Stronghold: Crusader II

 PC
User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 250 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 102 out of 250
  2. Mixed: 71 out of 250
  3. Negative: 77 out of 250
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  1. dkurjery
    Sep 24, 2014
    4
    A big disappointment. In my first review, I stated that AI has been improved a lot. Several hours passed, I realize that I was wrong. In terms of unit management, AI does an excellent job, you won't have a chance if AI has a similar army size of your army. However, the reason why AI can rush so quickly is just because AI cheat for resources and units. Just try to destroy more and more AI'sA big disappointment. In my first review, I stated that AI has been improved a lot. Several hours passed, I realize that I was wrong. In terms of unit management, AI does an excellent job, you won't have a chance if AI has a similar army size of your army. However, the reason why AI can rush so quickly is just because AI cheat for resources and units. Just try to destroy more and more AI's buildings, you will finally find out that opponent AI can still spawn any units they want even they don't have the necessary buildings and resource.

    The game has cut out a lot of content from the Stronghold Crusader I, you have less buildings in this game. Also, the details, animation, actions, voice and description of units are either absent or greatly reduced. Graphics becomes 3D now but it looks even worse than the 2.5D HD graphic in SC I.

    Single player campaign just look like a in-game tutorial, so your main game modes are the skirmish and sandbox mode. However, due to the reduction of details, there is no fun in sandbox mode compared to SC I. There are still various glitches or bugs leftover (e.g. units getting stuck, missing voice or sound, unresponsive mouse pointer, etc.), just take a look in the steam forum.

    Overall, the game doesn't worth $50 as there are not much innovation. Choosing the SC I instead may be a better purchase option.    … Expand
  2. 15Moopy96
    Sep 23, 2014
    10
    Exactly what I wanted out of the game. If you enjoy the original stronghold crusader this should be equally as addictive. I have put about 6 hours into the game so far. At first I was hesitant but after I progressed through the campaigns I found that this game possesses everything that made the original fun and more.
  3. Violett
    Nov 8, 2014
    3
    Bleh, this is the same game as it was in 2005. Cmon guys, its 2014 already, open your window and look outside. No plot, no lore, and, man, those characters looks like terrible FREAKS! If it was a joke I didn't get it.
  4. Dokkodo
    Jan 17, 2015
    1
    The game does nothing to improve on it's predecessors. It adds nothing new, it still has awful AI and a lack of basic RTS controls, and graphically it looks like garbage.

    It's still fun to build castles and such, but there is no reason for this game to exist as anything it does is already accomplished by the previous Stronghold games. It would be one thing if they improved any aspect of    The game does nothing to improve on it's predecessors. It adds nothing new, it still has awful AI and a lack of basic RTS controls, and graphically it looks like garbage.

    It's still fun to build castles and such, but there is no reason for this game to exist as anything it does is already accomplished by the previous Stronghold games. It would be one thing if they improved any aspect of the game or even expanded on them...but there's nothing. It is nothing but a way to bilk fans of the franchise out of their money.    … Expand
  5. anggadaz
    Oct 27, 2015
    6
    This is strategy game that can build city/castle and army. The previous game is better than this. The game is too heavy (its glitch) for my pc, i dont know why. The game is has not many improve from previous. The graphic is boring.
  6. FizCap
    Dec 27, 2014
    1
    Game is **** garbage I can't even change the AI difficulty I get my ass kicked every match and than I have the announcer asy you are in last place I'm not impressed than you have your ai allies say you have doomed us I don't want to **** hear that **** im new i'm going back to the first crusaders where I don't suck, if I do good in the first one but bad on the second one than the game is garbage
  7. BatmanBuster
    Jan 4, 2015
    6
    The game play comes from an era when programmers had tons of ideas but only few grams of tools. Nowadays things had changed. Unfortunately not for the good of players as programmers now have tons of tools but only grams of new ideas.
  8. TomPD
    Oct 14, 2014
    5
    I loved the first stronghold crusader, but I do not love the second. It is as many people have said, pretty much the same as the last game, yet this one is worse.

