Ubidays 2008: Ubisoft is on track

2007 was a record year for Ubisoft, especially thanks to Assassin's Creed - the best selling game ever on the developer-cum-publisher. After our visit to the annual Ubidays in Paris, we think that the company will soon own success sometimes can surpass.


Ubisoft has in recent years undergone a tremendous growth. In the early days of the company drew particular Rayman games the cart. Following the acquisition of Red Storm Entertainment, the company was also able to bind with series like Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six. Then-hardcore gamers themselves The recent resurgence of both franchises, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Rainbow Six Vegas, indicates that Ubisoft then called two series in sustainable living.

In recent years Ubisoft stuck his neck out quite regularly. Different and innovative titles such as Splinter Cell, the cel-shaded shooter XIII and Beyond Good & Evil indicate that the company is willing to take risks. And it still does, witness the full voice-Tom Clancy's EndWar which will be soon.

But Ubisoft has also put less successful ideas to the market. The piggyback on the urban / hip-hop hype a few years ago resulted in the dubious 187: Ride or Die, which the publisher both themselves and the community of gamers did anything but a pleasure. And the recent haze last year proudly positioned as a Playstation 3 exclusive, turned out to be. A sof

Luckily see the lineup for the next few months varied and promising. First, it follows the line of Ubisoft Nintendo, with its Games For Everyone label looking widening. There will be Ubisoft titles for the whole family, focusing particularly on mothers and daughters are targeted. DS titles like My Health Coach: The Easy Way To Stop Smoking and Manage Your Weight should promote a healthier life in a playful way, and in the Passion series, we get access to which girls games cooking, music and fashion central.

On the other hand, the 'traditional gamer' will not be forgotten. The games Tweakers.net has taken care of during the Ubidays his Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, Prince of Persia: Prodigy, Shaun White Snowboarding, Tom Clancy's EndWar, Tom Clancy's HAWX, Rayman Raving Rabbids Party TV and partner games Fallout 3 and Soul Calibur IV.

The next time you in our impressions special about Ubidays read.

Supreme Commander Forged Alliance, PC Review

Supreme Commander was a great game, but there were also complaints from players. Thus the system is often a recurring theme, as the highly effective Mass Fabricators. Gas Powered Games announced soon extend and seven months after the release of SupCom was Forged Alliance (FA) in stores. What is new after less than a year of development time?


I know you from somewhere?

A new campaign and faction to mention something. At the end of the three final operations SupCom, the Black Sun, the secret project of the UEF, fired. But as the short teaser films already shown, it means ending the Infinite War not the beginning of a peaceful era. The entry into force of the secret monster inadvertently leads to an entrance to the quantum space (quantum is the new Phlebotinum ), where a huge alien invasion force flies. These aliens are the Seraphim, the same creatures over a thousand years ago on the planet Seraphim II were exterminated. Now they are back and very cranky because of the loss of their colony. I think. Their motive is not really explained, though we as humans have done something really terrible (romantic comedies) to remove the creatures that totally pacifist 'Way' invented. Anger on the neck Anyway, a lot of time to think about it you do not have when you are told in the first operation to defend. The home planet of the newly formed Coalition This is not a quiet at the hand on the mission, such that it could be the case. Into SupCom This time you have from the start your full arsenal available and necessary, because the Seraphim and parts of the Aeon Illuminate abide not. The new units that each faction have been still a bit of a introduced, though I can this time because of the existing options have much better to live here. Because you will be thrown into the deep from the start, the game is less welcoming to newcomers than SupCom, but this is an odd place to start. The story In Forged Alliance six operations to play with all the human factions. Sit These missions are a lot more intense, and I think that's an improvement compared to Supreme Commander. And yes, there is another teaser movie. Supreme Matured As noted earlier, there are, in addition to a new faction, new units for the existing factions to come. Thus, the UEF a vehicle that had several fires missiles in succession and a heavy attack robot that seems to have been made ​​to demolish. Experimentals The Aeon will include a heavy torpedo bomber and a building at any location can make everything visible. For example, the Cybrans have a crawling bomb and a dangerous amphibious ... brick. At sea there are also found more ships, and each faction has also received a further Experimental there, including satellite weapon for the UEF. Some of these units are still not feeling well balanced, the exploding Cybran Fire Beetle is simply not used and the Aeon Restorer too much. But generally fill the new robots existing weapons well and there is a greater variation between the factions. Besides the additions virtually all existing units have gone on somehow the shovel. Everything moves faster and faster missiles hit their target. Most notable change is that Mass Extractors produce more mass, while Mass Fabricators much more energy. All these changes will ensure that you can continue to build, no longer at ease in your impenetrable base FabFarms called out but there needs to conquer. Mass. Deposits As a result, it does not seem like you're sometimes a futuristic form of playing SimCity. All in all, there is a lot in the gameplay changed and I believe that the result works very well. The steering is also doctored. The layout has changed and now you can make so-called 'templates'. This can best be compared with the copy and paste into Word or Windows Explorer. You make a collection of buildings and stores it in a template so you have a large group of structures with one click, you can drop quickly. It is convenient that these templates can be stored. Again used in these jars Slightly less amazing is the 'unit overlay. When this is selected, you can reach their troops, radar, and what have you seen in the form of rings. Particularly useful, but unfortunately my video card screams bloody murder if this option is enabled. Fortunately, you can adjust the overlay so that it displays less information.


