Stronghold 2
by 2K Games
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List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of Stronghold 2
Customer Review: AWESOME NEW ADDITION
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not sure why this update of Stronghold Crusader has gotten such poor ratings. I'm playing it on an Anthlon 2200 1.8 GHZ computer with 700 something mb of ram with a Radeon Video card with 256 MB and it plays fine. I've had NO issues what so ever. The grapics are INCREDIBLE compared to the older version of Stronghold Crusader. There is no comparison. I've spent hours upon hours building different castles. In the freebuild mode I can add just about anything to the landscape including waterfalls, ponds, animals and vegetation. I can add any color I want to the ground and create cliffs and mountains. Much more than the old game.
I also like the rat, gong and crime factors as that adds an extra element of excitement. Then, along with the addition of the Lords kitchen and the feasts and things, it is over the top. It's extremely rewarding to see the Lords kitchen fill up with barrels of wine, vegetable baskets, pigs, eel plates and geese. I really get a kick out of the pig and sheep farms as well. It's funny to watch the fat little sheep run around eating everything in site. The colors are also fantastic. So much better than the traditional light brown 'clay' color of the old game.
The only thing that I dont like compared to the last series is how the buildings crumble into nothing. At least in the first edition it would leave something that looked like ruins, but that is very minor. Also I dont like the workers houses. They look like little ugly mushrooms. I'd rather them look like colonial houses if anything at all.
As goofy as it sounds, I like just watching the granary fill up with food as the little workers deliver apples, cheese and bread. Kewl!
Such a great improvement over the antiquated original!!!
Customer Review: Excellent strategy game
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this game four weeks ago and this one is excellent. You can play in builder (path of peace) or warrior style (path of war). I have medieval total war (a great game) but i love in stronghold 2 the simulation elements and that you need take care about people necesity (you are their lord). Please download latest patch to solve some freeze effect and adding new missions to your game. Enjoy it!Customer Review: Stronghold 2
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok, this game's got a large selection of really cool features. I havn't even gotten around to playing much of the the storyline mission. They have instant battle, also known as "siege" battles. In this, you are thrown into an historic battle.
The voice acting is well done, in my opinion. The physics are surprising good. Also, graphically this game is quite good. I have to turn them down because my computer doesn't even meet the minimum requirements. I've got 640 ram, 1.0 Ghz processor and a 128 video card. It lags, sure, but it is such a fun game I still play it, although I've cut back.
One bad thing; the update for the game, which includes some very important patches, is somehow not compatible with my game, giving me an error that says the game isn't even installed on my computer. This may have something to do with the shape of my CD, however.
Either way, this is the best strategy game I've ever played. Lastly, I have to say the funnest thing is the multiplayer.
Customer Review: Stronghold 2 Reviewed After A Month
Summary: 5 Stars
With gameplay similar to the original, this game is great. Stronghold 2 has some added goodies, fixes where the original got jacked up, and the whole honour/promotion deal (do good things for your people to gain honour which lets you raise an army or get promoted by the king). It also looks better than the original. I thought the campaigns were a little weak, so I stopped playing them and just played the scenarios--again...and again...and... This is one of those strategy games that has a great replay value by the way.
I give it the following scores: (5 being the highest)
Graphics: 5
Fun: 5
Gameplay: 5
Campaign: 2
Scenarios: 5
Replay Value: 5
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Overall: 5
Customer Review: This game is under-rated !!
Summary: 4 Stars
Let me preface this review with two data points. First I have played every RTS and civilization type game that has come out - its my favorite type of game. For me resource management and city building are cool and the fighting is just a test of what you've built. The second data point is that I do have a modestly fast machine - its a 3Ghz Dell with appropriate Ram and video card.
I didn't buy this game for a long time because the reviews were so mixed - many compelling reviews complained that the resource management was over the top and the castle details, particularly the "Gong" or dung piles, and the crime were just too much. The game seemed too complicated somehow - also there were many complaints about bugs and slowness.
However, I have found this to be the most fun games in my collection of the moment and in fact my kids also think its the greatest. Why? Well it takes a little practice to learn how to play it but once you do its really rewarding.
Of course the graphics are great: Most games seem to have that these days. But the game play is really good. There are some neat concepts here like estates which are independent lands that can be owned by you: you can receive important resources from them as well as income, and they need to be protected. There are intestesting aspects of village life that must be ballanced such as crime - the bigger you get the more there is. Rehabilitation is time based - It takes longer to rehab a criminal in the stocks than it does on the rack! The sooner he is through rehab the sooner he is back to work. You have to earn money of course, but you also have to earn honor in order to get access to more and more Castle items. To earn honor you have to make the items neccesary to hold dances, feasts, jousts, etc. If you don't keep up with building your honor your castle will fall as the enemies will come on with progressively stronger attacks which only the more up to date technology can stop.
The AI is also very good. You can set up all sorts of enemies of different calibers and they will attack in good order and with reasonable effectiveness. Your castle will get a good test. Basically they will keep after you until you knock their castles down.
Regarding the complaints about crime and "piles of human waste" this is very easy to manage - build a few extra "gong" pits and there won't be any waste problems, build a few inspiring "rehab devices" and the population won't want to commit crime anymore. Its part of the challange of running a castle. It takes a little practice to get it all done in time before the attacks come, but thats why its fun and enjoyable to play many times.
Regarding the complaints about bugs: it simply hasn't been an issue for me -the game automatically updated itself when I loaded it and there haven't been any bugs in many hours of play. Regarding the complaints about speed - well what can I say here? - its no problem at all on my 3Gig. Since play is effortless on this machine with all the settings maxed, I have to assume that you can still get good game play on lesser machines - up to a point. I think this game woudn't work too well at 1Ghz and below - just my estimate.
We use the very powerfull map editor to create our own maps - it took about 30 minutes to master but once mastered you can do a lot. You can use all the features of the games including estates, mountains, cliffs, rivers, fog, bird flocks, dear heards, terain sounds, bridges, etc. You can pre-set boundries between different estates and castles. Once the game gets going, the AI will automatically start building up communities in those areas.
Here's a few ideas for the game creators for the next version from me and my kids. First, the voices need improvement - its a fine ballance between realism and comedy that's required- We think you had a better ballance in Stronhold 1. We love the regional British voices for different classes of population - keep this up and extend it without too much comedic reading. Second, We were in a village in France recently that defended itself by throwing behives over the walls at attackers - As you have behives already why not add that to the defence? We would love to see attackers coming up the ladders only to receive a behive on the head. Third, the burning logs and rock boxes are great but we wish that they could be set to automatic. One of our favorite things to do is set up a castle and watch it defend itself - you need the defences to work automatically for this.
Overall I strongly recommend this game for anyone interested in RTS and civilization type games -the price is great, the playability is great.