, spike traps and other nasty surprises for attackers available in the later missions will add some novelty to your defensive arsenal but massed archers and crossbowmen will usually form the mainstay of your defence throughout the game. Nonetheless, The peculiar challenges presented by the terrain and other constraints in each mission of the campaign keeps everything fresh and interesting. On the other hand, missions where you actually besiege an enemy castle are few and far between in the single-player campaign. It isn't exactly a bad thing for me since they can be frsutratingly difficult and puzzle-like. Filling in the moat and breaching walls and other obstacles while under heavy fire from above will kill many of your men - lose too many men and you'll find that taking the keep and killing the enemy lord in the heart of the castle becomes nigh impossible - prompting another restart of the mission. Players who relish such challenges will definitely find the Siege scenarios attacking or defending a historical castle very interesting :) Despite its age, Stronghold is still an immensely engrossing and addictive game. Units are wonderfully animated, voice acting is excellent and the in-mission music and overall atmosphere draw you in and make you feel like you're there in the Middle Ages. The sounds of arrows whistling through the air and then impacting on flesh with dull thuds or the winding of crossbows being reloaded after scoring hits on those damn swordsmen never get old either :)
