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As one of the most popular strategy game series of all-time, Stronghold has become a household name. one of the most beloved releases came in the early 2000s, when Stronghold: Crusader was released in 2002. Developed by Firefly Studios, the game was a massive success and tended to provide a much greater range of improvements, features, and opportunities compared to its predecessor, the original Stronghold.With the best part of 20 years since it was released, though, how does Stronghold: Crusader feel today?

Stronghold: Crusader Extreme Free download. Download for free files to Stronghold: Crusader Extreme. Stronghold: Crusader Extreme download section contains: playable demo, 3 updates, 4 trainers. All the similar files for games like Stronghold: Crusader Extreme in the 'Strategy Games' category can be found in Downloads on pages like Full games & demos, Mods & add-ons, Patches & updates. Check more multiplayer battles with Stronghold Crusader HD here: Stronghold Crusader + Extreme https://www.g2a.com/r/strongholdcrus. Crusader uses the tried-and-tested Stronghold gameplay of building a castle and defending it against repeated attacks and seiges, while constructing a thriving community within your fortress' walls. The twist with this edition is the action takes place the Middle East, making Saracens and Sassanids the foes you must face.

An intriguing, old-school strategy title

Similar in vein to many games of the era such as Age of Empires (at least in terms of aesthetic), Stronghold: Crusader was a game where you took part in the Middle East in the middle of the Crusades. You take charge of attacking or defending a stronghold, using your pre-built army to charge in, take over, or fend off the attacking forces.

Alongside an enjoyable campaign feature, players could take part in single-player skirmishes that would allow for bespoke battles against the AI, offering greater opportunity to mess around and experiment with the gluttony of different units you could play with.

An updated version of Crusader was released in 2008, though many still to this day prefer to play the classic castle sim original.

A classic that was ahead of its time

Upon release, Stronghold: Crusader was met with largely positive responses. At the time it was praised for its graphics (though obviously dated by todays standards), and most found it to be an intriguing title that improved on more or less every part of the original game in terms of its style.

The game was well loved because it provided a simple way to enjoy either a siege as the attacker, or holding off your fort from being overtaken. The campaign was well-liked, too, with enough variety in the levels to help keep things interesting enough from level to level.

The game itself also was rated because it provided a range of interesting Lords to pick from, all of which could provide a slightly different kind of experience compared to the others.

For its time, Stronghold offered a move away from the general rinse-repeat of base building that was so common in RTS games of the era. For that reason, it tends to hold a pretty large place in the hearts of many gamers of the era who enjoys its more bombastic, aggressive style and stone.

Though it can feel a touch slow and dated today, for a release in 2002 it helped to add an extra layer of intrigue and invention. Given many strategy games since have followed the removal of traditional base building, too, this was an intriguing change.

Pros:

• Easy to play, with variety in the units and factions to play as
• Engaging gameplay that often led to action instead of waiting around
• Impressive graphics and playing style for the era

Cons:

• A little hard to play today on modern hardware
• Not as modernised or as refreshed as recent Stronghold releases

Stronghold: Crusader is the successor to Firefly Studios's 2001 real-time strategyvideo gameStronghold.^[2]Crusader has much in common with the original Stronghold, but differs from its predecessor in the fact that the game is no longer set in England, instead being set in the Middle East during the Crusades.^[3] Another prominent addition not found in its predecessor is a skirmish mode in single-player, allowing customized battles with AI opponents instead of the linear campaign. The game was also released as Stronghold Warchest. This version was a compendium of Stronghold and an enhanced version of Stronghold: Crusader, containing additional characters and an additional Crusader Trail.

Stronghold Warchest was only released in a limited number of countries (e.g. USA or Poland), meaning players in the rest of the world have never encountered the second Crusader Trail, or second set of characters. This changed when an updated version of Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold: Crusader Extreme was released in early 2008.

Campaigns[edit]

Stronghold Crusader features several real-time strategy campaign strings. These document the First, Second and Third Crusade, as well as conflicts within the individual Crusader states. Each campaign comprises several battles, such as Nicaea, Heraclea, siege of Antioch, Krak des Chevaliers and the Siege of Jerusalem. The game also features the Crusader Trail, a series of 50 linked missions against various opponents. Stronghold Warchest adds one more Crusader Trail, consisting of 30 linked missions.

Gameplay[edit]

The gameplay is similar to the original Stronghold, the major difference being that the game is set in the Middle East. As a consequence, farms can only be built on oasis grass, which leads to rivalry among players for limited farmland and resources. The game adds new AI opponents (the number depending on the version of the game) and several new Arabian units purchasable from a mercenary post. The colour of the player's units have also been changed from blue to red in order to match the colours of the Knights Templar. Other than farms there are other resources such as iron ore, quarry (for stone), and marshes (for oil). These resources are deposited on the stockpile and the player can choose to either sell or use them for defence purposes. There are two ways to build an army; either make the weapons and then spend a little gold to turn peasants into soldiers, or turn them directly into soldiers using more gold via the mercenary post.

There are historical chapters (mostly fictionalized) which are to be completed using the resources given to the player at the start of the missions. Along with that there are 50 levels designed with increasing difficulty. In each level, the player must defend the kingdom and defeat one or more Kings. There is an option of three chickens at the start of the game which the player can use to skip a particular level.

There are 30 additional levels added by the developers in the form of an additional Crusade Trail. The design of these mirrors the original 50 levels with the difficulty raising as the player progresses through the levels.