    There are some cool new military units and more tiered options based on the weapons you produce (maces are needed for both macemen and templar knights). Some of the things I loved from the old game are missing like engineers    I loved the first stronghold crusader, but I do not love the second. It is as many people have said, pretty much the same as the last game, yet this one is worse.

    There are some cool new military units and more tiered options based on the weapons you produce (maces are needed for both macemen and templar knights). Some of the things I loved from the old game are missing like engineers and the ability to dig moats. You can put up pallisades but nobody has the wood production for that.

    The game is so much tougher now and quite buggy. The old game made it real clear how to start an early and cheap food economy (apples) and transition to late game (bread). Everything is way more expensive. Wood cutters cost 20 wood now instead of 3 and everything else seems to be at least 50. It wouldn't be as much of an issue if the wood income was also higher, but it is no faster than the old game. Bottom line, you spend all your early gold in this game on basic resources. The economy is just not set up right.

    Gold is hard to come by until you start mass producing stone or something. The market has a nice auto buy/sell feature though.

    The game engine is slow and creates a lot of lag especially as the number of players go up. Many of the animations are buggy. The people can easily get stuck or trapped when setting up new walls and creating tight knit castles which are necessary in the little space you are given.

    Ultimately, I would rather plan the first Stronghold Crusader or Stronghold 2. I think both are more fun.    … Expand
  9. Derringer
    Sep 30, 2014
    1
    This is an excelent example of how to ruin a nice game. I'm glad i didnt pay the $50 that it costs.
    Its more like an expansion of the first one, but badly done. its not a sequel, Definetly.Also has more bugs, fewer buildings, and some units were horrible modified. For example, Do you remember the ballista tower? Well, now it costs the triple (300 gold and 100 wood, also any building its    This is an excelent example of how to ruin a nice game. I'm glad i didnt pay the $50 that it costs.
    Its more like an expansion of the first one, but badly done. its not a sequel, Definetly.Also has more bugs, fewer buildings, and some units were horrible modified. For example, Do you remember the ballista tower? Well, now it costs the triple (300 gold and 100 wood, also any building its more expensive than before) with half damage, and soooo slow on firing. Like one shot every 10 seconds i think., and instead of putting the ballista in a Square or Round Tower like the Stronhold Crusader 1, you have to bought it with a kind of wood tower (like those skinny ones on Age of Empires II, but without any protection) and is so f**** weak. Two enemy archers can destroy it. (and even any infantary, because they just have to destroy a wood tower not a stone one. You cant adjust the speed of the game either. The campaign is the same that the old game, The graphics are better than the SC1 but this is a giant steal of money. I would'nt pay more than 5 bucks for this. There are even cheaper games that are better than this one.    … Expand
  10. Flaps
    Oct 26, 2014
    5
    I used to play the first Stronghold a long time ago, and it was great at the time.
    Actually I don't see any great improvement in the second chapter, beside graphics.
    Game-play got slightly worse, few really hard mission without any real good fun.
    Old for these years
  11. madskull505
    Sep 23, 2014
    1
    Gameplay and graphics is same as stronghold 3, original stronghold crusader was fantastic because it was 2.5D and gave same gameplay experience on every computer, but now fancy 3D engine ruined the gameplay experience. Even in medium settings game looks terrible and performance is like stronghold 3.

    Nothing new, don;t waste money on this, buy the Stronghold Curseder HD if you still    Gameplay and graphics is same as stronghold 3, original stronghold crusader was fantastic because it was 2.5D and gave same gameplay experience on every computer, but now fancy 3D engine ruined the gameplay experience. Even in medium settings game looks terrible and performance is like stronghold 3.

