SpellForce: The Order of Dawn

"Been there, done that..."

Spellforce tries to be a mixture of a real time strategy game and a roleplaying game and just barely pulls it off. When I first started playing spellforce I thought it had a lot of promise. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations.

Gameplay 6/10
When you first start spellforce you create your main character with the standard rpg stats and skills. You then take control of the main character and the game can either be played in third person or overhead perspective. In third person its hard to judge the distance you need to be in to attack an enemy. The overhead perspective plays just like diablo or any other hack and slash game. Click on the enemy to run up and attack or cast spells by clicking the spell icons. Now you wander the map activating monuments which let you either summon heroes or start the rts part of the game.

The rts part of the game is poorly implemented in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, its a perfectly good full functional rts system. The resource gathering, building up, upgrading, creating armies portion of the rts system isn't the problem. The problem is that it isn't needed. Your main character can typically clear enemy camps solo or with the help of the heroes monument. To make matters worse when you activate the rts monuments the enemies start sending wave after wave of enemies at you. Did I mention the enemies have infinite resources? They don't follow the same rules that you have to. Enemies spawn out of magical fountains that are near enemy buildings. You have to destroy all their buildings to destroy the fountain. Otherwise they just keep coming. The only useful thing your armies will do is keep enemies busy while you wreck their buildings. Later in the game it becomes even worse when your troops get slaughtered when your main character isn't there to baby sit them.

On the positive side, the adventuring with your main character is pretty fun. There are plenty of quests to solve and lots of items to find. Also, there is a multiplayer mode. I never tried it so I can't comment on that.

Graphics 8/10
The graphics in spellforce are real nice. The details on the character models and environments are some of the best I've seen in a rpg. There are plenty of nice touches like how the tree's sway or fish splash around in the water. It should also be noted that there is a lot of variety in the enemies you will face. The titans in the game are especially nice looking.

Sound 8/10
The music in spell force is very well done. Some of the songs are quite memorable. The sound effects are your standard rpg sword slashes, growls, etc. The dialogue is all spoken.

Story 6/10
I don't want to spoil anything so I won't say much. I'll just say that although some quests and even some scenarios have nice stories the main story is really bad and the ending is one of the worst I have ever seen.

Overall 7/10
This game has a lot of flaws. Despite that I did really did enjoy it. I don't see myself replaying it anytime soon though. One time through the game and you have probably seen it all. If you really have to get every decent roleplaying or strategy game then go ahead and get it. Otherwise, I would wait until it ends up in a bargain bin for $9.99.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/05/04