http://store.steampowered.com/app/47400/

If anyone buys it, please share your opinion... love the idea of the game... but not sure if I have time or money for it now... maybe on a sale?

Oh man, looking a bit rough of a release

http://www.fireflyworlds.com/index.php?o...23&catid=46

That's being generous. Even ignoring the technical issues, some of the gameplay decisions... I watched ~15 minutes of the game at a buddies place. 20 or so infantry proceed to a massive stone gatehouse. They then proceed to hack it with their swords/spears. Inside of a minute, this heavy structure (the heaviest type you can build) completely collapses to the ground and the castle is breached, the troops storm in, kill the occupants and the battle is won. No need for siege engines, ladders, or anything. Just send the infantry up to chop it down and you're inside in no time.

Now maybe I'm too demanding in my wants for a castle siege/assault game, in actually wanting to have to assault said castle and not having this hugely expensive and imposing fortress prove as difficult an obstacle as a door to a fireman's axe, but seeing that completely turned me off of the game.

out of mind now... thx.

I played the first 2 for about 10 minutes each and they weren't my thing and I found them boring.

I loved the first one. Didn't care for the stand alone expansion though.

Stronghold 2, which was their first attempt at going full 3D, was over complicated and ran like crap due to a memory leak. They finally patched it up to an acceptable level after several months, but I had lost interest by then.

However, the developers claimed they had learned from their mistakes and that Stronghold 3 would return to the basics of the first game that fans loved, so I bought into the hype. They fecking lied.

As you've already heard, the game has more bugs than an Arkansas picnic. The graphics simply look dated and game balance in non-existent.

There is also a total lack of presentation--the kind of thing one would expect from a budget indie game. There are no animated cut scenes or intro either--instead the story is told using a comic book style---in other words, they used cheap concept art instead of popping for computer animations.

I heard that all their beta testing got canceled at the last moment, so due to that and other cuts, they just pushed the game out the door. It really shows too. They've issued two patches to date that have fixed some of the obvious stuff, but game balance, troop control, and combat still sucks.

Out of 7 gaming site reviews so far, the game has an average score of about 4 out of a possible 10. Only one site gave it above a 5 out of 10. The developers may patch it up to a playable level, but I don't think they'll ever overcome the initial bad press and reviews.

You can probably wait a month and pick this one up for $10 or less---that is if you are a die hard Stronghold fan.

Cheers