At E3, Take-Two Interactive is showing off Stronghold: Crusader, the follow-up to last year's real-time strategy game of castle building--and castle wrecking. The game uses the same engine as its predecessor but introduces new desert battles to the mix, with European knights duking it out against the Saracens. Historically, the Arabic people drove back the European invaders, who were unaccustomed to desert warfare. Accordingly, Stronghold: Crusader introduces a number of new units and gameplay features that will make it so that different strategies are required during desert matches. The addition of both the desert environment and desert castles is entirely new, making Stronghold: Crusader more than just an expansion pack.

　　Eight new troop types will be added to the game, including horse archers, which make great shock troops; grenadiers, whose fiery cocktails are effective against massed units; assassins, who are fast and can scale walls using grappling hooks; and slaves, weak and inexpensive units equipped with simple torches, which are useful for setting fire to flammable objects. These new units can be used to effectively counter some of the types of attacks that were very effective in the original Stronghold.

　　Stronghold: Crusader will introduce new campaign options, such as Saladin's Conquest, a series of scenarios told from the perspective of the famous Saracen warlord. The developers are also beefing up the game's artificial intelligence and adding a number of new AI opponents whom you can fight against or alongside. Stronghold: Crusader is slated for release in September and already looks to be far along. Stay tuned for more information in the meantime.