Stronghold:Warlord

Can it rebuild the foundations of the series?

The original Stronghold holds a special place in my heart. You build a medieval barony, surround it with a labyrinth of impassable walls, and stave off waves of attackers while keeping the serfs living within happy, well-fed, and well-taxed. It had real character too, with a lovely soundtrack, snappy unit soundbites and memorable villains.

Stronghold: Warlords feels a million miles away from that game. It’s the most sprawling entry series in the yet – largely abandoning the principle of building a feudal gauntlet for waves of enemies in favour of a more traditional RTS setup featuring larger maps and symmetrically placed enemy bases.

The warlords system is the twist here. Beyond your base and the enemy’s, there are several smaller estates on the map held by neutral warlords. Defeat these warlords and they’ll join your side, sending you resources on demand, offering mini-forts to shelter your troops, and even launching attacks on your enemies.

It’s a decent idea in principle but falters on a couple of levels. Firstly, it means that your main keep doesn’t see a ton of action. Most of your time in a skirmish match will be spent scuffling over these warlord forts that you don’t have any hand in building except for preset upgrades. You buy these upgrades with diplomacy points, which you can also use to buy a warlord’s loyalty. The system gets very messy in the late game as you and enemies get embroiled in an endless diplomatic tug of war by throwing your points at warlords to win their fleeting loyalty.

The actual warfare works much better. Siege equipment is varied, ranging from trebuchets to kamikaze oxen to a rudimentary medieval rocket launcher, and watching a city burn before funnelling your troops into it remains one of gaming’s crueller pleasures. Familiar melee, cavalry, and ranged troops are joined by Far Eastern classics like samurai, warrior monks, horse archers, and ninjas. It’s a solid roster, making combat tactically richer than earlier games while retaining some of the series’ trademark whimsy.

ROB ZAK

A decent strategy game that lacks the big personality and siegecraft that made the original special.