SpellForce is not one of those games, whose return is expected by millions of fans.
On two chairs
Continuation is forged under the auspices of a return to the roots - a kind of universal answer to any questions if it is an old series that was brought back to life. So it was with the "Cossacks", so it was with the "Master of Orion". True, Orion did receive its dose of necessary changes. That's SpellForce III did not escape them.
Basically, it's all the same hybrid of real-time strategy and role-playing game. You have a hero, or even a few, who live by all the rules of the RPG. That is, they get experience, new levels, learn skills and change equipment to the one that is more abrupt. With the only proviso that the camera can always be torn from the hero and lift it to the "RTS" height.
Here the game is completely different. Heroes are no longer powerful loners: they strictly need the support of other soldiers. Infantry, archers, cavalry - the whole gentleman's set of any strategy. In truth, in SpellForce strategy is something much more than RPG. Properly "swinging" the hero is able, of course, to put a pack of enemies and himself, however in a large-scale clash, in which the formations of units become important, their construction and tactics, and not just stupid "rush", it is desirable for the hero to take care of himself. The benefit of the character can be dazzled not only by the fighter but also by the masters of support, around which the soldier wakes up with a sword and the horse does not get tired.
Work with the population
At the level of strategy, SpellForce III has changed markedly. Each location is divided into sectors that are subject to capture and retention. They could be called "control points" with a stretch, but there is a difference. The sectors do not supply a certain abstract resource, as it was in the series Dawn of War and Company of Heroes, but they live in peasants, civilians, ready to follow your instructions. Muzhichi cannot be added or subtracted, you can not overtake him in another sector, which is easier for you to protect: where a woodcutter was "registered", where he will live until the end of the party.
Here the game is already waving at The Settlers, drawing the life of the villages. True, production chains are not here, and they are not needed - in a hybrid game it is extremely important to balance both entities so that they do not overshadow each other. Therefore, the management of the settlements is very simple. You order to build barracks, all sorts of storerooms, distill the inhabitants from one building to another, thus changing the focus of production. And the more sectors-villages you capture, the greater the forces you can roll out against the enemy, well, other capital RTS-truths. Sitting in a corner with one unhappy farm, apparently, there is not a single chance.
In this case, SpellForce IIIIt does not look like a game capable of knocking out hundreds of warriors. Here and the maps are more like labyrinths, suitable for RPG. Here, there is room for tactics for the company level. More importantly, SpellForce III uses the Line of Sight system, which in the strategies is a rare guest (you could meet it in the same Company of Heroes 2 ). The fog of war in this situation dissipates not all at once, if you get to the field of review of your "units", but depending on the terrain. An enemy fighter can take shelter behind the house, and your detachment marches past two steps and does not notice anything. I think in the early stages of online battles this property will be used to the fullest, and in the campaign, he will find a place: a lonely hero who escaped from prison, patrols with a predictable route - well, you understand.
I was especially interested in the balance between the parties to the conflict, of which three are people, elves, and orcs. Mr. Pollis especially stressed that the players reproached SpellForce III for lack of asymmetry, that is, each faction had about a common set of "units", but with different appearance and some properties. In the release version of the army will cease to be reflections of each other, which, of course, decorates and diversifies the gameplay.
If only the asymmetry does not concern the general balance of forces (when one faction is objectively stronger than the other). So often suffer RTS, dependent on the plot, and SpellForce III promises a campaign for 30 hours or more.
SpellForce IIIit is worth giving a chance, and it is unlikely that it will fail.
Rate: 9/10
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Replayebility
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Coop Campaign
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Multiplayer
