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- T
- 7sixty
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- 7sixty
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- 7sixty
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- 7sixty
Stronghold 3: Gold Edition
Released On: May 25, 2012
Metascore
Available after 4 critic reviews
4.9
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
All Platforms
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 21 User Ratings
4.9
33% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
14% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
52% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 21 User Ratings
4.9
33% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
14% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
52% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
I was shocked when it was confirmed that Stronghold 3 Gold Edition was to be released soon. It was more good news that it was free for those who own stronghold! I immediately started playing campaign of the core game again to understand the ties to Gold Edition before its release. This brief review will explain in detail what consists in the new complimentary content. NOTE: I will not cover the new Multiplayer Mode.
I would like to state a few things before I head into the general things of the review. Do not get tricked by the eye-candy of the screenshots. Yes there are boats but they're just misc objects that you can't control like in Age of Empires 3 nor are they trading objects. They're just there. This campaign is really recommended if you beat Stronghold 3 first. Its really difficult even on Easy. I will move on explaining the content.
Blackstaff Campaign:
"We were stronger than he expected, so silverback fled. This is your chance, my brother told me; his castle was to the north, and he won't be ready for you. We marched north and took on his castle before he had the chance to catch his breath. His forces were strong, but we still had the scent of victory on our blood."
As soon as you start your stronghold 3 game you will notice the new blackstaff campaign banner right above the Historical seiges banner. This is a magnificent brand new original campaign that ties to the previous campaign while those events are happening. The campaign is very difficult and sometimes even impossible to beat at higher difficulties. I recommend to start at easy. It consists of 5 maps that look like a walk in the park but turn out to be jigsaw's bloody massacre, boobytrapped to the core with pitch ditches and man traps. You have no choice but to start all over after the majority of your men are incinerated and only a few troops left that are just not enough to continue. About 3 maps are sieges with the 'capture the keep' gameplay and the other 2 are the ordinary start-ups where you place your stockpile and granary to start your economy. I will be honest. This will be frustrating. You WILL have to replay all missions to get them right. The paths look long and are packed with the meanest enemies such as knights and men-at-arms when you just have a few armed peasants, archers, and about 4 knights. But wait! there's also a shorter way with less troops! :D *march march march, incinerated* your useful troops are all burnt. Indeed this does sound frustrating but in the end it turns out to be fun. The Campaign in general is a very superb campaign with new voices and even new beautiful 3D comic intros including new music. You will have fun even if it takes a couple of tries. Heinous bugs you say? I have not seen one. People may argue about the core game with the bugs since its more economical. You may pull a bug list as if it were the credits of a movie such as workers not working at quarries, veg gardeners relinquish job, knights not mounted right on horses and so on but you can forget about all that since there is practically no economical region in this campaign. Its more combat focused. Its all seiges. So get quick and act fast before archers on towers kill your useful man-at-arms and sacrifice armed peasants to burn in pitch ditches so the knights could safely pass unharmed.
Once again i conclude this side of the review to go ahead and try it if you havn't installed the game. Its worth it. It felt very fresh and new yet it still holds true to Stronghold 3.
Sieges:
After successfully attacking and defending all 12 Historical maps, it qualifies me to bring down the hammer and say the old ones were repetitive and persistent. On the other hand, the new seiges that were introduced within Gold DLC feel different and have that element which makes Gold DLC unique...traps to the core. I conclude this final review with a recommendation of the game and its new content. If you have the game, install it. If you don't then what are ye waiting for? The new sieges make you rethink your plans twice and redefines the word Strategy. This is what Firefly makes. This is what stronghold means. Strategy.
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PC
My Mac took a chance with my four dollars plus change and got it on Steam. Glad I did. In spite of all the hate that has been heaped on this game, it has a certain appeal. That is, if you like town/castle building, hoarding resources, ordering peasants around, and seeing your enemies crushed and driven before you; while listening to the lamentation of their women.
Soundtrack is fitting for a feudal lord, but John Barley Corn tends to play a tad too often, and the lyrics remind me of brave Sir Robin. Graphically, the landscapes are rendered like impressionistic oil paintings, which is fitting for this genre, although not for this time period. Also, if you've got a hankering for medieval architecture, you'll be treated to variety of historically accurate building styles; a few have given me ideas for building defenses in other games like 7 Days to Die.
The one thorn in my crown over this game is multi-player because I can never connect. However, for the sale price the single player modes are worth it, and real feudal lords didn't have an internet for their multi-player games either. I give it two forks up! (Note: One of the forks is somewhat bent from jamming it in my ethernet port while trying to get multi-player to work.) Forks you ask? Storm Fork is my Steam handle.
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PC
Tried stronghold 3 when it first came out and it was abysmal, since release however the game has come on leaps and bounds and the majority of bugs have been ironed out, sure its far from perfect but now is the time to check it out if you have been holding out from the hoard of negative reviews.
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PC
Terrible game. Avoid it, not matter how cheap it is.
It looks bland, gameplay is boring, mechanics completely uninspired. I can't think of a single good thing about it, other than belonging to a once great game series.
I bought it on Steam, because it was such a bargain (or so I thought), but couldn't bring myself to play much longer than half an hour.
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PC
Absolut not playable - Multplayer laggy as Hell, Pathfinding does not exist, No LAN Mode, Deathmatch useless - No Honor etc.
This is a bad joke for a "Gold" Version - I can't imagine how buggy the normal Version was.
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PC
Everything good about the stronghold series especially 2 has been **** by this game. Everything about the presentation with regards to models screams trying to hard all over it making it look overworked, tacky and terrible. The models themselves do not show a remarked improvement from previous games in fact they look worse. The AI is worse, the fact that now non siege units can destroy stone walls is laudable. This removes the whole tactical aspect from the game and is such a design, whom ever had that idea should be shot. The game menu looks awful far worse than any other game. The missions are dull and slow. The mission scenes are a travesty, the pictures and acting are just bad, and again have **** the memories of the glorious scenes from stronghold 2. This was the worst £5 i have ever ever spent and anybody who buys this just on seeing another game of the franchise is a fool. I had such high hopes but do not be drawn into the pretty pictures, the game has been sexed up. The building menus are now messy with no prompts on how many resources you have left, you have to check manually. You also have lost the segmented aspect to building which made it far simpler with something that is now messy and fiddly and just a pile of old ****e. The internet connection to the servers do not work.
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PC
DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!
this is the buggiest sorry excuse for a video game that I've ever bought. the options are slim, everything seems to be in permanent slow motion, it's horribly laggy and choppy. after an hour of trying to find a solution to the **** gameplay I've ever seen, I was ready to throw it into the shredder. the originals are excellent games, but as far as stronghold 3, I wouldn't even recommend this game to someone I hate
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PC
Summary Stronghold 3: Gold Edition features all the extra content and tweaks added to Stronghold 3 since release. This includes 3 core campaigns (including the new Blackstaff Campaign), 4 multiplayer modes (including the new Coronation mode), a free build sandbox mode and 12 historical sieges.
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date: May 25, 2012
Developer:
- FireFly Studios
Publisher: 7sixty
Genres:
