SpellForce: The Order of Dawn Review

We all know that things like path finding and micromanaging are often the most annoying aspects of any real-time strategy. Thankfully, Spell Force boasts fairly good friendly AI - units won't be jamming into parts of the scenery or crossing into each other's paths, workers flee at the sight of danger, and warriors close in for the kill and retreat to their posts (as it is expected of them). On top of that, magic-wielding units efficiently cast their spells in mid-combat without your help. It should also be said that the game utilizes the CnF (Click'n'Fight) system, which eases troop management even further. When you select a group of units, they remain selected until you choose a different group. Selecting enemy units uncovers a small icon and a list of optional attacks. The painful fact is that CnF doesn't apply to your own units; hence, it may prove difficult for players to aim healing and protective spells during a large scale battle.

Amongst the many pleasing facets of Spell Force, we were truly impressed with the overall atmosphere and the solid storyline. Even so, we were a bit disheartened to see so many unpolished features. For example, dwarf units gain experience in combat, while other races do not (!?!). Another hindrance is that players aren't able to adjust the game's speed, which sometimes forces you to crawl your way over the entire map. Also, you're going to have to sit through the cinematics, since they cannot be interrupted. In-game dialogue, on the other hand, can be interrupted any time you want. What also happens is that players can miss out on crucial parts of the plot if they inadvertently hit the space bar.

Even after playing the game for several hours straight, it's still kind of hard to tell which genre is predominant - RTS or RPG... The good thing is that strategy elements never appear to obstruct the adventure aspects of gameplay in any way. Still, we are worried that most gamers may not find the game challenging enough. Resources are gathered too darn fast and Monuments usually strengthen units, hence they die quite rarely. While AI of the enemy is acceptable, the computer never resorts to any dishonest tricks or unpredictable battle strategies. Enemy forces are mostly content with the occasional rush tactic, which, in all honesty, isn't all that threatening. Given the speed of unit production, it will be easy to entrench your positions quickly and overrun the enemy with sheer numbers. The game features two levels of difficulty: Easy and Not Easy. Well, we've spent hours trying to find the difference between the two... without any luck.

There's a diversity of additional features that spice up the proceedings a bit. In time, players get to produce colossal units, called the Titans - Orcs can summon the great Ragefire demon, trolls can call upon the Cyclops, dark-elves can rely on the Spiderbrood (a really scary creature, half-spider half-chick), humans have the Griffon Rider, elves have the Treeman, and, finally, dwarves have the mighty Rocksmith golem. Each Titan unit has its strengths and weaknesses, but they all seem to be more or less immune to magic.

Spell Force also features a number of adventure elements that blend nicely with the strategy aspect of gameplay. The dialogue is solid, although voicing could've been handled a lot better considering there were 38 actors supporting character voice-overs. All right, a portion of the dialogue was decently acted out, but frankly you'll notice that most voices were not interpreted very well and do not seem to match the character's individuality. Average units were voiced quite poorly. Who ever heard of medieval knights that cry out: "Sir! Yes Sir!" - rather inappropriate for a fantasy setting, wouldn't you say? We were pleased with the music though. Tunes are dynamic and will change according to the action on screen. There's also a vast array of top-notch sound effects exhibited through magic duels and combat.

One of the most annoying aspects of Spell Force, are the steep hardware requirements. The game looks amazing when you run it in high-res display, pushing all effects to the max (such as anisotropic (8x) filters, etc.). The Krass Engine (the technology behind the underwater shooter, Aquanox) enables vibrant colors, impressive-looking water surfaces, and decent lighting effects. We also witnessed tightly-packed texture patters (making you overlook the low-poly character models), and some nice motion captured animation. Yet, from a technical standpoint, the Krass Engine didn't leave a lasting impression. The more you beef up the effects, the more unplayable the game becomes. As soon as there are more than 20 characters and units on screen, the frame-rate will become rather choppy, often resulting in some serious hardware clogging. Spell Force was tested on an AMD 2000+ with a GeForce 4 Ti card and 1 GB of RAM. Evidently, the programming team did a lousy job on optimizing the game's engine code.

It's come to our notice that most games that combine the RTS and RPG genre tend to lean more towards a heavier presence of tactical gameplay, with but a smidgen of RPG elements added to the gameplay. Spell Force, however, encompasses a well-balanced combo of these elements, offering a rewarding experience for fans of both genres. An impressive fantasy setting, intriguing plot, and reasonably lengthy missions make for a solid experience. The thing is though, those who don't prefer a hefty dose of classic epic fantasy storytelling should probably stay away. Otherwise, we highly recommend you give it a try at least (provided you have a strong rig to test it on).