Stronghold 2

You can build castles; you can raise armies and siege other fortresses; you can even farm sheep. How could this game be anything less than brilliant?

Read on and you'll find out, unfortunately.

Stronghold 2 is the sequel to - surprise - Stronghold, a 2D real-time strategy game that let you build your own custom castle, and then defend it from rival lords. The second instalment in the series follows the exact same premise, but now has a brand spanking new 3D engine. Depending on the type of game you choose to play, you will find yourself managing the economy of your village, trying to keep your peasants happy, gaining honour throughout the land, constructing an impregnable citadel, fighting off bad guys and laying siege to their castles. Yep, it's not easy being a lord.

The manual told me I had two game choices: the path of peace, or the path of war. Quickly deciding to try out the path of war (a.k.a. 'the full game'), I booted up the program and waited in anticipation.

Then I waited some more.

After a bit more waiting, I went and made myself a cup of tea. I came back, and continued to wait. Finally, after a good few minutes, the game finished loading up, and away I went.

The storyline was adequate, but not terribly impressive. You were a page to a noble lord, before he got slaughtered by an evil Baron. Now under the guidance of the King and his most trusted lord, you must rise through the ranks until you can overcome the requisite evil villains threatening to topple the kingdom. The cutscenes weren't particularly brilliant, and the voice acting is average at best - it's obvious that the main focus of the game is on the gameplay itself, rather than what strings each level together.

The game plays out much like most real time strategy games. You place buildings, gather resources, and grow food, while defending and attacking with your troops. I actually found managing my economy to be a lot of fun - it's satisfying to see stone from the quarry get transported to your storehouse, and then taken out to help create more buildings. If you choose the 'path of peace', this will be your main concern - gaining honour through the successful management of your peasants.

If you choose the 'path of war', however, you'll have to manage your medieval community and fight off hordes of bad guys. Luckily, there are many defensive options, including several types of walls, rocks and boiling oil - everything a castle needs to dissuade attackers. You can also easily enlist your peasants, if you have the right weapons to equip them with. This mode of play will really test your multi-tasking skills, especially when the enemy comes knocking at your door.

When they come knocking in large numbers, however, the game starts to fall down. The 3D engine slows down significantly when the screen gets crowded, even on top-end PCs. There also seem to be issues with pathfinding and collision detection - nothing is more annoying than having the enemy walk right through your supposedly impregnable walls.

The AI also leaves something to be desired ? it is usually quite easy to counter when itss attacking, and also seems rather uninspired whilst defending. It's like the enemy commander has had no prior experience with castles, and doesn't know what to do when he encounters a big stone wall in his way - except when his men can walk right through it, of course.

There is no shortage of game types in Stronghold 2. Within both paths, you can choose to play the campaigns, or various skirmish modes. You can even create your own maps and string them together in a scenario of your own. You can also play over the internet or a network; I found it quite satisfying lobbing big rocks at my friend's castle.

At least they look good while doing so. The graphics in Stronghold 2 are mostly quite good - it's nice seeing all the little details like a shepherd taking his flock out into the fields. You can zoom right in to watch your peasants, and rotate the camera however you please. I don't believe, though, that the engine is advanced enough to warrant all the slow down that occurs. Still, if you have a fairly powerful computer, Stronghold 2 is very pleasant on the eye.

If only the voices were so pleasant on the ear. As mentioned earlier, the voice acting is pretty average, reflecting the lack of time or effort that was put into most of the story elements. The music, on the other hand, is impressive, at least as something to have on in the background. The use of medieval-sounding instruments is a nice touch.

Despite being generally fun to play, Stronghold 2 suffers from a number of flaws that can be hard to ignore. While the graphics are nice enough, the gameplay is riddled with a few unnecessary annoyances that give the game an unfinished feel. This is a shame, because the concept of the game is excellent - it is only in the execution where it falls down. I'd recommend you download the demo before buying the game, and see if the shortcomings are forgivable in your eyes.