As an RPG, SF3 is a solid game with an interesting over-arching story, believable characters, a lot of lore and deep systems. As an RTS, it is a unique if at times frustrating tactical game focused on a clever use of limited number of resources and building a working infrastructure. While each one of its parts might not hold out against a “pure” game of respective genre, the mix makes the game something uniquely fulfilling.
I've played all the Spellforce games since the first one, and have sunk quite a few hours into them. They've always been a bit clunky, but endearing enough to keep me coming back. The worst faults were sketchy graphics, camera controls, UI, and jokingly bad acting. Sorry devs, I still love the previous Spellforce games, no hard feelings okay?
But this one takes things to a whole new level. The graphics are on par with any RPGs that have been released over the past 5 years. The game is jaw droppingly gorgeous. The character models are a bit weak, and the choice of portraits is a bit scant for my liking, but you're usually zoomed out so far you can't really tell anyhow.
Performance is excellent on my system, Win7 64 Pro, an i7-6700k, 32GB RAM, and a GTX980. Loading times are perfectly fine from a 7200RPM HDD with 128MB cache, 5-10 seconds..
I've put a few hours into the game so far, just sticking to the campaign. I've played enough that I have a pretty good feel for the RPG and RTS elements. Some reviewers will tell you that the ability selection is limited to 3 per hero, but that's not true. You can flip through four pages of abilities, giving you 12 slots per character. No issues there.
The default camera controls aren't quite to my liking. Dragging the middle mouse button pans the camera, ctrl-dragging MMB rotates the camera. I find myself wanting to rotate more often than pan, so I reversed that setting in the options. The game offers two different control schemes. Option A assignes your left main home keys, all four rows from [qwer] to [zxcv], to spells. Panning is either edge-scroll, arrow keys, or mouse. I find that setting perfectly acceptable. Otherwise you eat up your spell keys with panning controls, then you have to use a context menu for spells. No thanks.
Voice acting is WAAAY better than previous entries. Some people still complain, but I found it all to be as good as any other game out there. Music and sound is great. Overall, 5/5, great game!
The game is a very well executed blend of RTS and RPG mechanics. highly recommendable for fans of either genre.
@the guy giving 1* for missing achivements: why would anyone give a shit? review the game or refrain from posting a "review".
Although both parts of the game (RPG and RTS) may not be perfect on its one, the mixture makes this game a real gem and absolutely worth playing.
The story campaign engages the player with the world and the hero system allows the player to be more invested with the characters and story of the campaign and each RTS mission.
having two systems as well as a challenging RTS game design makes the game also perfect to be played in Co-Op together with one or two friends - even without Internet in a local LAN session.
Overall, I really enjoy the story, hero system and strategic part of the game.
I enjoyed SF3 story at the beginning but it got disappointing towards the end. I enjoyed the combat system, character customization options and many other aspects. Unfortuantly Spellforce 3 suffers, which in my opinion are major issues.
Major Issue#1 - Spellforce 3 doesn't have enough side quests. The only available side quests require you to speak with your companions and that can only be achieved when you have advanced enough of the main story line. There were not enough actual side quests along side the companion quests or main quests.
Major Issue#2 - Spellforce 3 didn't cover all the races like previous spellforce titles, you are limited to only 3 races which aren't already on the quest area but instead must be chosen from the campanion screen. In previous titles the player is introduced to each and all 6 races at specific mile stones in the story. The issing races are Dwarf, Night elves and Trolls. There are trolls present in the Orc race but they aren't a race on their own like in spellforce.
Major Issue#3 - When you reach a certain point in the story where you think there is going to be more and that the other races haven't been introduced to the player, the story just ends. It opens up to certain aspects present in spellforce like Runestones, Portals and the Circle, but it just ends with no epic cutscene of the last battle before and during the Grey keep assault. Nothing, it just ends with a conversation between your character and another and then thats it. Game finished. Congrats and thanks a lot.
Major Issue#4 The story is way to short. I admit I was on and off from playing Spellforce 3 because of having to move, but I was sorely disappointed when I finished the game knowing I hadn't gotten my moneys worth.
Also. The collector's edition showed a statue of Sentenza Noria which is seriously misleading because you don't play as him for long and he doesn't join your cause. Which makes me wonder why they chose him for the statue - cough *Doug Cockle*.
