Cheap Stronghold (Video Games) (Windows 98, Windows 95) Price

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Customer Reviews of Stronghold

I LOVE this game
First of all, I am not a gameplayer. I liked SimCity the original for a while way back in 1990, and since then I've played almost no games at all. I happened on this game because Stronghold (#1, original) and Tropico were bundled, and on clearance for $2 at target. From the very first little mission, where you have to build a settlement and manage to make a bunch of bread for the king, I was rapt. It far better than simcity because aside from the nice graphics, it's very educational and diverse. The series of missions act like a non-obtrusive tutorial, letting you learn how to do each thing, and challenging what you learned before. <
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>Stronghold 2 is better and more expansive than the original in many ways, and but don't miss #1! And especially don't miss Stronghold Crusader (my #1 #1). <
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>After being so blown away with Stronghold 1 and Stronghold 2 and Stronghold Crusader, I wondered if I've been missing out all these years. I ordered a bunch of games in similar genre, and none of them interested me. Settlers, Pharoah, Cleopatra, The Guild, and others... I think age of empires 3 is nice (3 1/2 stars), and I'm delaying judgment on rise & fall and rome total war. <
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>But stronghold is far and away the best game I've ever played.

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Very Replayable Stategy Game
This is probably one of the best strategy games that I have ever played, and I played a lot. The real draw with Stronghold is that it's defensive oriented, so if you're the type of person that likes to design and build garrisons, then this is definately in you alley. <
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>The way that it's design, strategy isn't just merely building up a large contingent of forces and then rush. To win you have to plan carefully and take advantage of terrain and know the strenghts of both your own men and the enemy's. Hence, there lots of ways to win a battle. You can have full fledge blood and guts battle, or opt for something more low key tactics. <
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>For less than $10 dollars, Stronghold won't disappoint.

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unusually good!
Unlike other medieval warfare games where castles may be just one of the many buildings available, or you may have many forts and cities, stronghold is truly a "castle sim"

You must build just one castle in each mission, but you better make it good! In the campaign stage, you will start by building log forts and just archers and rustic spearmen in your army. You will then be taught mission by mission to build better fortifications of stone, how to gather more types of resources more efficiently and how to keep on the good side of your people. You will also get more advanced troops such as crossbowmen and mounted knights

What I really liked about this game was the realism. Unlike other strategy games where the description "strategy" is a misnomer, in Stronghold you are forced to follow strategies that must have been followed in the Middle Ages. Your castle will be realistic and the methods of controlling the populace are also fun and realistic.

One small problem I encountered was that the player interface is sometimes hard to get used to. Also, the controls are a bit annoying. For example, you may wish to deselect one group of soldiers and select another, but instead you will end the first group to where the second is. But this can be overcome once you get used to the controls.

Any avid strategy gamer must buy this game to get a different perspective on medieval warfare than what Age of Empires and Warcraft offer.