    Nothing new, don;t waste money on this, buy the Stronghold Curseder HD if you still like Stronghold series (duh).    … Expand
  12. Kakalot
    Sep 24, 2014
    0
    It's not a "stronghold" game. When i play it, i feel very different from the original version. Still a big disappointment :( .........................
  13. Nnelg
    Sep 24, 2014
    3
    This game has too many bugs and problems in it. In the first Stronghold Crusader you had the time to build up your castle and your forces, now you have to deal with relative large enemy numbers from the start. This game is not worth your time, there are extra units and features but they are not good enough to make the problems disappear. I would rather suggest you buy the originalThis game has too many bugs and problems in it. In the first Stronghold Crusader you had the time to build up your castle and your forces, now you have to deal with relative large enemy numbers from the start. This game is not worth your time, there are extra units and features but they are not good enough to make the problems disappear. I would rather suggest you buy the original Stronghold Crusader because that was a truly legendary game and way better then this bad game.… Expand
  14. elrimhor
    Sep 24, 2014
    2
    I just wanted to point out one thing which seems to go unnoticed, and that is the broken economy. Why? Well, the answer is the dumb candlemaker who produce the candles ex nihilo; out of nowhere! And how does that affect the gameplay? You simple build a bunch of candlemakers near your stockpile and set autosell from your marketplace, and take a look at your income: you get so much gold thatI just wanted to point out one thing which seems to go unnoticed, and that is the broken economy. Why? Well, the answer is the dumb candlemaker who produce the candles ex nihilo; out of nowhere! And how does that affect the gameplay? You simple build a bunch of candlemakers near your stockpile and set autosell from your marketplace, and take a look at your income: you get so much gold that you won't be needing any other resource at all! So, to win the game it is enough to build candlemakers, sell some candles, buy some wood, build more candlemakers, and so on... The key is that you can do all of that inside your castle, so you don't need to go fighting for mines or grass. So why would anybody bother with guarding that stone over there, when 150 candlemakers are the most productive manufacture ever! Therefore: the broken economy system.

    Also, everything that Trickedagain stated is true; I would only like to add "no moat" to his list.

    And one more thing: The spearman is now man-at-arms, right? And he throws the spear before attacking the enemy in melee. The thing I would like to see is a cooldown meter for this ability, so that I could know when my men-at-arms are ready with a new trowing spears. This would allow them to be used as skirmishers, with hit-and-run tactics, which would add a strategy depth. And this is unavailable because it is uncertain are they going to shoot the enemy, or to thrust him with spears.

    There are much more things wrong with this game, but I think most of them have already been pointed out; I would only like to advice people not to waste too much hours on this game, it's just not worthy of your free time or nerves.    … Expand
  15. Josh107
    Sep 24, 2014
    2
    This is a poor show from firefly. Rather than innovate and add new ideas, features and concepts to the original stronghold crusader all they seem to have done is remade the same game with the terrible engine they used for Stronghold 2, 3 and Legends. I really used to like this company, but their continued failure to innovate means if you have played one stronghold game you have played themThis is a poor show from firefly. Rather than innovate and add new ideas, features and concepts to the original stronghold crusader all they seem to have done is remade the same game with the terrible engine they used for Stronghold 2, 3 and Legends. I really used to like this company, but their continued failure to innovate means if you have played one stronghold game you have played them all.

    Stronghold crusader HD is available on steam, and is the exact same game as this from a gameplay perspective without the terrible graphics (the old graphics are far clearer) and is currently £22.50 cheaper than this piece of junk, even on ultra it looks like a drawing you might have on your fridge. I really can't see where Firefly have spent their time on this, it is definitely not worth the £30 they are asking, looking through the menus I counted 1 new building the "artillerier" or something equally retarded which I believe is just a renamed "Engineers guild" from the original game?

    If you have fond memories of stronghold do not waste your money on this game.    … Expand
  16. Doc_Hopwood
    Sep 23, 2014
    5
    For the reviews that say Crusaders II "possesses everything that made you love the first game" they are 100% correct. It's 2002 again and if you bought this game you are the proud owner of a $50 copy of Crusaders 1. Break out your Sony Walkman, crank the Limp Bizkit, and grab yourself a can of Surge (which they're also re-releasing this year).

    Your walls are made out of chalk and    For the reviews that say Crusaders II "possesses everything that made you love the first game" they are 100% correct. It's 2002 again and if you bought this game you are the proud owner of a $50 copy of Crusaders 1. Break out your Sony Walkman, crank the Limp Bizkit, and grab yourself a can of Surge (which they're also re-releasing this year).

    Your walls are made out of chalk and disintegrate into powder at the first sign of trouble. The big battles you see in previews? Those don't happen... instead your mob of cheap units crashes into their mob of cheap units. Formations and all that stuff are meaningless. You can build a big city in the sandbox game and play around a little and that's alright but then you're just putzing around collecting resources and decorating a screen.

    I don't typically care about graphics but the only thing I can point to that is different from the 2002 release from this series is a barely perceptible bump in graphics quality. Everything else is pretty much the same dated game with bland mechanics. I really wanted this to be a good castle sim but it isn't.. small maps, ho hum AI, dated everything... and I fell for it again.

    And for $50?!?!?!. I'd give it a 6 or 7 for a price tag of $15 but this game is priced in the same neighborhood along with really good new releases.. save the $50 and get Age of Empires II HD or buy the HD version of one of the old Stronghold games (because that's essentially what this is). Unless you just love Stronghold Crusaders and want to play it with a couple new NPC lords (which changes almost nothing really). In which case, go for it.    … Expand
  17. Trickedagain
    Sep 24, 2014
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. READ ALL THESE USER COMMENTS BEFORE YOU BUY !

    I am one of the stupid ones who got my hopes up after seeing reviews and hearing 'its the original game, but much improved with more additions bringing it up to date' ... and so i bought it.
    What a mistake!
    IT IS MISSING MANY THINGS FROM THE ORIGINAL!!!!!
    No laddermen
    No seige towers
    No engineers! to use, build or put into your seige equipment. This changes gameplay massively, as it used to take time to get decent wall defences, because you had to first build the engineers workshop, produce engineers, and build a big enough tower, then build a ballista/mangonel etc on it, and then put your engineers in them for them to function. Now i just buy a bloody ballista tower as soon as the game starts and it begins shooting longrange hail marys from the get go.
    What about PIMPING my castle... **** in 2002 i could put flags and the likes around, not in this remake.
    No EVIL / NICE system in the castle. Gone are the days of building dungeons and setting out heads on spikes to scare your populace ****less so you can tax them etc... this also kills gameplay in a big way, that was so much of the fun!
    Have to agree with most of the other comments.. The WALLS come down like polysterene blocks, so effortlessly and quickly.
    Maps are tiny, one of the only flaws in original also. but its 2014 youd think they could have fixed that!!! Makes it annoyingly irritating to have resources far from castle so you can NEVER fully have your castle emcompass everything. You are always rebuilding or defending your resource buildings out in the middle of nowhere.
    No more leather armour
    No info when you scroll over buildings etc
    No more peasants saying provocative gestures when u click em
    No tunneling men?? that ive seen
    The AI keep repeating the same tripe over n over again, its 2014 ! get a heap of new sayings in there not just 1 or 2 !!!
    AI is not improved, they do the same **** over n over again from what ive experienced.
    Ahh the list is endless.

    THIS GAME HAS BEEN DUMBED DOWN !!!

    IT HAS LESS THAN THE ORIGINAL !!!

    Gameplay is not even as fun as original !!!!! :(

    Ok, rant over.

