I really wanted this game to be good...
The game's graphics aren't bad, and if you can get past the bugs and occasional program crashes it might even be downright playable, unfortunately that's about all that I can say in it's favor. Many aspects of this game felt very unpolished and not entirely thought out, namely the wall building and the resource management.
When you think of castle building you can only hope there is some flexibility in being able to place walls and defensive structures and the such, sure not all terrain is suitable for building, but by the end of the military campaign mode you start to wonder, 'Just exactly how many blocks of develop-able ground are there really?'. I personally felt robbed out of a great deal of customization.
As far as resources go, it becomes somewhat difficult to pull the necessary balancing act to keep enough peasants around to reach any end. I'm not against a good challenge and for sake of argument, it's not impossible, but when you run out of space to build more resource producing structures and backtracking will only ruin any progress you've made, it just makes it maddening and not in the fun type of way.
Long and short, I loved the first stronghold, I love the concept, but as far as it all coming together and bringing it up to date... this game just didn't fit the bill. If you must play it, just don't come in with the highest of expectations unless you really feel the need to be sorely disappointed.