Stronghold Crusader HD

I have spent an impossibly large amount of time playing RTS games. I've played every Command & Conquer, every Ensemble Studios game, Total War, Supreme Commander, StarCraft, as well as dozens of others; not to mention every Stronghold game. However, if I had to choose my single favorite, it would probably be Stronghold Crusader. Partly, it's because it looks and sounds great even 10 years later. This game may not be in true 3D like Age of Mythology (also 2002), but you'll come to understand why when you have several thousand soldiers on screen simultaneously. I really like the sound design: the soundtrack is great and I actually enjoy the guy who verbally notifies you when "your granary is full, my liege". Most of the reason that it's my favorite, though, is personal taste and how this game manages to hit all of my favorite features. I've always loved turtle tactics and defense building, and I like a slower, more strategic RTS. Crusader exemplifies all of these qualities in spades. You can literally build any castle imaginable. You can employ hundreds of archers and dozens of ballistae. You can dig enormous moats, hire slaves to set enemy castles on fire, send assassins to scale their walls, set upon them with catapults, or (my personal favorite) make an army of knights and siege machines so huge it completely overruns your enemies. This game is literally Minecraft in RTS form; you can spend hours coming up with new strategies and castles. To sum up, the two best things about this game are the castle-building and seemingly unlimited population limits (I think it's 10,000). However, this game is probably not for RTS newbies: frankly, for an RTS, it's pretty complicated and daunting, but once you get the hang it, it becomes like second-nature. It also could be a good stepping stone to games like Total War and Sins of a Solar Empire. In my opinion, it hits a sweet spot in terms of complicatedness. If I was to choose one RTS to bring to a desert island, I would probably choose Stronghold Crusader. It's not only the best Stronghold game, but possibly the best RTS game. By the way, as a note, there was no nostalgia involved in this rating. I first played this game in 2010 in its low-resolution form, and I still loved it.

Honestly, my experience (other than sandbox) was that when playing customized skirmishes the AI enemy, even when you've selected both sides to be equal (in their starting monies and supplies) cheats. For example, I watched two fire balistas in action and they were shooting faster and more accurately than you can achieve with the same equipment, similar scenario. Then the "higher end" soldiers breed like bunnies and there's a never-ending plethora of slaves and slave drivers,. Everything spawns way faster, from the money taken in to how quickly you can produce assassins, (for example.) The enemy (on easy no less) sends relentless annoying attacks that keep you on the defense and having to replace lost military and rebuild walls. I have not tried the "normal" setting (what's the point?) - I enjoy the sandbox where you can create but who doesn't want to at a minimum defend your castle and if well managed even take on a foe agressively. I played the skirmish they set for you and some are doable (after a great while) some I could not conquer and can move on until you master a pre-set scenario. I'm not saying you can't have fun here and its certainly dirt cheap but it has short-comings. Still, I played almost 200 hours (maybe not alot to some) before I came to this conclusion and decided I was DONE but also recognized I "got my monies worth." Cheap entertainment.

It was difficult to get the multiplayer working, but finally we discovered that everyone had to turn off their firewalls and install a program called Hamachi. Then it worked fine.

This is one of my favorite castle building RTS games and I've put in hundreds of hours growing up. You can perfectly place towers, walls and everything to your liking (except the keep for some reason?). I've built unbreakable defenses with 1,000's archers and crossbowmen. Tried just about every possible castle layout I could imagine including themed builds after the enemy Lords and played tons of online games with friends. I like it better then Stronghold 1, because you can build your castle up from nothing in the campaigns instead of starting with a prebuilt one, but I do like stronghold 1's graphics better. To the people who say it plays too fast, just lower the game speed using +/-? and them complaining about placement is really nit-picky, cause it's honestly not that bad. You can also rotate the view and hide walls to help place things better. My major complaint is that they never added new buildings or units in the HD version, which would have been a perfect opportunity. Having a hard time getting back into this game, cause I already know and remember everything from playing it so much. It could really use more diverse units and more ways to play, imo. Also too easy now after finding a few overlooked game breaking exploits that no one seems to know about. Definitely a good game though and worth giving a try.

This game actually puts so many RTS, Castle building, and +/- RPG styled game elements, that it will stand the test of time, and well worth the investment many times over. No game will please others , then again the "others" are the few in this case. Do yourself a favor; if you want plain fun, with just the right amount of strategy and a hint of an RPG (the story lines, and progressive conquests etc), then get this one, you will never run out of choices for a replay, and with so much to work from. Stronghold Crusader HD, will always have a place in the hearts of many players, if not due to the fact that it can be approached from just sheer castle building and defense, through so many possibilities via the editor. Have fun !