    Graphics not good, but ok.
    Only cool thing was haybale launcher thingy.
    So if your into firey haybales then fork over all your dough, otherwise DONT BUY !    … Expand
  18. jerry-jones
    Sep 25, 2014
    2
    The good:
    1-3d Graphic.
    2-More units. 3-Much cheaper mercenaries. 4-The Shield units gets a huge improvement you need only 6 to have your troops protected. 5-Weak AI characters like the rat are much stronger now and use catapults. 6-Formatios: yay that's new no other strategy game thought about that !!!. The Bad: 1-All wooden buildings look very ugly and only the walls and the keep    The good:
    1-3d Graphic.
    2-More units.
    3-Much cheaper mercenaries.
    4-The Shield units gets a huge improvement you need only 6 to have your troops protected.
    5-Weak AI characters like the rat are much stronger now and use catapults.
    6-Formatios: yay that's new no other strategy game thought about that !!!.
    The Bad:
    1-All wooden buildings look very ugly and only the walls and the keep look nice.
    2-Placing units on the wall gives them no protection ever as archers will shoot through the wall.
    3-Units animation is so terrible especially the woodcutter.
    4-The music has like only 4 new musical pieces and 4 old ones from SH Crusader 1 and all the new ones are terrible and unclear.
    5-The sound effects are all from older versions of the game no creation whatsoever.
    6-Wood cost of all buildings are extremely high (inn 200 -house 65-weapons production 50).
    7-Wood production is lowest I have ever seen in any game each hut which costs 20 wood gets you 16 wood every 2 mins and could take much longer if the warehouse is farther away.
    8-Again ranged units is so overpowered but that was always the case in older versions
    9-Arrows don't miss targets ever and I saw an arrow shift in mid flight to hit the target!! I wonder if they use homing arrows ?
    10-Units on hill shoot farther than units on tower even though the tower is higher.
    11-AI characters start attacking after 10-20 sec only instead on 2 min good luck players.
    12-AI characters build units faster than his economics would allow and they are cheating bigger and better than before.
    13-Walls are super weak and very expensive it's useless to even build and would be better to build towers and delay building walls until later when you have like 500 stones.
    14-No more Siege engines on big towers no you build a stupid weak wooden tower which is very weak archers can destroy it after like 12 arrows only and it costs 300 Gold WTF!!
    15-No moats or dry moats it's gone forever.
    16-No more siege towers or ladder-men.
    17-Game price is 50$ but it's worth only 15-20$.
    18-Playing against 7 enemies is impossible in fact playing against 3 enemies means defeat because they each send 30 units every 40 sec and will swarm your castle not to mention siege equipment.
    19-Some bugs here and there.
    20-Campaigns and missions numbers are a lot less than SHC 1.
    21-units overlapping is a big issue and some times 10 units occupy the same spot.
    22-NO tool-tips for units damage,health or defense even the stop order doesn't have a tool-tip! super lazy developer.
    Overall 2/10 the game sucks big time in its current state.    … Expand
  19. heime2003
    Nov 16, 2014
    4
    the series has lost its direction and dev try to get money from fans without any significant improvements
    in fact, the game plays worse than original crusader and graphic got only a little better
    unless u are hard core stronghold players u will get lost since start of the game. no detailed tutorial, easy to look at interface and background story that give u meaning why u have to fight    the series has lost its direction and dev try to get money from fans without any significant improvements
    in fact, the game plays worse than original crusader and graphic got only a little better
    unless u are hard core stronghold players u will get lost since start of the game. no detailed tutorial, easy to look at interface and background story that give u meaning why u have to fight through missions in campaigne
    considering its price tag( $49.99), i felt cheated by dev
    pros:
    - it can give stronghold fans updated version of SH:C
    - the missions are not a piece of cake and often need actual strategic play to complete
    cons:
    - too pricy vs actual quality of game
    - graphic is not at where 2014 games should be
    - not friendly to newbie to the series    … Expand
  20. Shadow34
    Oct 4, 2014
    5
    I wasn't expecting Stronghold Crusader II to be absolutely new game, i didn't expect it to change whole game system and redo everything but... There is NOTHING new in this release. Its almost the same game as HD version of old Crusader with better graphics. If u want to play same game again buy it... But if you want changes, any changes don't. It even contains icons from old Strongholds.
  21. Agarensis
    Sep 26, 2014
    6
    Spent a couple days with this game and while it's so far decent, it needs improvement.

    The game comes with three short campaigns that act as introductions to the economics and military tactics. There's also Crusader Trails, which are a series of pre-made matches with AI players. They are much shorter than the two in the first game, but there are also more of them. There's also the    Spent a couple days with this game and while it's so far decent, it needs improvement.

