Believe in the words of Tom Fulp and he shall lead you to the promise land.

Genisis 12-17

Okay? Some people maybe wondering about the made up scripture qoute but it does have a slight reason for this game review, no its not the Bible Game.

Today's review: Stronghold Crusader

Choose your side to the conquer the heathen and bring the word of Christ to this godless land or repel the infidel from your homeland in the name of Allah. Stronghold Crusader is a castle sim, real time strategy game set in the times of the Crusades. A time when war ravages the middle east between Christans and Muslims in attempts to claim the holy land. You will need to know how to control you forces and run your citys economy if you wish to last long.

Crusader has five modes of gameplay:

First there is Crusader mode. Which is kinda the main course of the game with 50 levels of play. In this mode you battle rival lords to dominate the battle field and bring his distruction. As you progress through the levels they get harder and harder. Sometimes you might be in a one on one battle, Two on one, and if your really good at the game you can even fight up to 4 CPU armies against you and you alone. Did I mention that the enemy seems to always move faster then you and has is walls up before you.

Second is the Historical Campaign mode. In this mode you play through the historical battles that happened during the times of the crusades. You can start out from the beginning of it all at the battle of Antioch or skip ahead and take control of the armies of Saladin and destroy the crusaders.

Third is Castle Builder. Want to take a break from all the fighting and just build your castle in peace? Then this mode should be just for you. Choose from a landscape and get to work at watching your small citidel in the middle of nowhere transform into a sprawling metropolis and the only question you ask yourself is, will you rule with an iron fist? Or a velvet glove? This mode is nice you have some fun with because you can control many game elements from fire, plauge, bandits, or a full scale invasion from the enemy.

Forth we have the Multiplayer Mode. This is the online portion of the game but sorry I've havent bothered to try this since I dont know anybody online who plays, plus I think you need to by the expansion pack to reap the full benifits of it all. However I have heard that there are still pockets of players across the internet who still play. So this option is not completly dead.

Fifth and final is the Custom Scenario Mode. Here you can make your own customized battlefields, castle builder levels. your really only limited to your imagination with all the game options at your disposal. From how many animals you want running around. How many trees in the area. Position of yours and your enemy's castle (for multiplayer). Lots of fun can be had with this mode.

Controls and Soldiers.

The controls for Crusader are pretty standard for a RTS. Create a riticule with your mouse and highlight your men and you can control them, or you can click on them one at a time if you want to be very specific where they go.

Units you control will very on the side you are fighting for. Arabic soldiers run from the lowly slave soldier armed only with a torch, to archers, horse archers, slingers that go figure are armed with slings, arabic knights, assassins, and fire throwers. Crusaders control more of a variety of soldiers such as archers, spearmen, macemen, swordsmen, knights on horseback, crossbowmen, soldier monks, and pikemen. You will need to masterfully use these troops if you are to kill the enemy.

Both sides will be able to use the same siege equipment, except for the fire ballista which can only be used by Arabic forces. Siege equipment ranges from ballistas, manganells, catapults, trebucays, and siege towers. All of which are built and operated by engineers.

Aside from all the fighting you will have to do you will also have to manage your city's economy and people. Your lowly peasents that you watch over will wait around the castle fire until work is avalble. You can assign them to cut wood, make weapons and armor, farm food, or make bread. Doing all this with limited funds and trying to keep everyone happy thorough religion, food supply, and not taxing so high so they continue to work instead of leaving the castle.

Overall Opinion

Overall Stronghold Crusader is a fun game thats nice for something different or if you want a real challenge. Best of all you can get this game cheap, I bought my copy at Target for $10.00. I give this game a 5 out of 5. Well thats all for now and remember "Try it before you buy it". If you have any questions, complaints, suggestions just say so below and I'll see what I can do.