Stronghold Crusader (PC Take 2 M15)

By PETER ELEY

(Herald Rating * * * *)

You don't see too many castles in New Zealand, apart from a few latter-day wannabes which testify to their builder's delusions of grandeur.

But visit Europe and it's a different story.

England, Germany and France are littered with huge castles dating back to the Middle Ages.

Stronghold Crusader relives those days, when castles were often the only means of surviving attacks by robber barons and their marauding armies.

The game is similar to Age of Empires 2 but pays more attention to construction and much less to building armies keen on rape and pillage.

Castles, of course, cost lots of money to build.

This is provided by the honest sweat of your peasants, just like in the Middle Ages.

Unlike many other strategy games, these are no mere automatons who will farm, mine and cut down trees without question.

You have to keep them well fed and watered or they slope off to find a new lord.

Much of the game is taken up with making this economic model work, at the expense of fighting.

This sets Stronghold Crusader apart from similar games, although the actual game isn't that different from the original Stronghold.

In fact, it is billed as a stand-alone expansion pack.

The settings for the game are the Crusades, when European nobles invaded the lands of the Middle East to win back the Holy Land for Christendom from their Muslim ruler Saladin.

The castle business complicates this as you have to build them in desert settings with only a few scattered oases to provide resources.

The game consists of four lengthy campaigns, each with lots of missions. You won't finish this in a couple of days, and it represents good value despite its similarity to the earlier Stronghold.

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