Spellforce: The Order of Dawn
Platform: PC
Genre: RTS / RPG
Developer: Phenomic
Publisher: JoWood Productions
http://spellforce.jowood.com/
Minimum system requirements:
Intel Pentium III 1GHz
256 MB RAM
Video card with 32 MB RAM (GeForce2 and better)
Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP
DirectX 9.0a
2 GB hard disk
Good graphics, elements of RPG ... it features many modern strategies in real time, on such a description can hardly understand what exactly the game we have in mind. However, if you hear a combination of: "The magnificent three-dimensional graphics" and "almost RPG» - you know, we can talk only about Spellforce: The Order of Dawn. But first things first. And if so, at the beginning of a word is to give the story.
Magical world created by game developers, has a sad story. Sometime long ago, thirteen ambitious magicians decided to submit to his authority. They performed ancient rituals, appealed to the dark forces ... and Got Game. The magic went out of their control, the world was destroyed - all that remains - they are separate islands among the precipices, interconnected by magic portals. But even in these conditions were able to live the creation of six races, referred to in the game - humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, trolls and dark elves. All would have been nice if it had not happened is another matter - the soldiers gathered the forces of evil, led by a new aspiring magician, decided to conquer what is left of the once wonderful world. Against the foe made good magician by the name of Rohan, which helps a warrior who has special magical powers.
This warrior - your avatar, an alter ego - in general, your legitimate and sole representative in the gaming reality Spellforce, the same as the protagonist in an exemplary RPG. Before you start the game in a campaign to draw avatar the full program - choose the sex, appearance, and "specialization" and the school of magic. Distribute the glasses to the list of skills.
And after the game all that happens is very similar to "rolevku. Battle and raise your level, using the most good weapons and armor. Learn spells, selling unnecessary stuff trader buy from him the right. Talk with the characters, follow the main quest, moving from island to island, do not forget about party quests. There is even a characteristic control mode - you just bring the camera to the maximum, and she can jump behind the protagonist, thus creating a kind of "third person", in which management is carried out using the "arrow" keyboard. In general, it would seem, "Welcome to the Morrowind».
However, in reality the situation is not quite true. Supposedly exists thanks to the interactive dialogues and party quests, as well as opportunities to return to the already "stripped" location, the nonlinearity is in fact imaginary.Yes, and painted in such detail the skills and knowledge of the avatar completely lost in the massive scale battles.
Yahoo and the whole role-playing system - it is rather supplements to, in fact, quite boring gameplay, not allowing players to gape at the sight of monotonous, demanding and over again the destruction of enemy fortifications. Instead of bored gamers exploring the area in search of party quests, talking with its inhabitants, enjoy the successes of his alter ego. The true foundation of gameplay - it's the economy with the management of the oppressed peasants and the construction of the base, as well as training troops and, of course, clashes crowds units in real time.
Economic model is different from "classical" for the genre, especially the importance of the magic of the resource - the so-called Rune power of your avatar. With Rune power functioning ancient monuments found Text on the map. They produce, not requiring other resources of the peasants. Monuments, and accordingly the peasants and all further management, may belong to different races, and activates the corresponding runnymi stones from the inventory. There are in the game and characters in addition to the avatar. This intermediate type of units - they may have inventory and magic, but experience over time, not typed. You can get heroes like the peasants - for free, in a special Hero Monuments.
The Warriors also get out of the monuments, but their training by the holy spirit will not get off - you need to save resources. A resource in the game a lot, in addition to the basic wood, stone and iron, there are rare species such as plants Lenya, who can only collect elven workers.
Constructing warriors you, of course, will fight. However, the quality of the opposing AI you minions of evil can not count. Yes, the game is not easy, even if the option is «easy game». But the complexity is achieved not through clever tactical maneuvers of the enemy - but because the unit expediting the arrival of its teams, usually of a few typical for the location of monsters to your camp. "Portions of evil" does not grow or shrink without changing the structure and move the same routes, creating big problems in the beginning of the game, when the base is still not rebuilt, and simply irritating in the later stages.
It's time to say about the schedule. And the last one in Spellforce: The Order of Dawn reaches hitherto unseen heights. The very fact that the developers were not afraid to introduce a kind of "over his shoulder," the avatar speaks for itself. Really - look at the screen during the dialogue, it can be assumed, if not to know the truth, that this complex model of the interlocutor, the gestures - all belong to some kind of RPG, released a couple of years ago, not real-time strategy. Indeed, details of persons, clothing and movements are so high, that pleases the eye even at maximum zoom camera.
Not only characters, but the whole world, all objects are made of extremely high quality. Subject of a special conversation and pride developers may be lighting in the game. At night (here, as in Warcraft 3, there is a change of day and night) each working structure of the base emits a bright light, resembling a flashlight. Not without its shadows, which is in all objects and depend on time of day. Magical effects, however, as well as fire and explosions, in my opinion, quite ordinary.
Beauty, as we know, requires sacrifice. In the case of Spellforce, mounted on a weak car, the victim should be brought nerves player, forced to endure terrible brakes.In other matters, the term "low-end machines" would be appropriate to write in quotes, because in reality, even at the appropriate power of "official recommended requirements" computer game is slow, and to achieve acceptable performance can only turn off many graphics options, and therefore - depriving Spellforce its main advantages.
Besides the already said I would like to draw readers' attention for a few moments. Virtually the entire game - a campaign which is understandable on the basis of role-playing system. Skirmish mode is absent, Multiplayer, however, is provided.
An important aspect of the campaign commercials are scripted in the game engine. Movies a lot, they are made fairly well and often show a wonderful panorama of the fairy world. In addition to clips main plot involves a lot of dialogue - everything has been said the characters (even cases of vague talk) - voiced by voice! Feedback units are also diverse, and, for example a human farmer in response to a friendly mouse-click on it, starts only when the repeat is responsible for the fifth consecutive time.
As to the music, here is dominated by disturbing themes, the frequent inclusion of choral singing and a single vocal, especially during the clashes. True opera, performed in honor of accidentally taking a fast to the base of the goblin's size is not above the nearest bush, is unlikely to cause a particular inspiration.
So, summing up, put a plus, of course, stunning graphics, and not superfluous in this case, the multiplication of role-playing elements, we also mention the hard work of articulation of the dialogues. In the cons - idiot computer opponent, the monotony of the campaign on the merits (the destruction of the same enemy camps), as well as unscrupulous brakes, even on modern computers. As a result, we get a game with flaws, but together with the original, and having the best in its genre of graphics today. Watch it, of course, it is worth.
The review - the leading site http://www.rts-game.ru
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