    The game comes with three short campaigns that act as introductions to the economics and military tactics. There's also Crusader Trails, which are a series of pre-made matches with AI players. They are much shorter than the two in the first game, but there are also more of them. There's also the customized Crusader skirmish games for single and multiplayer, and a sandbox mode for freely building a castle.

    Graphically the game is decent; it ran fine for me without any crashes so far, but there were bugs such as a healer getting stuck on a staircase, and issues with unit stances. Much of the audio is retained from previous Stronghold games, notably Stronghold 2 and the original Crusader. The AI players however still don't speak their lines of dialogue when addressing the human player, and instead wobble their heads about while making faces.

    Building costs are needlessly inflated, and I found myself having to constantly buy wood every time I placed a couple structures, or even one hovel. While I can understand wood being a rarer commodity in the desert, 200 wood for a mill or an inn is ridiculous, let alone 20 just for a woodcutter, and having several woodcutters isn't enough to keep up with the wood demand.

    The economics are also strange. Stone and iron don't seem as valuable when sold as they used to be, despite being the two mineral deposits everyone fights for. Ox tethers transport stone and iron without their usual peasant handler. Chandlers make their candles seemingly out of thin air, while everything else needs an input of raw materials. Every weapon now has its own forge, as opposed to the original where fletchers and blacksmiths could alternate between the weapon types they made. No more leather armour; crossbowmen now wear metal armour and macemen have chainmail, but strangely only need their maces crafted.

    You are confined primarily to building within a bordered estate as previously introduced in Stronghold 2, though you can build in neutral or allied territory to an extent. The game forces you to compact everything close for efficiency, but at the expense of feeling severely boxed in, and you must aggressively defend your outlying farms and mines from attacks, or spend another several hundred in wood to replace them. Everything is square shaped, including your castle towers (no round towers except the tall, thin ones), and with what few castle building options that are available, neither you or the AI players will build anything grand. Even in sandbox mode your castle will probably look more like King Friday's of Mr Roger's Neighbourhood than your personal Krak des Chevaliers. Depending on the map you can even get away with just building a well defended wall between two sections of mountain, backed by a few towers, which is hardly the point of a Stronghold game.

    The combat is faced paced, and the AI players (currently 8, with more rumoured to come) are fairly well balanced with their tactics. Even the revamped version of the Rat makes use of siege engines. Players will either rush you with mobs of cheap troops or turtle towards attacking with stronger armies, though the battles are closer to small skirmishes than the clashing of armies. The variety of units available is pretty good, and the game requires you to build a more balanced army, rather than spamming your enemy with horse archers or mobs of assassins; though archers and crossbowmen still dominate most of the fights, and mobs of macemen can still destroy almost anything they encounter. Siege engines are recruited from siege camps and don't require engineer teams anymore. There's a variety of engines from battering rams and burning carts, to catapults and trebuchets, even Hussite war wagons to protect some of your archers. I don't understand the need for two catapult types though, since you already had a catapult and trebuchet in the previous games, and they both had their pros and cons. The more expensive catapult (referred to as a War Wolf) looks big, cool and does more damage than the regular one, but all of the structures and castle walls are frail enough, even when attacked by infantry. Castle walls are too easily broken, something I didn't like about the Stronghold games from Stronghold 2 onwards. Even in games like Age of Empires or Medieval Total War it would take several shots from a catapult or trebuchet to break through a stone wall, just as it did in Medieval times. Here though it's like launching a bowling ball at Lego bricks, though you can also instantly repair your structures so long as the enemy isn't too close to them.

    Currently this games is closer to a Medieval Command and Conquer, than the castle building sim with RTS elements that the first Stronghold Crusader was. Perhaps with a few patches the game can improve, but given the amount of streamlining I'm not sure by how much. Tough recommendation.    … Expand
  22. tobiaski95
    Sep 28, 2014
    6
    I was expecting a lot more of this game, especially because of the campaign FireFly used on Youtube to promote it by sharing development updates and behind-the-scenes videos. I expected Stronghold Crusader + new content, but it has not a lot of new buildings at all. Also, the ratios for resources are way too oversized. 20 wood for a woodcutter? In SH:C is only took 3 wood.