Under the hood

Anyhow, the video card to do more in Forged Alliance, because seeing the graphics are slightly better. The differences are subtle, but if you pay attention, you see that the more effects to the body, and the units are sharper look. A bigger difference is in the new view of the Fog Of War. In SupCom fog that what you hear is not seen hide, responded rather late on moving your army. This time, it looks like you would expect and it goes very smoothly. Unfortunately, it takes more time again the video card.
SupCom In the factions had their own visual style and the Seraphim are no exception. The aliens give preference to smooth shapes, circles, and asymmetry. What I find really nice is that it is clear to see where the Aeon inspiration have achieved. Their architecture
, the AI has been completely rewritten, and the more difficult variants offer a greater challenge than in SupCom. If that is not hard enough for you, you can also choose computer players get extra resources and the entire map are visible.
Heavier requirements for the video card will be compensated with optimizations for the processor and memory, though this remains a game with high system . With a quad-core games with eight participants and hundreds of units can still slow.
The sound is still the same, but there is good new music. I think it's less that the number of songs is still low, especially since the original music SupCom no longer in it. Forged Alliance is an extension, but the original Supreme Commander is not required to play. As for multiplayer the same system as at the Dawn of War games is applied. If you only have Forged Alliance, you can only play online with the Seraphim. Want to use the other three factions, you will also be SupCom. Hold Offline it does not matter whether you have the original.



Conclusion

In just seven months, Gas Powered Games with Forged Alliance expansion that made ​​the original improves on virtually every point. There is a new campaign that like all great turn out and the whole game has gone on the shovel. The game is definitely the heavy system, still not for everyone, but for the more action reminding gameplay deserves FA certainly the attention of strategy lovers, even those who liked the original SupCom too slow.
The price will not be because I have recently Supreme Commander Gold Edition, which both games are, you are for only 20 euros in the shop. My wish for Supreme Commander 2: Princess Rhianne and Commander Dostya mud wrestling together and, um ... yeah.

Supreme Commander UEF Faction Pack, PC Review

There was, to be exact in the year 1997, a strategy game called Total Annihilation. The game was more than a Command & Conquer clone and was very appreciated by players and critics. However, I did not have enough money left after my purchase of Age of Empires and TA, I also have to skip. Fortunately decided Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games are going to repeat about. Their robot-tastic game Robots, lasers and explosions are in fact three things that make any game better and a game based on these three elements alone deserves a lot of attention from principle.
Has the result, Supreme Commander, enough of this holy trinity in itself a success to be?



