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Excellent Medieval SIM

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: September 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you are looking for a great castle sim, with a challenging combat/siege warfare system, look no further. I'm a medieval history buff, and have always been interested in everything from combat to politics to feudal life. This game, while not perfect, is a fulfilling escape into the world of knights and barbarians.

As far as hardware issues go, I have had none. My computer exceeds the recommended specs and I play with all settings maxed in 1600x1200x24 resolution (AMD Athlon 64 3500+, 2gb Corsair PC3200 RAM, PNY GeForce 6800GT). However I would not recommend that someone who has only the minimum or even recommended system requirements turn on all the eye-candy. Castle siege scenes can become quite demanding on both the processor and video card, but if you have the hardware it is quite beautiful and realistic.

I haven't encountered any in-game bugs - at least none that have impaired my gaming experience in any noticable way. This seems to be a very well designed game, and although it may still be a work in progress, the foundation is there for a very fun, replayable game. The support staff and developers seem dedicated to continuing to update this game and provide help for users who encounter problems.

I would highly recommend this game to anyone interested in historical sims, real time strategy, or castle wall demolition.

Released too soon!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: May 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I really looked forward to this game. I'm a huge fan of the RTS Castle simulation type of games. However, I think Stronghold 2 should have not been released. There are just too many bugs on there that need to be fixed. The biggest one has to be when everything freezes when a big battle is about to happen. That is no fun. Another problem is how LONG it takes for it actually to take to get to playing. It's a good 5 minutes. That's ridiculous. There are many more that are too long to complain about, but those are my biggest negatives. The creators of this game should have realized this and waited another few months in order to fix these problems. Unfortunately, they wanted to cash in on a product that was half-finished. Terribly put together. It's a fun game if everything worked properly. I'm now gonna wait for AOE III, be more cautious about what games I get, and go back to playing NBA Live 2005 (now that's fun). Also, by the way, I have a very expensive video card so I know it's not my computer. Just don't buy this game (unless you like games that freeze on you). Read every other review & they'll tell you the same thing I'm saying. Regards.

Fan

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: February 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I loved the first Stronghold and the add on pack. It was simple to learn and more importantly it was fun. I purchased Stronghold 2 the day it was released. I had a lot of trouble loading it onto my computer, and I have tremendous slowdowns with the game. I don't have the very best computer, but it is new and in the upper end of systems as far as gaming goes. The game itself adds a few new things to the mix. I do like the fact that they give you a choice between a peaceful campaign or one that leans more toward battles. The game is a bit on the buggy side, so I would certainly say to head over to the publishers website to download the latest patch to get everything up to speed. This game could nose up to a 4 if they manage to correct all the problems.

Stronghold 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: October 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

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.

AWESOME!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

As a lover of the medieval period and the games that showcase it, I bought the original Stronghold and was pleased with the overall performance and stability as well as gameplay. I felt some changes were needed (what first game doesn't?) but overall, a great play. Then Stronghold:Crusader came along and blew me away with its array of mercenaries and desert setting. But this...ABSOLUTE MIND BLASTING! A great game and a great play...for those who enjoy castle sims and medieval warfare. My recommendation? If this is your sort of game, BUY IT!

I LOVE this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Please be aware that a lot of these low ratings are a result of the bugs before they made the patch. I've had no problems after patching the 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-intrusive tutorial, letting you learn how do each thing, and challenging what you learned before.

Stronghold 2 is better and more expansive than the original in many ways. The graphics are spectacular--with a 3d view that you can move around smoothly in any direction. There is more richness and complexity. Some of the added complexity (more types of building, production, and soldiers) can be a tad overwhelming, but they introduce it slowly, and eventually I learned that you don't need to build everything.

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.

But stronghold is far and away the best game I've ever played.

Squandered Potential.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: June 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I am relatively new to the Stronghold series, but went out of my way to pick up a copy after seeing screenshots and reading the feature list. I have to say though that I was very dissapointed with what I played once the game installed.

The graphics for the game are top notch in my opinion (for an RTS game), and the little animations for 'everyday' things in the game are neat to look at. But eye candy aside, the gameplay is something that seems to be overwhealming for the average gamer. A high level of micromanagement is necessary to maintain any kind of equilibrium in the game, and this is before throwing combat into the mix. Add to this the fact that it seems like there are tons of cool ways to build a castle, but the maps are way too constrictive and do not give you enough ground to get really creative.

Pros: Excellent graphics and animations, fun castle combat elements, and a guy that says my name when I start the game.

Cons: Excessive micromanagement that bogs down gameplay and restrictive maps.

Summary: Could have been a much better game, but is mediocre at best and worth purchasing only for diehard castle sim-ers or those interested in castles or the medieval period.

The negative reviews are unfortunately true

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: April 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a big step backward from the 2 previously great Stronghold games. The graphics are indeed an unnecessary distraction, the bugs and gameplay lag really drag the game down, and there was simply no reason for such an extreme makeover when the gameplay in the earlier games was so simple, straightforward, customizable and fun. It's very difficult to play this game now with any degree of control, which is about the worst thing you can say about a RTS game. What a shame.
***For the reviewer who suggested that we patch the game and then try it again "to be fair" I patched it out of the box before playing it and before this review. It ran so badly with the patch I can't imagine how it performed without it.

Hmm - needs some polish

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: April 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I got this game today after waiting over 2 years for it to be made. My PC is pretty good (1 gig Ram, Athlon 64 3200+ and 128mb 9800 Radeon PRO) - but after your units start to build up there is a serious performance issue - the game stutters and starts to slow down. Obviously the 3D game engine is nice - but not if it's going to affect gameplay so much. The camera angles are almost useless and very finickity - you won't want to waste time playing with them.

I really want to love this game, and it's a sold 3 stars so far - but areas of it seem to suggest that it's lacking polish in certain areas: - the cut scenes with little or no attempt to lip-synch - zoomed in animation of units sliding or 'walking on air' as they clumsily negotiate the environment.

On the plus side - with so many options and the chance to play a peaceful campaign or even just free build - if you love castles then this is your game.

However, I am now waiting for the first patch to be released to see if they iron out these performance/animation issues. We'll see....

PATCHED AND STILL SLOW

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: April 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Even with the 1.1 Patch this game runs slow after a while, the more on the map, the worse it gets, until you click on an area with nothing much in it.

Im running athlon 64 3200+ with Radeon x800xt platinum, 1gig ram

It is still slow even when using recommended detail. Either the system autodect is bad or the game is bugged.

But anyway the game is great, better than previous version in my opinion. Id give it 5 stars if it ran good.

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