I played it for about an hour last night when I got it and enjoyed it.

There are little side missions that utilize only the hero, Sir Gareth, as a break from the "Crush the Castle + Age of War" gameplay. These manifest mostly as training missions for hero utilization.

The only gripe I have is how damned difficult it can be sometimes to get the ballista to aim where you want it to. This may be somewhat due to how I feel the controls are completely wonky. It uses the left stick to aim, A to shoot, and the right stock moves your screen around and zooms in 'n out.

Personally I would prefer the right stick aim and the trigger shoot. But whatevs.

Anyway, overall it's a good game, can't wait to beat the wife's ass at it.