Castle Fight: The Holy Clone Wars
By Mitch Baylosis-Benesa (Syllica), OnRPG Journalist
Castle Fight is a browser-based strategy game that takes you back to the Middle Ages during the famous quest to gain the Holy Land by two warring factions, the Christian Crusaders and the Arabs. Everything that defines the Middle Ages is consistently present in the game: the age of castles, windmills, brick production, conquests, gold, trade, and of course, faith.
Going Back To Basics
Like any other RTS in the market, you start off by building the essential resources like a clay pit for bricks and the wheat field for the wheat. Surprisingly, the first building that must be constructed before everything else is the church or the mosque. This should clue you in already that faith will have an effect on your governance. Apart from strengthening your army, checking your market supply, and establishing diplomatic ties with your neighbors, you must also constantly check the faith and loyalty of your people for this can affect your research or production.
East Meets West
The Holy Land Pilgrimage is one of the historical highlights reflected in the game. The first reason why is the prevalence of faith in the affairs of the government both on the Christians and the Arabs. The second reason is that this is one of the most defining moments in history when two factions from the East and the West, both bearing the flags of their faith and land, went into war. For the latter reason alone, I chose the Arabs just to test if the game would take RTS to a whole new level by incorporating the factions’ perspectives of the war. Suffice to say, I was disappointed.
Forever Alone?
No matter which factions you choose on the get go, it will hardly have any bearing on how you build your army. Your residence or castle will ultimately reflect how you fortify your area. Like in most RTS games, some buildings cannot be erected unless the requirement is met.
The flow of resources and technology is familiar, and Castle Fight’s interface made it even better. Everything is tight and compact. The left hand menu provides more options that will aid you in your growth. Icons for upgrades and expansion are nicely rendered as well. All I can say is that Castle Fight is one of the neatest and most organized looking RTS I’ve seen recently. My only qualm is the lack of missive from any NPC characters that would have further enlivened the experience. Once again, I felt like I was on my own and fast becoming impatient because I hardly felt like I was role playing at all.
I guess it would have been a lot of help to create an NPC that nagged you with updates of unimportance to help build a more realistic game world. But otherwise, Castle Fight is a straightforward and stimulating RTS that even newbies in the genre can enjoy.