Infinite War

Supreme Commander (SupCom) about the Infinite War. A war in the 29th century began with the collapse of the Empire Earth unwieldy. The unbridled expansionism of man through teleportation led to so many colonies that everything was simply no longer maintain. The first rebellion began with the failure to grant independence to the symbionts, those working on computers are linked and serve as slaves to society. These symbionts focus led by their creator Dr. Brackman, the Cybran Nation and begin to perform to live in freedom. An insidious guerrilla war In addition, the argument raised by the enigmatic Princess Burke Aeon Illuminate appears on the scene. These descendants of colonists disappeared bringing alien technology and religious inspiration with it. Anyone who does not immediately fall to his knees on hearing their story about the peaceful and harmonious 'Way' gets a masterclass in the art of genocide.
All those pesky curbs are not so good for the old Earth Empire, whatever soon gives up the ghost. But out of the ashes it rich as the United Earth Federation headed by President Riley. They are out to restore order and confirmed again to see. Their former superiority again Meanwhile, the war between the three factions already a sloppy thousand years underway, with many planets and lost lives as a result. teleportation has been around for centuries, the most effective way to send. settlers to new planets This method takes only a terribly large amount of energy, which it does not really practical for large groups of people to zap around. The solution is to send a single person in a tremendous man-shaped machine with a DNA database to establish a colony. With the beginning of the war, this idea is militarized and renamed the Armored Command Unit, simply ACU. In Supreme Commander, the player takes control of such ACU itself. The controls of the game will feel familiar to anyone who has ever played. real-time strategy game Gas Powered Games has however tried to enter. Several innovations There is the extensive waypoint system. With the Shift key allows you to perform actions, from construction to recommend succession. Nothing new in the genre, but this time it is possible to use this command afterwards to drag around or delete them. As a result, you do not continuously from the base to the front lines and jump with the camera back and can be easily corrected mistakes then. But the big winner of the controller is the best use of the zoom function since Homeworld. The maps in SupCom can be huge, but with the zoom, you can zoom out so far that you have the full map view, you can zoom in to the point where you hold your mouse pointer again. This is so easy and intuitive that you hardly feel the need to shift the image sideways and feel different strategy games obsolete.




At the start of each operation, the ACU teleported to a planet in its own. There he will have to use to build their turn large numbers of robots (check!) must fabricate to defeat the enemy and accomplish the mission. Factories the raw materials present With plants, you can also create Engineers, although less rapidly than building the ACU, but have more building options. These cooperative robots are useful to build outposts and assist. During production
, the raw materials used are Mass and Energy. Mass can be obtained by building in specially marked on the map, Mass Extractors but in the absence of such sites, it is also possible to have a surplus of energy into mass by Mass Fabricators. Energy is in turn generated by Power Generators.
units that you initially know to some degree to get the job done at your disposal, but soon you'll be craving for something stronger. I do not have liquor, but the technological levels in SupCom have it. There are three levels plus a number of experimental units. The rungs on the ladder of awesome destruction achieved by your factories to upgrade, then you will get access to new ways to kick off. Enemy of the planet The Experimentals his colossal units that steal the show and on their own to destroy. An entire base with clever use Personal favorite is the Cybran Monkey Lord, a terrifying monster with a weird name, six legs and huge laser (check!) that scorches everything in its path without mercy. Otherwise, there is the Aeon CZAR, a flying saucer à la the movie Independence Day makes the ground beneath spotless. Besides the impressive super units are also conventional weapons available to break, such as heavy artillery and nuclear weapons. Inground opponent If you fail to invest in protection against these things, you choose to exchange for a mushroom cloud (check!). Your base exploding laser robots aside ... The elements to establish the science fiction fan in me satisfied are plentiful, but as you get deeper digs, there is still plenty to appreciate. SupCom is a strategy game that focuses more on planning and preparation than high speed clicking on units with all sorts of special abilities. In addition, Gas Powered Games is trying to create through huge maps, an epic atmosphere, the ability to build hundreds of units and impressive experimental robots. 's factions exhibit themselves at first glance little variation, because virtually every robot can find a functional counterpart another faction. I say 'almost' because if you look closer, there are subtle differences that can have major consequences. Thus, the Aeon Aurora's the only Tech 1 tanks that are able to go, what the Aeon is a watery map a formidable opponent on water. Each level brings new ways to harm and to prevent it must be said that the simpler units are soon obsolete. If thirty cute running around UEF Tech 1 Mech Marines three Aeon Tech 3 Harbingers encounter, it is quickly viewed. Nevertheless, there remain plenty of options to surprise opponents. By playing smart person still lags behind economic weakness in the defense and exploit blow up the enemy ACU. Could




Supreme Commander is a complex and intimidating for beginners game, but the authors have done their best to make the game even for newcomers to the strategy genre to keep accessible. Thus several instructional videos in the tutorial and missions in the campaigns let you gradually get acquainted with new units.
There are three campaigns, one for each faction, and all three of them to run a secret project of the UEF. Each campaign consists of six operations, of which the former have a strong introductory character. These missions are (except the last) are not as memorable. The operations take place on a certain planet and every time a command is executed, the playable area extensively. This can, however, easily misuse by deliberately to delay the execution of your orders and build, leaving the rest of the operation is quite simple. Huge base first Because the first missions as a comprehensive tutorial and feel fairly small scale, the biggest sale of SupCom, the massive scale, not utilized as well.
Another downside is that campaigns have virtually the same story, with the choice of faction, the final outcome states. This ensures that when you finish a story the others feel a bit like a repeat exercise because the climax is already largely known. When connecting the campaigns and are progressively more difficult as it has done in Starcraft missions in my opinion, had been probably more interesting. Since I started playing online, I have not looked into the campaign. A campaign is not the only SupCom offer. Thus, the AI quite a challenge for players in Skirmish mode, and as long as you do not know how the computer can be the most effective, your reports will significantly the fire seemed to explain. The biggest challenge you will, not surprisingly, however, find online and this is where the strategic options of SupCom best come into their own. People are often a lot more creative with regard to the opportunities the game. For multiplayer Gas Powered Games has created a standalone application that lets you chat, you can join or start itself and homemade cards or very instructive replays can download. Started to inappropriate games In the first release of Supreme Commander multiplayer this client was a bit slow, but now it is reasonable. I was, however, found ideal as the program was integrated into the game itself as with Battle.net. , the most multiplayer fun I've had with the ranked jars. You and an opponent playing with a faction of your choice on any map. These usually 30 minute fights do the blood flowing quickly faster, because you will need to get to surprise, before he does the same to you. Their opponent out of the closet all your knowledge and experience In these battles, it is vital to be aware of what the enemy plans to date and it is important to adequately respond there. If you can then manage your opponent to wipe away expertly rest nothing but happy to sit back in your easy chair with a fiendish grin on your face that your roommates anxious does leave the room. A win you get points, which you rise up the rankings, with loss is reversed. The greater the difference in rank, the greater the reward. A good idea is to check each game view. Replay Regardless of the winner you will always a better player. Price Tag Supreme Commander looks very good. The units and buildings are detailed, as are the surroundings. Certainly the water and nuclear explosions are impressive. The three sides also have their own visual style. The UEF looks the most instantly recognizable as the weaponry resembles the modern fry of our time. The units seem to be designed to function and look out rectangular. The Cybrans look like they are from today's stealth bombers have taken their inspiration, lots of black and lots of jagged edges. They also have a preference for robots with many legs. In contrast, the Aeons are fond of white, round shapes and hovercraft. How all these different vehicles together to shoot barley, with much everywhere projectiles, rockets and lasers, is very nice to see. The only flaw in appearance that I can find is that the animations are rather stiff, but come on ... Lasers! In SupCom, it is also possible to play the game on two screens at the same time so your example on one screen full map the overview, while the work done. precise on the other zooms If you have no display, it is still possible to share the screen in two so that the same effect on a smaller scale. The sound is well kept and varied. Really any kind of "pieuw-pieuw" is represented. That's the way of the Aurora (piieeuww), the Mantis (pieuw-pieuw-pieuw), the Loyalist (pieuw-pieuw-pieuw-pieuw-PIEUWPIEUWPIEUW!). I exaggerate: the launching of rockets, exploding vehicles, the voices, the firing of artillery, everything sounds fine and the music by Jeremy Soule has an appropriate dramatic tone. It's just a shame that there is not much variety in the music,. With out my head five songs, the music is a bit repetitive All this beauty does not require a brand new video card, but the Radeon X800 with 128 MB I play first played had it very heavily. You are then quickly condemned to the lowest settings, and these make the game a lot less attractive. With my current video card I can, however, everything in 1650x1050 and maximum detail with ease. The frame rate has a tendency to under twenty bags, but there you have in this game barely bother because you rarely have to react very quickly. SupCom Where the hardest to lift the processor and to a lesser extent the memory. Forget the recommended system requirements on the box, with a single core processor is soon not fun anymore and 1 GB of RAM is really the minimum. As soon as more units come into play in the case of my old Pentium 4 around a thousand, slows down the game to give the CPU to calculate.'s All the time , this is also true for multiplayer. Nothing is as frustrating as a game with eight players in which a person has decided that its rusty processortje could handle it all (I deny everything). In such a way the games normally take forty minutes to go as much as two hours. (Really, something I do not do) Once you've been a little decent dualcore in the closet, you do this a lot less to worry about.




