Some are completely even playing fields, while some feature interesting balance dilemmas, giving advantages and disadvantages to each player. For instance, you can play skirmish games against AI opponents on a number of different maps, even in multiplayer.

But Stronghold: Crusader presents you with many more options. It also had a single-player skirmish mode and head-to-head multiplayer.

Indeed, the original Stronghold divided its single-player missions into two types: military and economic, though the latter, which generally involved raising crops and stockpiling resources, wasn't as popular as the military missions. After all, isn't this what you want when you pick up a box with a knight standing in front of a castle? When players first looked at the box for the original Stronghold, they probably wouldn't have guessed that they'd be spending their time accumulating 500 units of cheese. Instead, Stronghold: Crusader places more emphasis on the fine art of defending or storming a castle.

The economic missions that had you racing against the clock to fulfill contrived objectives have been removed from the game. It takes Stronghold out of Europe and into the Holy Lands, giving it a tighter focus and a more exotic flavor. Stronghold: Crusader is the stand-alone successor to Stronghold, meaning you don't need the original Stronghold to play it. Firefly Studios has now polished up its old game nicely and has sent it on a long road trip into the Crusades. Aspiring warlords could forgive Stronghold's shortcomings, since the original game gave them the opportunity to build and raze walls, pillage countrysides, and launch cattle from catapults. It had the distinction of being the only castle simulation from a major publisher since Interplay released Quicksilver's Castles II in 1992. Last year's Stronghold was a slightly uneven combination of city builder and real-time strategy game, with an emphasis on siege warfare.

Stronghold crusader units