Siege

Siege is a video game in the strategy genre developed by Mindcraft Software, Inc. and published by Mindcraft Software, Inc. originally released in 1992. It is currently playable on DOS.

Mindcraft's first tactical fantasy game Siege and expansion pack Dogs of War is a decent tactical combat game with lots of scenarios, units and even a decent plot.

In this cross between SSG's Warlords and EA's classic Rampart, your task is to attack or defend a castle with fantasy units. The good VGA graphics and music, unfortunately, can't hide the fact that the game's AI is simply awful, even worse than that of Mindcraft's dreadful Tegel's Mercenaries. It's far too easy to outflank the computer and confuse its units by faking attacks, and the only time you'll feel anything resembling a real challenge is when the computer commands many more units than you, to even the odds. The game mechanics are decent, although the cumbersome interface (as in most Mindcraft strategy games) really gets in the way. Although the game is real-time, you can pause it at any time to give orders.

All in all, Siege is a rather shallow tactical game that promises more than it delivers. Although there are many units you can buy, their difference is simply reduced to whether or not they can perform ranged attacks. The lack of campaign mode is disappointing, but is somewhat compensated for by a versatile scenario and map editor. The limited objectives, gameplay and poor AI make it a good game only for beginners or anyone who likes easy strategy games.

The rest of us would be happier playing Warlords from SSG or Conquered Kingdoms from QQP for the umpteenth time. If you want to give the Mindcraft engine a second chance, play the much improved Ambush at Sorinor.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.