The game fixes most of the stuff that was wrong with previous entries, zone maps, custom keybinds, even radial menus to make the usage of skills more comfortable than ever. why am I not having fun with this game then? I think it boils down that it moves away from the hero focused gameplay to the zerging tactics of RTS, you have to build and churn out units as fast as possible to overwhelm the enemy before they do the same to you, your heoes are paperthin weak and no longer can tank 8 enemies by themselves. I feel the game has moved too far into RTS territory for my enjoyment.
If you like RTS games you will surely love it, but there are better action RPGs for me out there.
A little disclaimer beforehand: I played all the Spellforce games in succession over the last months so I have the timeline burned into my brain. Someone who did not play all these games beforehand with the same fondness for the series like me will have a vastly different view on this.
First and foremost - This game oozes fan service for fans of the games and it fills in a lot of the stuff from the previous games, since SF3 and its Addons play before the first two games. It was just so great to play with circle mages in your party, while exploring the very nice and pretty world. Grimlore now are the masters of world building to me! Everything looks timeless and pristine. Some maps remind me of those model train courses or dioramas of small landscapes. This game world is so screenshotworthy.
On top of that, even if you did not play the previous games you get a campaign in the veigns of Warcraft 3. Of course not these massive CGI trailers, but the dialogues and the engaging characters with all their intrigues are just remarkable for a AA production. It feels really polished at this point.
The RTS gameplay might seem a little bit shallow to fans of Age of Empires or Starcraft, but it did its job well enough. I was in it for the campaign and played it on normal difficulty. So I have no clue if this is an indicator for people who prefer a bigger challenge in their RTSes, but to me it was serviceable.
I can wholeheartedly recommend this to people who wished for a story driven RTS.
Disclaimer: this review is based on SINGLE PLAYER (~50h played).
Pros:
- Absolutely beautiful: each map is crafted with an artistic eye and attention to detail. It's a joy to explore the world;
- Controls: while there can be a lot going on at times (controlling an army, an RTS base and a group of heroes), the game does a great job of providing shortcuts to function effectively in real time, and even those who do not wnat to learn a bunch of hotkeys will be able to play;
- Interesting characters: the NPCs are believable, and interecting with them doesn't feel like a chore;
- Fun to spend time with casually: the campain is never challenging (at least, not to seasoned RTS players); rather, it allows you to explore the world (wich is the best part of the game, anyhow) and achieve objetives at your own pace.
Cons:
- Loading screens, and quite a few: acessing each map is preceded by a loading screen, and the game often expects the player to traverse several in a row (i.e., when no active RTS base is controlled). You may be required, for example, to go from an RTS map to the world map (short loading screen), then to your main base (long-ish loading screen), then to a building (short loading screen), then to a different level (short loading screen), then back again to the world map (trhough 3 loading screens) to acess a different RTS mission (long loading screen). It gets old;
- The story is more suited to an RTS than an RPG: simply put, don't expect to make a lot of deep and meaningful choices;
- Disparate quality voiceover: there are minor inconsistencies in quality, though the overarall level is quite good. Also, text and voice occasionally won't match;
- "Leisurely": Both the RTS and the RPG aspects are not particularly deep (in the campaign, at least), which makes the game fairly easy. As reviewer ToeSuckingWizard put it: "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."
When I got Spellforce 3 I didn't expect so deep mechanics, and least of all I didn't expect such a strong SP story. The RTS mechanics are fantastic with resoruces that has to be transported to the buildings building the units. The worker units management is really cool as well, which is based on your main buidling, and then you assign workers from it, to have less carriers, or more on the other resource buildings or misc buildings.
The story in the SP is amazing. It's pretty well written, and the voice acting is superb. I honestly didn't expect some of these twists, and it's nice to change it up with the RPG side and RTS in the missions.
I gave the gave the game a 4/5 cause there are some bugs. Notably there are some visual bugs with workers / NPC getting stuck, but besides that I haven't seen much. Also, the loading screens can be a bit long, and come a bit too often sometimes.
The voice over work on this game is top notch. The script isn't Shakespeare, but the VO really elevates the material. It really helps to get it into a 'sword and sorcery' vibe. It's not overacted, and even some of the duller dialogue sounds naturalistic. Most games, I just skip over the dialogue before they finish talking. The Witcher even voices a character in it.
Other then that, its a Spellforce game. Mixed feelings on some UI elements, but it feels like Spellforce with better graphics and better sound. Still same big maps, ok-ish RTS, not super deep RPG, but fun anyway because it's a relatively rare mix in PC gaming. The controls have a learning curve, but its doable.
Other then the opening scene, getting decent FPS on a mid tier gaming laptop. Loading times aren't terrible on an SSD, nothing like Pathfinder or Pillars of Eternity 2.
I don't know if I can recommend, you'll either love it or hate it. Played Spellforce 2 randomly back in the day and it was an interesting mix of genres. This didn't disappoint coming from Spellforce 2, but for newcomers, look into it.