    For the sake    I was expecting a lot more of this game, especially because of the campaign FireFly used on Youtube to promote it by sharing development updates and behind-the-scenes videos. I expected Stronghold Crusader + new content, but it has not a lot of new buildings at all. Also, the ratios for resources are way too oversized. 20 wood for a woodcutter? In SH:C is only took 3 wood.

    For the sake of the knowledge I have on developing games, I know how long it takes to create a game including art, speech, etc. Maybe there was shortage of time and FireFly had to recycle the audio from previous games.

    What makes me rate this game a 6? I like the new characters like the Sultana and the Slave King. They are different from previous SH:C in terms of armies and management. Also, the 3D graphics look OK.

    I don't recommend to buy the game at this moment; wait until the price drops. If you are new to this genre, please but SH1 or SH:C first because they are still the best of the series.    … Expand
  23. Arkants
    Sep 24, 2014
    3
    This game has a lot of bugs and no sound in battles only in main menu. Wolf, Lionheart.. no one has voice. I bought the Special Edition and don`t see the "mini-campaigns". Its a copy of SC3 and its better SC1
  24. Ivaniuk
    Sep 24, 2014
    3
    Agaaaain firefly fail this feels like sh3, maps are still small, you need to protect your economic buildings all the time, it's almost impossible to build your economic buildings inside the castle, the only medium sized maps you have suck because the construction borders makes the map feels small. Some buildings like the peasant houses are extremely expensive, stone,wood and ironAgaaaain firefly fail this feels like sh3, maps are still small, you need to protect your economic buildings all the time, it's almost impossible to build your economic buildings inside the castle, the only medium sized maps you have suck because the construction borders makes the map feels small. Some buildings like the peasant houses are extremely expensive, stone,wood and iron production are ultra slow, weak walls, even slaves can take it down in seconds, stupid mangonels now they are super slow and you need to tell them where to shoot, if a soldier is above a wall that is being attacked he will die instantly. Sad but the truth is that stronghold saga died after stronghold 2.… Expand
  25. Oxtone
    Sep 27, 2014
    9
    Good solid stronghold crusader fun, has been keeping me entertained now for hours, it has a few game play and AI flaws but will easily be a 10 when these are ironed out. The only one thing i don't like about the game is the AI cheats but then when i am building a sweet castle it needs all the help it can get.
  26. rxgamer
    Sep 28, 2014
    10
    This is the best Stronghold game since the original Crusader and FireFly deserves some credit for this after what I saw from SH2, Legends, etc. It definitely feels like a Crusader game and I appreciate the areas in which they simplified such as no longer having engineers and letting the stockpile, granary, and armory have infinite space. I also appreciate how much less space theThis is the best Stronghold game since the original Crusader and FireFly deserves some credit for this after what I saw from SH2, Legends, etc. It definitely feels like a Crusader game and I appreciate the areas in which they simplified such as no longer having engineers and letting the stockpile, granary, and armory have infinite space. I also appreciate how much less space the orchards, farms, and other food buildings require. This is essentially Stronghold Crusader 2 with a modern graphics engine and some tweaks under the hood. The fact they kept the same formula is a very good thing.

    The visuals are also a massive improvement over the original and the game definitely looks great. There's a lot of familiarity which is nice. The fire arrows are a little disappointing compared to the original since they miss that whistle and nice smoke trail. I had to take a second look to make sure the fire arrows were working at all.

    I only have a couple hours in the game so far, but from my experience the game is far more polished than predecessors, though not quite there yet. The game is fun and I look forward to spending more time in it.

