Review of the game Stronghold: Crusader

Each of the players has their own favorite setting. Someone likes the field of World War II, someone loves science fiction, give someone steampunk … And almost everyone loves the Middle Ages.
“All under one comb, author!"" What kind of shameful subjectivity!". But no.
The frantic love of gamers of the whole world for medieval setting is not only in some special romance of those times, which, of course, has a place to be. The popularization of the Middle Ages greatly contributes to Fantasy, Indeed, in most cases, fantasy worlds are not so much different from any England of the XIII century. Laws, Philosophy, Relations with Religion, Feudalism, Army Assembly … Often popular fantasy-united ones simply copy a lot with real history, simultaneously adapting individual elements to their “Dragon Dragon” nuances.

So the Middle Ages remain in trend. Like games in this setting. Series Stronghold Once I became a great discovery for me-a game that uses the rule of the middle ground well.

We have any classic RTS on one side of the scales-we can put the units into frames and send them a heap on slaughter, to win the enemy base often needs to be broken, for success we must certainly extract all sorts of resources, the main of which is old-good money … on the other side of the scales are the covenants of very hardcore German German Settlers – There are many resources, and the most valuable are at the end of production chains. You do not hire the same soldiers without the right weapon – you want to create a squad of swordsmen? On mines, iron is extracted and delivered to a warehouse, a blacksmith and a master bronnik (these are two different artisans!) Swords and armor create from this iron. They deliver them to the weapons – and only then from the barracks appear in the armor in the armor!

I hope I am not alone at the sight of the loading screen I hear “Tu-Samu-Music” ..

Difficult? In words, maybe. In fact, the mechanic Stronghold is 3-4 more simpler than that of the same settlers. And most importantly – it has always been intuitive and logically understandable. Already to 2-3 parties, you remembered what and what is needed for. If you want to collect more taxes? Increase the diet, build the church, open the tavern … Do you want to make the peasants work faster? Put a dite, a gallows, a fire of the Inquisition … Do you want to besiege an enemy citadel? Where is there without engineers and siege guns ..

The trouble of the series turned out to be that developers from Firefly For some reason they decided that they invented the perfect gameplay formula. The first Stronghold and Crusader added in the early 2000s, during the crazy popularity of real-time strategies. These were great games that appeared very on time. And then…

Stronghold 2 I tried to develop original ideas by complicating the gameplay – but everything ruined the terrible graphics and amusement. Spin-off Legends turned out to be a casual and unintelligible bastard Stronghold and Warcraft. Stronghold 3 And Stronghold Crusader 2… These two games, despite the loud names, did not say anything new. Firefly developers blocked the oxygen of their "citadel" series, scary afraid to at least somehow evolve. All old achievements are submitted in a new (and not very attractive) wrapper, almost without innovations. Without fresh blood, Stronghold runs the risk of bending completely – sadly, but so far the series is moving to this outcome.

The blood-red sun of the desert

For ignorants, this will sound funny, but in the very first Stronghold, in fact, there were no normal single missions that were not tied to the plot of one of two campaigns. There were sieges with pre -generated locks, cards for free construction, several scribbled cards with military challers … But the usual case for RTS: ""The base of the enemy Versus is my base, and may the gods of meat, ax and rush will be with us"There was no. Disorder.

This is probably one of the not very noticeable, but one of the most important innovations in Crusader. Yes, here you can just choose one of the cards, throw your computer opponents and arrange a purely medieval stabbing, not burdened with plot intrigues. Sometimes you need so little for happiness, right? Especially considering how creative the developers approached the creation of local bots.

And how the nicknames of enemies https://goldentiger-casino.uk/ deliver! You just look at the "full family" of the caliph.

Enemies here are, no less, personalities: the old quartet of wild bastards from the first part (rat, snake, wild boar, wolf is four lords, each of which fully justifies the resulting animal “pseudonym”) + new lords, rulers of the east. Oh yes, there is still Richard Lion Heart – he is here everywhere! Both on the boxes with the game, and on the download screen, they don’t pray for it … But this brave English guy waves an ax, and as an enemy, obviously not a choice for a beginner.

Maulai! A and Shukhi, Head Matikum? Lille between! Bittar whale! Mata Harra!

But in this place, all the old Stronghold fans were supposed to be bursting with nostalgic tears. We are talking about the next innovation of the addon: Arab units. These guys became a serious replenishment for the game and influenced the mechanics as a whole, becoming a real find for lovers of blitzkrings.

The tactics of instant Rush in standard conditions Stronghold look extremely difficult: after all, each soldier is attached to a particular production chain. Yes, some spearmen for a fight are needed, the most unhappy spear-but you can’t get a lot of these dokhlyaks. Arabs are another matter.

This is called "Assasin’s Blitzkrieg". Several ominous guys in black, hired in the first minutes of the game, quickly send the enemy lord to the next world.

The mercenaries hired in the camp exclusively for the despicable brilliant metal, the brave defenders of the Holy Land turn out to be worthy competitors to their European colleagues. Even with a meager starting budget of 2000 gold, you can get a small but effective army in the first minutes of the game – you just need to know who to invest in. In addition to the grinding of a toothy standard archers and swordsmen, there are more interesting candidates: mobile horse archers, frightening flameters, invisible stenolas of the assassins … The Park of the Eastern Forces really allows us to experiment with tactics. But the most pleasant thing: Firefly did not introduce burdening restrictions on hiring units for the player. And although most opponents clearly adhere to the troops of either the European or Arab side of the conflict-we are free to forget about ethnic-religious disagreements and lead the United Army into battle, combining the strengths of the West and East. Is this not equality in all its glory?

Well, a separate topic for jokes, pearls and memes (yes call what you want): this, of course, is voice acting. Stronghold – of those rare games where phrases of units are not easy Do not call irritation. They sink into the soul, delight, amuse, encourage during a heavy batch. Swordsmen Supt: ""Severe thing – armor!". Arab colleagues, in lighter chain mail, mockingly answer: ""Amura Kaya Maulai!". Arbel shouting: ""Jump!"(Where, why, why?!). And the Arab archers speak: ""Sumomokum!". And yes, neither in childhood, nor today, I do not understand the devil from what Arab units say to Stronghold: Crusader. And less steep or charismatic, they do not become from this!

You get a lot of stone – you build a lot of towers. Everything is simple!

The annals of the Crusades

But what is RTS without a full -fledged single campaign? And if we are talking about a “historical” strategy, then the plot is quite possible, “as if historical”. If the original composed its own story, then Crusader offers 4 campaigns of 5 missions in each.
To the weapon! – This campaign is strictly trained, we head the forces of Europeans from the time of the first crusade and learn everything again. The missions are simple, there are a lot of tips, and the chances of losing is not enough.
The conquest of Saladin – This campaign also performs the training function – here we get acquainted in detail with the Arab army and, in fact, we will not be pleased with anything other than hostilities. But in terms of the complexity of the missions, it is on the head, or even two above the previous one-if in reality, according to legend, the Saracens defeated the crusaders at Hattin for one or two, then here with this mission it will be necessary to sweat ..
Royal Crusade -The Zen-Buddhist rule of the universal balance forced the developers to make this campaign the exact opposite of the previous. Last time, we all the time went on the attack by the Arabs, without at all engaged in the economy? So this time we will sit in defense by the crusaders, wondering that it is worse – an incorrectly developed economy or another Saracensky invasion. The campaign is not easy, from the very first missions it makes it clear that no one will spare you. Unexpectedly simple turned out to be … The last mission.
Crusaders’ wars – And in the fourth campaign, the story was sent overboard and decided to restore, at the same time paying tribute to the fans of the original (especially those who fell in love with the villains there). Explain how this four suddenly returned from the other world no one is going to us – and no need. Since they are resurrected, it means that you need to again take them to a different world. In fact, this campaign can be considered a warm -up. After all, ahead of each player in Stronghold: Crusader is still waiting ..

