Stronghold 3 - 20/20 hours

Sometimes people ask me why I do this - why I subject myself to these games I don't particularly like, playing them for longer than is reasonably necessary. I usually answer with something self-deprecating about vanity and living up to the self-created myth of my own endurance.

But that's only part of the story. Over and above a stubborn determination to stick to my goal, it's moments like this that keep me going. Sitting here, looking back at 120 hours of an impulsively purchased game bundle and knowing that I will never have to play any of them again . . . it is . . . immensely satisfying. There were actually tears in my eyes as I hit the delete button to remove Stronghold 3 from my hard drive. The relief was profound. It was like a burden being lifted from shoulders.

The game itself was all right, but probably the least essential of the series. Its only addition to the Stronghold formula was its 3D graphics, and they wound up being less attractive than Stronghold 2 while also imposing a dubious new limitation on the gameplay  - the ability to rotate buildings off the rectilinear resulted in sloppier cities and less efficient lines of transit. Maybe that makes the game truer to its medieval setting, but I'd have appreciated a snap-to-grid option, because realism matters less to me than neatness.

But that's not that big a deal. The real problem with Stronghold 3 is that it's not put together very well. I had to quit free build mode when my 400+ population city ground my computer to a halt. There was a noticeable delay between me moving my mouse and the program responding to the input. At times it would freeze entirely. I even had to fire up the task manager and force quit the game. Then when I would try and start over, it would crash immediately, forcing me to reset my computer entirely.

But even that isn't my real issue. My real issue is that I wanted something from the game it couldn't deliver - a more detailed and realistic sim with my little characters going about their imaginary lives and a version of siege warfare that revolved more around stockpiling food and resources than the tactical micromanagement of units. It's probably an unfair opinion, because I'm basically asking the game to be something its not, but that's just the way it is.

Overall, I'd say that if you're interesting in the Stronghold series, it's pretty arbitrary which one you go with, except that Stronghold 3 should probably be your last choice. Whatever it is you like about the series, another entry does better, and the one thing it does do best - being in 3D - isn't much of a selling point.

Although, if you do get the opportunity to play the entire series for 120 hours and then quit, I can highly recommend it.