    My only suggestion to FireFly is to take that leap and just invest in a solid game engine that's already on the market and has proved itself. Bugs aren't acceptable in 2014 and FireFly has been struggling with their proprietary engine since going 3D with Stronghold 2 which is several years ago now. You have to call it quits at some point and just lease a gaming engine geared for RTS. This way they can focus on gameplay mechanics and design rather than focusing so much on the technicalities. With that said, the engine in Crusader 2 is good for the most part, but still lacking collision detection.    … Expand
  27. NeoNerox
    Sep 26, 2014
    0
    A big disappointment. In my first review, I stated that AI has been improved a lot. Several hours passed, I realize that I was wrong. In terms of unit management, AI does an excellent job, you won't have a chance if AI has a similar army size of your army. However, the reason why AI can rush so quickly is just because AI cheat for resources and units.
  28. mattaust
    Sep 23, 2014
    0
    Congratulations Ladies and Gentlemen, Firefly Studio have re-released the same game with few improvements over a 12 year period. If this were any other game, people would be outraged.

    Con of the century, and for a $50 pricetag. LOL @ the people that would pay for a 12 year old game.
  29. Tubey
    Sep 23, 2014
    6
    I'm outright confused that this game is a 2014 release. It's the original game with a few UI boosts and almost identical graphics with a polish on them. That said, that doesn't make it a bad game as such because the original was actually pretty good. But I just don't understand what the objective was here as usually with a sequel you try to add and expand on the original. Yes, the AI isI'm outright confused that this game is a 2014 release. It's the original game with a few UI boosts and almost identical graphics with a polish on them. That said, that doesn't make it a bad game as such because the original was actually pretty good. But I just don't understand what the objective was here as usually with a sequel you try to add and expand on the original. Yes, the AI is notably smarter, so what we have here is the original, but smarter. Oh, and streamlined, which is the fashion for these titles, everything has to be simpler it seems, but unlike the Total War series at least it hasn't stripped everything and anything out for that purpose.

    If you're looking for more of the same, this title is for you as it plays it safe almost to a fault. So much so that even the sound is absolutely identical to its' predecessor. Such an odd game to score as there's nothing wrong with it, but nothing particularly eye catching in terms of new features or impetus to buy in 2014. Puzzling.    … Expand
  30. Sjalka
    Sep 26, 2014
    8
    8/10

    why? - cause i love stronghold crusader. - it is fast, simple RTS. crusader 2 feels pretty much like the original - with better visuals. the changes are few or very subtle, or so it feels. it is still the good feeling of building sandcastles and stomping on your enemies castles. but not all is better. - the whacky enemies are less so, the tone is a bit more serious, the AI seems    8/10

    why? - cause i love stronghold crusader. - it is fast, simple RTS. crusader 2 feels pretty much like the original - with better visuals. the changes are few or very subtle, or so it feels. it is still the good feeling of building sandcastles and stomping on your enemies castles.

    but not all is better. - the whacky enemies are less so, the tone is a bit more serious, the AI seems not to have made even small leaps since the original much.

    This game is MUCH better than the other stronghold games, - but i do have to admit, it is not exactly more "fun" than the original ( or for that reason the HD version of that ) - it looks better, but feels too similar.

    it could have been more, but it is worth the asking price - for those who liked the original or HD version (... and do not expect more than practically an expansion pack with new visuals ) - so in the end, it is not "more" than the old crusader. ... but still fun    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

73
#73 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
30
#30 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
65

Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 30
  3. Negative: 3 out of 30
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 13, 2014
    40
    When I read that Crusader is slowly becoming the game the developers wanted it to be, I can’t hold back laughter. What are they going to do in Crusader III? Strip the visuals of distinctiveness even more? Simplify the economy further? Remove some more units? [Dec 2014, p.81]
  2. Games.cz
    Dec 3, 2014
    60
    Blast from the past when real-time strategies used to dominate the world. The creators took the concept of the first part almost completely and besides the updated visuals there is no extra value added to differentiate the sequel from the original.
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  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 25, 2014
    46
    When it comes to the fight the game remains as clueless as before. An attack resembles a mob hit on the madhouse watchman's post: confused fighters run toward the target and drop dead on the way. All three formations are designed to provide a semblance of order, but after right click on the enemy such order immediately thrown into chaos. And, just as before, two dozen archers on the wall solve most of the issues of defense. The visual part of the game just aggravates the impression that ... Oops, there is no impression actually. Nobody creates games in this way anymore. [Nov 2014, p.99]
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