Conclusion

Supreme Commander is a deep, magnificent and multifaceted strategy game that allows great control and appetizing appearance. Despite the complexity, the game is not difficult to learn, and the internet you'll find no shortage of challenges. The high system requirements are a major barrier, but if you have the computer, and you want something different than a hyperactive click fest, there's no reason not to go for one of the best strategy games of 2007. I'm not a fanboy. I'm not a fanboy. I'm not a fanboy !

Lotro: interview with developer Jeffrey Steefel

More than a year ago, Codemasters massively multiplayer online role-playing game The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. In one year, developer Turbine changed much in their virtual Middle-Earth. The game is updated frequently and later this year a planned expansion, which is a whole new part of Middle-Earth opened. Tweakers.net spoke lead developer Jeffrey Steefel and not only took the past year, but also looked ahead to what still lies ahead within the franchise and the MMO genre.

*The first year

Jeffrey Steefel"It's been a wild roller coaster ride," Steefel looks back at the first year Lotro. The first twelve months after the release of the game mainly characterized by the constant updates that got the game. Within months, Turbine added a new book to the main story in the game. "The first year has gone great. We have to work hard to achieve in the field of quality and boost the game. Our goals hard Since the launch of the game Lotro, we have expanded by about thirty percent. Something like that is hard to measure, but we have big fields and all sorts of extra features added. This has meant that we got progressively more members, who now form a global community, and that's a fantastic feeling. "

Although Lotro for Codemasters and Turbine is a success, the game is not nearly as successful as World of Warcraft. However, the game did not do less than Turbine previously forecasted. "Success is about as I expected in advance. However, the satisfaction came only after a while. It's a bit like having a baby. You know it is beautiful and wonderful, but you appreciate it when it is there. I have previously made mmo's, but never something this big and uitgebreids like this. "

"Mostly it's because we use the license of the books of Tolkien. Moreover, it is a new step for Turbine. With Asheron's Call and Dungeons & Dragons Online, we had things to try. However, lotro is no longer trying. "With the license Steefel calls the main attraction of the game. Many players have Lotro brought home to walk. Themselves once in Middle-Earth around "The license of course plays a big role. A game must be good without a license, but the growth that we can achieve now is due to the license. Largely Moreover, we have a very good relationship with Tolkien Enterprises. It is a blessing to be able to use that license, but also a challenge. Everything we invent to knock in the world that Tolkien has created. It does not exist, but it must be credible.

Far Cry 2 - In other hands

The German Crytek made a good impression with the shooters Far Cry and Crysis. However, it also argued with publisher Ubisoft, with the result that Far Cry 2 is not made by Crytek, but by the French publisher itself. We took a look at the huge studio Ubisoft Montreal, where the final touches are being made to the game.


The break between Crytek and Ubisoft meant that the German studio can no longer use the name Far Cry and Crysis made under the name of a sequel for publisher Electronic Arts. Use Ubisoft, which not only has the rights to the name, Far Cry, but also the engine of the first part may continue to use, began immediately after the break to Far Cry 2, for which it has arranged a special studio in Montreal, Canada. There, a team of 200 people working on the shooter, who this fall to appear. Not only on PCs but also on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Ubisoft is hoping to keep in Far Cry 2, the strengths of Far Cry and Crysis and improve. Lesser sides That sounds like marketing talk, but there are a few specific points where the publisher pays attention. Thus Far Cry 2 will not have such extremely high requirements set as Crysis. Although the game with DirectX 10 support them, it is still mainly focused on systems that use version 9. Furthermore Ubisoft especially want to make the game more varied than the two predecessors. Thus, the first part which was linear for a game with an open world game and the story of Crysis was some bizarre, the strange alien influences. That should be all different and of course above all better, you Ubisoft.

* The forest

Therefore, in Far Cry 2 focuses on the open nature of the game. The world is no longer an island, but Africa, though it is obviously not to the entire continent. The main features of the African nature are crowded into 50 square kilometer game world freely traverse his. Not without a fight, because it is tightly fought in Far Cry 2. Even without your interference, because there are already two parties that have to stick to you in coming days. The UFLL, or United Front for Liberation and Labor, and the APR, which stands for the Alliance for Popular Resistance, battling for supremacy in this part of Africa. There is a third party in the game, which is simply called the Underground, and this is more a movement of black marketers who are trying to stay out of sight. The two warring parties Want, when you want to buy something or regularly, you can always approach the Underground. As long as you know diamonds on the table to explain the Underground can arrange everything for you. These diamonds are also the only currency in the game. Everyone gathers them and you will find them hence the craziest places, but rarely can you get them without a fight.

Uefa Euro 2008

The dream of every English football fan? The qualifications for the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland, and then do it so that England does qualify for the tournament. That dream will not come quickly, but Uefa Euro 2008 Electronic Arts can do it!

As the name suggests this football game from EA Sports completely revolves around the tournament that starts in June. The game features logically on the official license, which means that the original logos are used and all the stadiums where the match will be played are also included in the game. Unfortunately stores a license from a tournament is not automatically the participating teams. Many countries have the real names, complete with original jerseys, but a small number of countries have to do without the real names and shirts and unfortunately Netherlands one of them.

Dutch team is called in the game, but is hardly recognizable as such. The players names are not real, the players do not resemble the real players and the shirts are not official. It's been so for years and has everything to do with a conflict of the past. In ancient games in the FIFA series are the names of the men of Orange used, while there was at that time not the right license purchased. That has translated into a dispute between Electronic Arts and the players of the former Dutch national team, and as long as that is not resolved, EA can not buy the license of the Dutch team.

This is a point that for years has been appointed by numerous media and criticized, so it's silly to start it again, about right? Error. The Championships this year on the football calendar event what it is about and where the Netherlands undoubtedly warm weather ahead, whether in Austria and Switzerland or in the pub on the corner. 'We' encourage massive 'our' boys, but push corresponding game in a console or PC, and you should do it nepnamen a mess, a simple orange shirt and nothing reminiscent of the Dutch national team. Very sorry.

