The game updates the series to a full 3D graphics engine, and it introduces a variety of new gameplay modes, including the Path of Peace, an economic campaign, as well as the Path of War, which is a combat-intensive campaign. However, the new game represents the first major overhaul of the franchise. Stronghold 2 is the third game in the castle-building and medieval warfare series, following the successful Stronghold and Stronghold: Crusader. The peaceful campaign in Stronghold 2 is still pretty violent, as you must defend yourself against wolves and bandits. Apparently, the third time is a charm, because we've been playing with a new version of Stronghold 2 that's 99 percent complete, which is a good thing too, considering that the game is supposed to ship in a couple of weeks. We've had the opportunity to check out Stronghold 2 twice now, but each of these times we played with very early versions of the game.
