So, this game get all the unit of command & conquer 1 (GDI only, for NOD you need guardian campaign), pack them with voxel graphics, and increase the game cadency that yu can spam several units a minute. That means game are short, and based more on economy so that you can spam more than your opponents. Even if this are concept I usually don't like, here, I don't know why I managed to have fun by playing the solo campaign (forget the story & cinematics of C&C, there is like a one liner). I am not multiplayer guy, so I don't know. always the -recon a bit> build refinery> build more refineries> spam unit chain > see them crushed by the defences > adapt your units to the defences > redo the spam cycle and the extension they have made with orcs & humans, aliens & marines, are also funny, but if you didn't really like the 1st one, it is not gonna change. Anyhow I had fun. But some in-game cinematics would have been funny.
The game itself is nice and relaxing, with the longest tutorial ever (30 missions). Then start the real game: flatten and hammer your enemies with storm, volcanoes or whatever you found adequate. However, from a map to a another, the differences are quite small (sometimes earthquake will happen, some power are not available, ...), no increase of difficulty. An average map is about 5 minute to complete. And that is were the game catch right. You should not see this as a full scale game, but more a coffee break game, or "wait that your potatoes are cooked"-game. In this role it is good. However only 3 stars because well, from the 1st to the last level, there are little differences.
Where is the fun here? Quite simple, if you find Eurotruck simulator or the like boring, then this game is not for you. Otherwise, you'll do your road trip were you have memories of changing the tire of your car under the rain in Germany, and then put some gasoline in your car on the Adriatic coast, In some low poly environment. There is not much more, and that's good this way. So, what do you have in this game: - you have a road from city A to city B - you have a (crappy) car which tend to got malfunctions every 2 km - some kind of mechanic system where you change engine, batteries, ... - you have a RNG which make it hard as fuck or easy peasy - you have some goods to deals along the way - bugs, not blocking, but you will have sometimes to reset your last segment - weird music - Ostolgia With less bugs and maybe a bit more content, this could have been GOTY.
On my side I downloaded the games through in my library, under the tab of the original game, like any DLC by other games. Possible that at the time it gets out, it was not there, dunno. By the DLC itself, it is more or less the same as original game, with a new campaign a bit shorter and a new faction (flame tank and stealth tank, in order to increase nostalgia factor). So if you didn't liked the original game, you will likely not like it, otherwise you will appreciate a few more missions and new units.
If you are not a fan of the franchise, forget it, you will not buy it anyway. Otherwise pick up when it is about 2-3 € and you will have a 8-12 hours content pack with 3 scenarios, with voice acting and entertaining the Spellforce lore (which I find far more deep as what it looks like at first). A bit of solo RPG at start of each and later on base management. My favorite is the golden fool one, because of the ambiance and overall sorry. The Flink McWinter's diary could be fun if you like this antihero NPC, if you finde the guy boring, better to forget it. The Last Stand let you start top tier and with some spare skill points, but is not very deep in story.
In short: - Not the best STR nor action-RPG, but the best hybrid of both. - Rich developed fantasy setting - Graphics are still good nowadays - A long campaign, plus the other add-on campaign, which make ratio money/lifetime worth it In long: This game is suppose to be a mix of STR and action-RPG, and there will be mission where it will be only an STR, other only RPG, other both. To be fully honest there are better STR AND better action-RPG, but the mix of both is quite well done, and far better balanced as in the first episode (which I also loved for different reasons). The mechanics are not to deep, but still allow good tactics, and customization of the main character (tip: don't try to mix your character to many direction, as in most of the action RPG). The fact having your main character leading an army as a commander, or a brutal hero depending of your orientation, is always something nice. Regarding the STR side, expect a bit of collect&build typical of the STR of 95-05, with building to make units. Not strongly original, but still well working. The setting is for me one of the strongest argument of this game. If you have played the first episode with all the extension, you will be familiar with the pantheon, legends and creatures running into this world. The guys of Nordic really made a good job here, having a developed coherency. Plus, you will having feeling to this world (ok not always), like when you will discover ancients location, you will really have the impression that you dig up something old. The character cast goes from average to good, but do not expect some revolution here. Graphically, expect a game of post 2005, so still ok if you are not regarding (I am the quite of guy which still find KOTOR 2 good-looking today), and quite clear. The campaign is quite long, even if some (few) mission artificially over-expand by having a huge enemy base to destroy with dozen of defenses. The mix of genre allows the game to alternate genre. However I recommend it for people which are bit hard-headed and have to fear to spend time collecting resources and building huge armies, as typical for the solo-campaign STR of this time. Oh, and you can have coop gameplay. All in one, that is, at least for me, a game that is worth its price, not without flaws. Spellforce 2 is like a buddy you like to have a beer with, he's not perfect, he will unlikely be your love, but you can still like it and have fun with. But I will not recommend if you expect a good RTS and hate action RPG, and the other way around.
This game is quite an alien, and I don't think anything ever tried to go in this direction. It is an STR, but it's also a god game, with a round(!) planet as level. I don't know hoe to describe it, but it really as, let's say a soul. Not in the sense, the ambiance and graphics, no, in the sense, you will have the feeling that something live under your cursor. An emerging civilization will be your tool, your care, your success. Even black and white in the same genre did not manage to give me this thrill (Probably I've never get along with the pet mechanics). Pros: - Living follower, and a self management IA not so bad for a game of this time. - Few units, but well rounded - Lots of magic power to play with - A LAN (or even internet) mode! Yes it's painful to start, but with friends, it's awesome. - Audio is still good today Cons: - A bit of pixelsoup, and you will probably have to look on the internet to avoid the rainbow color bug. - IA is not so challenging. But if you want to suffer, some crazy guys put on the internet some map which will make you cry, not because enemies are overpowered, but because they will strike you at the more painful moment - You could sometimes hate your followers in the rare case they act as morons
TBS with sci-fi setting The game improves the mechanics of its predecessor, and add a really welcome diplomacy component, or some sea station. But, the guys got some weird ideas, and we go from a really good UI to one of the less user-friendly I've ever seen, which is really a shame considering the other improvement of the game, but digging it is to painful and I cannot honestly recommend it.
This game was really good in my memories as kid, but it is also still good today. That is a TBS with sci-fi setting, where you collect ressources, develop technologies, and crush player. The Pro: - Games are around 3 hours timespan, meaning that if you're a worker with an heavy loaded agenda, it suits perfect. - Interface is, even by today's standard, quite good. You have to manipulate cursor and drag and drop, but it's really tuned. - Games mechanics works fine, like you have a cost to transfer ressources form A to B, but it's done automatically, you cannot overflow a region with armies and so on. - Graphics also are not so overpixelated, as the game was planned for standard windows in win 95/98 with scalable elements The con: - IA is not really challenging, even in harder modes - You got only one soundtrack pro civlization, and it is quite repetitive - When you're economy start to goes wrong, getting into micromanagement could be painful