Stronghold 2 Deluxe PC Review

Give me a sandbox and I'm no longer hold. Using some molds is a few minutes later a powerful fortress that can be raised. Not even the terrible hordes of Very-Very-Kwaadaardigistan destroyed Of course a non demolished castle fortress imperfect and I smash my creation yet through flung pebbles and homemade explosive sounds. Then I get hit by my friends who gently suggest that this strange behavior for a man of twenty years. Astonished parents and children leaving I leave my (MIJN!) sandbox, while I wake up slowly out of my trance.
It is therefore not surprising that as a child I was fortunate in discovering the Stronghold series. The combination of a slight economic sim and Medieval belegeringssim led to the successful Stronghold (2001) and its improved successor Stonghold: Crusader (2002). Wait three years later Stronghold 2 was released and since then the game can be found. In the budget bins Is Firefly Studios managed to further improve the series



Manure, rats and banquets

Essentially Stronghold 2 works the same as its predecessors. You start your castle with a stone keep, the 'Keep', a few subjects, a granary and a storage place. By placing a few saw mills for loggers and farms for food lay the foundation for your economy. Walls and fortifications need stone and iron weapons to be mined. Your hard-working farmers have to remain satisfied and you do that by producing enough food., Beer and / or church In this sequel should be also given negative things. Manure can go on hoping and rats can get involved. Your castle on the idea In addition, any farmer can decide to say goodbye to brave life and go steal. Oddly enough, this happens regardless of the state of your castle, a farmer gets double rats millions is just as likely to rob a starving the granary. Criminals are thrown by guards in prison when a judge sentences them. The penalty is determined by the drop of scaffolds or pyres, whichever your mood and rank.
A great new addition to the economic part of Stronghold 2 is in fact the 'Honour' system. The Kingmaker game mode, an extended form of Skirmish, your rank plays a major role. You start as a nobody to spend. With little choice in construction possibilities and without the possibility of army In a war game that is not exactly an attractive situation and you will have to do to earn enough Honor Points as soon as possible and take off. Rank best Honour can be earned in several ways. There may be held by the lord of the castle. Example a feast For this feast are special foods required that all have their own building again. A monastery also can be built, thus bringing monks regularly piles of hand-written literature to the castle for the glory of their Lord.
Putting down statues, giving dance parties with dresses made ​​by the mistress, punishing criminals, to opportunities for earning honor is no lack, and that is perhaps the problem. The economic part of the Stronghold games was never deep, but wide enough to stay interesting. Now it begins, however, to look like Firefly Studios has gone far in the width and thereby lost sight of. The fun It's pretty frustrating when you're trying to act in order to return to your castle, and to see that everyone has left. Return something important off A candle maker was in fact from the path of righteousness abandoned, leaving plenty of candles were not available for church services, making the castle dwellers high taxes no longer wanted to see from the finger.



Blood, Steel and flying cows

that important what you're doing is of course the war. You can then perhaps set up a nice economy, but if you are not able to repel an attack, you are a lousy lord. The ability to build an imposing fortress has always been the most important and most entertaining part of the Stronghold games and Stronghold 2 is still a pleasure to build that even Richard the Lionheart would not dare besiege a castle. Walls, gates, moats, towers with ballista or catapults, all possibilities are present again. In the sequel, there are some options on top of them, such as rolling logs and tons of stones that can be used to crush while being bombarded with arrows. Oncoming enemies used
on the other side of the wall there are some changes made. In traditional units, everything is still the same, the Archer, Swordsman, and others are all present yet. The only exception is the addition of the Knight, which is actually a stronger version of the Swordsman's. When the mercenaries, by contrast, there are those replaced. So you no longer have access to incendiary slaves (jammer!) and Arabian swordsmen (fine), but you can now recruit Vikings or thieves example. These mercenaries are an excellent alternative for lack of raw materials, but obviously cost a lot more money. The family of siege weapons has increased. Besides the familiar catapults and trebuchets you have time also provided with siege towers and, as a replacement for my favorite suicidal slaves, carts with burning hay. As in previous sections, it is possible to hurling stones to exchange with throwing dead cows, which is not very effective, but very nice. Off
the repelling attacks is still the best part of the game. While catapults holes in your defense store trying to bury under a rain of all sorts of projectiles, the enemy delivers exciting gameplay.
Unfortunately, the AI of the computer rather weak. Without reacting let the opponent castle in ruins and shoot if the roles are reversed and let the AI is quite easily spoofed. So you can put a small wooden wall of your castle walls, so ladder carriers can not do anything more, and enemy troops are more concerned with the tearing down of the wall than that for which they came: the head of the lord on a silver platter. In this way, sieges be as you learn to better understand the AI less interesting.



