Stronghold Legends is a castle-based real-time strategy game by Firefly Studios

Firefly Studios

Firefly Studios is a computer game developer that has offices in London, England and Canton, Connecticut, with a QA department in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Company was formed in August 1999 by Simon Bradbury, Eric Ouellette and David Lester who had worked together on numerous titles such as the...

. It follows in the series of Stronghold and Stronghold 2

Stronghold 2

Stronghold 2 is a real time strategy computer game released in April 2005 in which the player develops a stronghold in the middle ages. It is the sequel to Stronghold, released in 2001, also by Firefly Studios....

.

Gameplay

Unlike the previous Stronghold titles, Legends gives the player a choice of different starting rulers with different troop types (including King Arthur

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

 and his knights of the round table, Count Vlad Dracul, and Siegfried of Xanten

Sigurd

Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...

). Other new features include cooperative multiplayer against computer-controlled opponents and the choice between different gameplay options for online play (Death-match, King of the Hill, Economic War, and Capture the Flag).

Special units

Each faction has new unit groups unique to each faction. Most special units have their own unique ability, which must be recharged after they are used. Dragons are also available to every faction, but have a set lifetime. All other special units remain on the map until they die. In story mode you are not necessarily bound to your factions special units. For example, King Arthur can make use of the Ice Tower instead of the Round Table for more balanced game play.

Other units

• There are no more spearmen (but they are replaced by men-at-arms), horse-archers, light-cavalry, berserkers, thieves, monks, or assassins.
• Bandits can be summoned either to assist a human player from the woods or to oppose you if your opponent obtains their loyalty.
• Pictish boat warriors are always against you in missions (except in some of the legends trail missions where they are sent as reinforcements).

Differences to Stronghold

Stronghold Legends has been made using a similar graphics engine as Stronghold 2 - the game appeared to be a minor rehash of the previous game on the first inspection. However, playing it revealed that the graphics were considerably improved and new music tracks had been added. More units were available; features like crime were removed entirely, minor changes like this have altered the gameplay experience slightly. It was included in the Mastertronic

Mastertronic

Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. Their first games were distributed in mid-1984. At its peak the label was the dominant software publisher in the UK, a position achieved by selling cassette-based software at the £1.99...

 range of games in the U.K., showing its popularity.

External links and Stronghold Legends websites

• Official Website
• Unofficial fan website providing more info
• Firefly Studios' Official website
• 2K Stronghold Legends Site
• Stronghold Legends Wiki
• Official Polish Stronghold Site
• Stronghold Legends at MobyGames
  MobyGames
  -Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...