Random Game of the Day

SpellForce Universe (2007)

Developer: Phenomic Game Development

Platform: Personal Computer

Induction Date: 06/02/2008

Don't force me into casting this spell on you... You dirty orc!

I should really be playing more StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty but of course, I just had to deviate my attention away by playing some SpellForce. This "Universe" release includes all 5 SpellForce games. I have purchased the original SpellForce: The Order of Dawn on 12/14/2004 and the sequel, Shadow Wars on 05/19/2006 but I never picked up any of their individual expansions and since this  edition was very cheap and should be much cheaper now, I just had to pick it up. What makes the SpellForce series so special is its fun mix of both role playing game and real time strategy: You are provided with one central hero character and his/her supporting party members who level up, gain abilities, and can be customized both in what they have equipped and their individual growth statistics. Then, you are also provided with the ability to collect resources and build a base to recruit massive army units to fight along your side. The game can be played in both the usual overhead camera typical of a RTS or you can zoomed in to a third person view behind your main character. The best thing about this game is that it doesn't even attempt to dumb down the gameplay features from the two genres. The hybrid works quite well but I prefer the RPG elements of the game because they provide you with a good sense of progression whenever you have to rebuild your base for the larger battles since your main character is continually getting stronger through each of them. The first game looks a bit blocky now but the sequel is still visually pleasing. If you have never played any of the SpellForce games and love either RPG or RTS titles, or maybe both, you can't go wrong with picking up this game. Please note that this particular release is buggy though but it's easily fixable by doing this file replacement for the first disc as well as the applying this solution to the second disc.

LIBRARY STATUS: 5 out of 5