Orc Stronghold

Common fantasy lore likes to depict orcs as rather disorganized when it comes to how they build settlements, not to mention their wild, yet effective war tactics. Strongholds are well-known orcish establishments as well, and almost every fantasy fan can tell you how they should look. Whether you enjoyed WarCraft or Lord of the Rings, there are a few common themes in this regard.

Orc Stronghold is a simple platformer that challenges you to run and jump over obstacles in order to escape from an orcish establishment. There are no ingenious gameplay mechanics at work and no story to keep your mind from wandering, but the levels are tricky enough sometimes to keep you entertained. On the other hand, the simplicity makes its presence known after a few minutes.

To begin with, each level is different, but the graphics are very poor, making it difficult to distinguish between stages. Your only goal is to jump and avoid the gaps, although sometimes you actually have to take the plunge into a gap and continue from there. Since there’s almost no variety in this regard, things get boring in a rush, which is not good news at all.

The controls are quite responsive, but the object collision is pretty poor, which means that you sometimes don’t make the jump even if it looks like you should. It’s also possible to become stuck in objects, depending on the level and your movement patterns. Granted, this does not happen very often, but it’s pretty frustrating when it does.

As mentioned before, the graphics are the game’s biggest weakness, because they have a negative impact on the experience as a whole. Since there are no backgrounds and no different textures most of the time, you get bored in a rush. Moreover, the music gets on your nerves as well, although that can be disabled when you can’t take it anymore.

In the end, Orc Stronghold could have been a much more fun game, but the repetitive level design makes it difficult to enjoy yourself. Hence, better graphics and more variety in the level design department would go a long way.