Characters[edit]

The game contains several different characters that all appear as AI-controlled lords in the Skirmish mode, available to be selected as allies or enemies. One unique aspect of the game is that the characters have individual binks (small short videos) by which they communicate with the player, asking for goods or help if allied with them or, if they are the players' enemy, taunting them when attacking or expressing worry when under siege. These videos were absent for Stronghold 2 but returned in a new form for Stronghold Crusader II.

In the base game, eight AI lords are available, including the opponents from the original game (The Rat, The Snake, The Pig, and The Wolf), as well as new Arabian and Crusader lords (Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, The Caliph, and The Sultan). With the Warchest edition, eight additional lords were added. Three of these (Emperor Frederick, King Philip, and The Sheriff) were made available by Firefly as a free download, but the five others - The Wazir (based on the real-life Hassan-i Sabbah), The Emir, Nizar , The Marshal (a repurposed Sir Longarm from the original Stronghold), and The Abbot - had to be obtained via buying the Warchest package. These additional lords were, however, properly included within the game's later release on Steam at no extra charge.

Reception[edit]

Stronghold Crusader 4shared Walkthrough

The game received 'generally favorable reviews' according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.^[4]

According to Edge, Stronghold: Crusader sold at least 100,000 copies in the United States, but was beaten by the first Stronghold's 220,000 sales in the region. Total US sales of Stronghold games released during the 2000s reached 590,000 copies by August 2006.^[14]

Stronghold: Crusader Extreme[edit]

On January 28, 2008, Firefly Studios announced an expanded version of the game: Stronghold: Crusader Extreme. It boasts 'new AI opponents and maps', a 'new crusader extreme trail', 'battles featuring over 10,000 units' and Windows Vista compatibility.^[15] It was released in June 2008.

It also contains an updated version of the original Stronghold: Crusader, which includes everything except for outposts, the god powers and the Extreme Crusader Trail. However, if the official HD patch is installed, outposts can be built on maps on the original Stronghold Crusader part of Stronghold Crusader Extreme.^[16]

Reception[edit]

The Extreme version received 'generally unfavorable reviews' according to Metacritic.^[17] It was criticized for its extreme difficulty, lack of new audio, and not having graphical quality up to par for a game released in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Sequel[edit]

On August 30, 2012, Firefly Studios announced Stronghold Crusader II, a sequel to the original Crusader game. The company said that the game would be self-published, with additional funding to be sourced via crowd-funding site Gambitious.^[23][24][25] The game was released on September 23, 2014.

References[edit]

1. ^Parker, Sam (September 19, 2002). 'Stronghold: Crusader goes gold'. GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
2. ^ ^abChick, Tom (October 3, 2002). 'Stronghold: Crusader Review'. GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
3. ^'Stronghold: Crusader'. Firefly Studios. Archived from the original on December 24, 2006.
4. ^ ^ab'Stronghold: Crusader for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
5. ^'Stronghold: Crusader'. Computer Games Magazine. theGlobe.com. January 2003. p. 83.
6. ^Luo, Di (January 2003). 'Stronghold: Crusader'(PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 222. Ziff Davis. p. 110. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
7. ^Brogger, Kristian (December 2002). 'Stronghold: Crusader'. Game Informer. No. 116. GameStop. p. 149. Archived from the original on August 11, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
8. ^Abner, William (November 3, 2002). 'GameSpy: Stronghold: Crusader'. GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
9. ^Giacobbi, Kevin 'BIFF' (October 3, 2002). 'Stronghold: Crusader Review'. GameZone. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
10. ^Polak, Steve (October 8, 2002). 'Stronghold Crusader'. IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
11. ^'Stronghold: Crusader'. PC Gamer UK. Future plc. November 2002.
12. ^Peckham, Matthew (December 25, 2002). 'Stronghold: Crusader'. PC Gamer. Vol. 9 no. 13. Future US. p. 85. Archived from the original on March 15, 2006. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
13. ^Pratchett, Rhianna (October 18, 2002). 'PC Review: Stronghold: Crusader'. PC Zone. Future plc. Archived from the original on September 21, 2007. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
14. ^Edge staff (August 25, 2006). 'The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century'. Edge. Future plc. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012.
15. ^'Stronghold: Crusader Extreme'. Firefly Studios. Archived from the original on February 1, 2008.
16. ^ ^abTodd, Brett (June 23, 2008). 'Stronghold Crusader Extreme Review'. GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
17. ^ ^ab'Stronghold: Crusader Extreme for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
18. ^'Stronghold Crusader Extreme Review'. 1UP.com. Ziff Davis. June 3, 2008. Archived from the original on November 8, 2015. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
19. ^Hollingshead, Anise (July 21, 2008). 'Stronghold Crusader Extreme - PC - Review'. GameZone. Archived from the original on January 20, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
20. ^Ocampo, Jason (June 10, 2008). 'Stronghold Crusader Extreme Review'. IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
21. ^'Stronghold: Crusader Extreme'. PC Gamer UK. Future plc. August 2008. p. 74.
22. ^'Review: Stronghold: Crusader Extreme'. PC Zone. Future plc. September 2008. p. 72.
23. ^'All Game Projects'. Gambitious. Archived from the original on September 3, 2012.
24. ^Davey, Jamie (August 30, 2012). 'Firefly Studios announces Stronghold Crusader II for PC in Late 2013'. GameWatcher. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
25. ^'Firefly Announce Stronghold Crusader 2'. Firefly Studios. August 30, 2012. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2018.

Stronghold Crusader Free Play

External links[edit]

Download Stronghold Crusader 4

• Official website via Internet Archive
• Stronghold: Crusader at Firefly Studios
• Stronghold: Crusader at MobyGames
• Stronghold: Crusader Extreme at MobyGames

Stronghold Crusader 2