Castles 1+2

I had not played this game in years, but I remember how much it was, So I bought it again and it was worth every penny.

...was dedicated to Castles II: Siege & Conquest. It's the game that introduced me to the strategy genre. Things have come a long way since the old pixelated DOS days, and now I'm playing strategy games like Sins of a Solar Empire, but it's been really nice to go back to the old days for a bit.

I know that playing such retro-games in the 21th century seems a bit odd, however Castles 1 and its much greater sequel Castes 2 still rock. Simplicity is a form of art, and in their minimalistic features both games are still quite enjoyable. That's why I consider them worty of 5 start. Just surviving till this computing era is definitely something.

Castles 1 takes me back , it was such a great game i remember playing it for many hours trying to create the best castle. Castles 2 although good , it was nowhere near as good as castles 1...

I must have lost days to the original Castles. Building my castle up, picking whether I could afford rounded turrets instead of squared ones, choosing thicker walls instead of thinner walls... the choices made a big difference and meant that the castle could hold out longer when the enemy attacked, and that was regularly! Then you had your problems to solve. You had a choice, realistic or fantasy realm. Who would really choose realistic when you could solve problems with dragons and the like? Anyway, the screen would show you on your throne and the question would be posed. Sometimes the answer was obvious but could you afford to pay that gold and cause construction on your castle to stop? In today's terms, the game is very simple but I never managed to complete it back in the early 1990s. Thanks to GOG, I got my opportunity. Was the ending worth it? A congratulations message is better than nothing at all but it's what you get. Saying that, the journey to get there was so much more enjoyable than arriving at the destination. You read the manual and you get a feel that the developers bought into the game and became interested in the subject. That shows through in the game and it's certainly one I kept coming back to. Remember, this is Good OLD Games. The graphics are blocky and limited but the game came out in 1991 so it wasn't going to be timeless in that respect. It runs well via DosBox and there don't seem to be any performance issues. I certainly managed to complete the game with no problems. Regarding Castles 2, sadly I never played it originally. If I had known about it I'd have rushed out to get it but, by then, other games had caught my eye. I've not played it but there are plenty of reviews here for you to make up your mind. For me, the price is worth it for a truly good old game in Castles 1. Castles 2 is a bonus (if you can get around the issues mentioned in the other reviews)