The crusaders veered more toward the tried and true, heavily armoured knight and pikeman you remember from every medieval combat sim you’ve ever played. The difference between playing as Saladin and Richard comes down to special unit types which are available and I found that Saladin seemed to have the definitive advantage in fielding a more diverse army with horse archers and spinning dervishes with area of effect attacks to name a few.

While the game is clearly designed to be more multiplayer focused, it is disappointing that you aren’t prepared for that transition into multiplayer through its single player elements. Note that it isn’t that the AI becomes substantially more challenging, simply that they have more starting resources while you start with less. Unfortunately the “campaign” is barely a handful of missions for Richard and Saladin, followed by a series of premade skirmishes which pit you in progressively more difficult scenarios against AI opponents. They prepare you for the inevitably steep skill difference required to be victorious over a human being instead of a computer. Solid campaigns highlight the best elements of the gameplay while slowly easing you into more complex mechanics through the guise of narrative. While by its own admission, the single player campaign is only a “learning” device, the game would have benefited from it being more fully fleshed out. The game is opened by a brief series of tutorial mission before the single player campaign. The graphics of the game are nostalgic, bordering on dated, with a blocky isometric view inherited from its predecessors.

Set in the middle-east during the era of the Crusades, the game lets you take control of the armies of Richard the Lionheart or Saladin, and has a straight forward mission goal, break through the walls of your opponent’s castle to kill his Lord. Unfortunately, like most granted wishes, I got some of what I asked for, along with a lot of what I didn’t. Therefore when I started playing Stronghold Crusader 2, the long in production sequel to 2002’s Stronghold Crusader, I was optimistic that I would finally be getting my wish. I often found myself wishing that a good defense could occasionally be as valued as a fast, strong offense The first piece of advice ever given to me while playing a RTS game online may be gibberish to the non-gamer, but it defined many of my experiences in this genre.

Stronghold crusader 2 reviews