Something for everyone

There is plenty to do in Stronghold 2. There is the aforementioned Kingmaker. In this mode, you choose a card, up to seven computer opponents, you determine the alliances and imagine some other things in order to clean up afterwards. Every opposition out of the way Everyone starts with a dungeon and must build a fortress to simultaneously make. Equivalent of opponents to the ground You get assigned a defined area where most everything is available, but if you have a shortage somewhere, it is possible to buy 100 Honour, which you can get to your raw materials or production can 'outsource' access. Neutral area However, this is a high price for something that can be used by the adversary. Conquered with some troops Additionally, you will definitely start all Honour need for promotions. Annoyingly, the computer does not seem to keep accumulating on the whole idea of honor, because it already buildings drop early in the game that you normally can only build. After several promotions This sometimes leads to slight ruching while you can defend yourself. Barely All the weaknesses of AI remain in Kingmaker force, because he is aggressive at times.
Moreover Stronghold 2 also offers two Campaigns. These are, as in the first part, an economic and a military campaign. First you will deal with the reconstruction of the kingdom and the second with the association of that country. The military campaign has also found a very interesting story, but I can not find it. The king is gone and the land is in the hands of all evil barons and it's up to you to get it. The thing back in order In fact, this is the same structure as in the first Stronghold, but now with added soon too long there. Moderately animated cutscenes And the voice acting can be described at best as acceptable and at worst as a toe-curling bad. The weak acting is also reflected in the rest of the game. It is as if the actors have taken to sound. Idiotic as possible with each race This contest is brilliantly won by the Spearman, who cries when clicking dazed "I'm confused".
Incidentally, there is much overlap between the two campaigns, since you have to fight bandits in economic missions and military missions still a castle should run.
There is a large collection of castles that you can besiege or defend Conquest Trail, which you demolishes in a fixed order forts throughout Europe or saves, the ability to build complete freedom a dream castle and a map editor . Add to this multiplayer Kingmaker to that and you have a very complete package of game options, though they are not all equally strong.


Glorious 3D without the glorious

, the most eye-catching change is the one I'm talking about the least. Stronghold 2 is in fact full 3D. Unfortunately, it seems that it does not matter much for the developers or their new game would run a bit. Smoothly I played the first game on a P4 3.0 Ghz, X800, and 1 GB of RAM, a configuration that is more than meets the recommended system requirements. However, once it was busier on the screen, dropped the framerate of the game so that it simply was not fun anymore to continue playing. Even with my current computer runs the game during major sieges choppy. Lowering settings does not seem to have as little impact so I can only conclude that adding a third dimension is poorly developed. Anything else
, the quality of what appears on the image actually is not very high. The textures are blurry and models of units are simple. The buildings look better, but that is still not in proportion to the poor performance. In contrast, the collapse of buildings and walls looks pretty good, like the shining armor. But given the price for all that, I prefer the aged appearance of the first parts.
Also in the field of the camera, I am not happy. Turning the camera, please note the highest use of 3D, is very slow. Also, I would like to zoom. Further away from
that other essential part of the presentation, the sound is much better realized. The voices with gusts bad, but the sound effects are fine. The death cries of some men, the collapse of catapults and crossbows reloading sounds properly. The music, a collection of medieval tunes, can tempt me. Conclusion If Stronghold 2 had more time to mature, it would probably have been. much better game It is simply great fun to build a castle and defend, but by a large number of serious deficiencies, the fun spoiled. The weak AI from the previous games is hardly resolved and in presentation shooting game deficit, while the gameplay too much tends to the economic side. If you are intrigued by the game concept, you're better off with Stronghold:. Crusader I would stress that the omission of slaves in the tyrant disappoints me. Nothing says "I'm your finicky burchtje until the last stone chipping and every inhabitant stringing! A spear" as clear as 50 penniless arsonists death sent to convert. Two farms on fire Sigh.