Long, very long, too long crusader road

You have ever happened to you that someone lied to you, but you were not offended? Moreover, he lied in a large thing, about some serious things, but you … just took it for a given. And this given came to your taste. “50 plot-tied missions”-it was such a phrase that flaunted on a box with the disk Stronghold: Crusader. I acquired a game in a local store, while still a completely snotty young man, and hurried to look at all these cruel battle in the desert ..

And this is just the beginning!

So, a strange thing: this unknown treacherous liar who inserted the phrase about the “plot-tied” mission to punish was completely reluctant to punish. The Crusader’s path to Stronghold: Crusader really is – these are 50 missions on different maps with different starting conditions, not at all connected by any plot. Just a crusader’s figure moving along a huge field, reminiscent of some old table game. It’s funny, but in those dashing years when (CAREFULLY! Senile grunt of a 20-year-old guy!) Pines were higher, and Warcraft has not yet turned into MMO and was the king of strategies, this was more than enough. The passage of all these tests delayed – the missions were diverse, besides it was damn interesting – well, what would show when you pass all 50? Just a black screen will not jump out, right.

But the path of the crusader turned out to be much longer than one could assume. To Stronghold: Crusader over time, two additives arrived. The first of them is Warchest – added 8 new opponents (and this is very good, because sooner or later the old ones are bored, and you memorize all their tactics by heart) and another 30 missions, as a sort of continuation of the crusader path. Well, they shrugged – ran to perform ..

There was only nothing left of Marshal Longarm. And soon the marshal himself will go to rest.

And then he went out Extreme. Stronghold: Crusader. Extreme – to be more correct. For some reason it was sold for some money as an independent addon (independent addon to independent add -in! You think about it! And say that today the developers are making money from the air). And all that Extreme did was to break the balance and turned what was happening on the battlefield into some kind of circus and booths. There was an “extreme path of the Crusader” – another 20 missions full of opponents from the original and Warchest. And also appeared … magic. The most natural sorceresses in manner Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth: the ability to call reinforcements, bring down the rain of arrows or rockfall on the enemy … Only the player himself uses magic, and it is not even funny when you can accumulate stones in 5 minutes, and then bring it to the enemy barn packed with bread. It seems that you need to rejoice that subjects leave the enemy because of hunger. Yes, only you achieved this not a cunning strategic maneuver, but simply a bunch of stones that suddenly fell from the sky ..

Oh yes, there were outposts even in Extreme, generating an infinite number of troops in huge quantities. As a rule, the enemy had more outposts. It seems that how it helped the balance not to die in the first five minutes of the party, but the same rockfall could be directed to the outposts, but it was impossible to restore them, so ..

Let’s summarize ..

Well, about the technical side of Stronghold: Crusader and you can’t say. The engine from the first part, cute isometry, if desired, all this good can now be found in HD-quesy-so you will not have to completely rush in the eyes from the local picture. Music and sounds as good and fascinated several years ago, and now retained their hypnotic effect, and a couple of compositions from the local soundtrack even persistently ask for a playlist for listening outside the game.

Summarizing, we can say that Stronghold: Crusader is not a unique game, not the phenomenon of the gaming industry. No. But this is really a high -quality continuation of the original, which added new chips, changed the style and surroundings, diversified the gameplay … The devil is hidden in the little things. It’s funny, but recalling this game I want to talk about complex internal mechanics or the features of farming in the desert … I would like to tell about all the funny phrases of units, about how an annoying caliph with its eternal exclamations infuriations ”Non -nuclear!", About the very siege when you were clamped on both sides, you riveted the spearmen with all your might to protect the lord, and at that time the Magonel ..
Stronghold: Crusader is not a hit of all times and peoples, but this does not prevent this game from possessing, sorry for sentimentalism, soul. And is that few?