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Spellforce: Review @ 1Up
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Stranger In A Strange Land




Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia
Spellforce: Review @ 1Up
   

Spellforce has generally enjoyed good reviews but it seems 1Up didn't like it at all. Not even a bit. Their <a href="http://www.1up.com/article2/0,2053,1546010,00.asp" target="_blank">review</a> handed down a score of 4.5/10 and it seems they think the balance is off:<blockquote><em>SpellForce is a mixture of RTS and RPG elements. The game itself is an intriguing and at times admirable mixture of genres that comes together to form such a sloppy whole most of the distinguishable positives are outweighed by poor balancing, no balancing, or some kind of pseudo-balancing that enchants one into believing the game is respectable, when it most certainly is not.</em></blockquote>
Post Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:20 pm
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araczynski
Eager Tradesman
Eager Tradesman




Joined: 03 Apr 2002
Posts: 48
applause
   

obviously an intelligent person juding by the read, double points for not being the typical sheep that most reviewers are.
Post Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:22 pm
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crpgnut
Captain of the Guard
Captain of the Guard




Joined: 22 May 2002
Posts: 197
Location: St. Louis
   

Hmmm, I got the idea that the guy wasn't smart enough to "get" it. Spellforce is a wonderful little gem. He's right that it isn't balanced though. It is an amazingly simple game as a warrior character. The game seems to be a lot more fun and challenging as a mage or hybrid character. My 2¢
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Post Wed Mar 10, 2004 6:48 pm
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GhanBuriGhan
Noble Knight
Noble Knight




Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 208
   

I found Spellforce an innovative and immensely enjoyable game. Its not a perfect 10, but certaily above average. As a mage character I found the gmae nicely challenging without being overly difficult. Spellforce made me hope for future, even better games (be they by phenomic or some other company) that use a similar approach.

quote:
Though the entire course of SpellForce can theoretically be played from the third-person, to do so is to immediately dismiss any chance of winning and any possibility of feeling that most mystical and foreign of emotions: fun.


Definitely not true. I played most of the game in 3rd person with good results, except for base building wher I use overhead view. As a mage at least this is quite possible and immensely fun. Watch your troops charege and rain fire on the enemy from the rear yourself.
Post Wed Mar 10, 2004 10:57 pm
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Thala
Guest






I agree with the review...
   

As the original demo should have pointed out, this game has serious flaws. I played through the full game as a warrior character and I certainly did NOT find the game "easy", most likely due to the poor game balance. I played 99% of the game in overhead view simply because there was no reason to play in third-person (well perhaps if I liked having my view obstructed by trees constantly then 3rd person might have been fun). Basically this game was a more hero-centric version of Warcraft III without being anywhere near as polished.
Specifically, I played the game through on "Normal" mode (which is much more difficult than "Low" (easy) - and I didn't even dare to look in on what "High" (difficult) mode was like.
1. There was no reason to purchase equipment in towns, far better items are found as loot before you can afford to buy stuff in town.
2. Spell resistances seem to almost not exist. I had on all the ice resist gear I could find (+20 in most slots to give me a total of 85 ice resist) and yet I was getting my ass constantly kicked in the main snow map because I and my troops were always frozen solid.
3. The final two maps require nothing other than your avatar, they are so poorly balanced on the simple side that you don't even need to put any effort into army building.
4. Constructing any sort of base (which requires you to activate a monument) apparently sends a homing beacon to the enemy, who immediately send scouts out. If you're not paying enough attention with your hero (perhaps because you're trying to eliminate another threat of a small camp in another direction) single scouts can wipe out all your workers (not a big deal really) or that scout will simply return to his base and alert the rest of its army, thereby ensuring your demise.
5. The non-army maps (where you only have control of your hero and up to 5 other "hero" units) are far better than the army maps. Not only are they more interesting, generally requiring something other than zerg tactics to win, but are far better balanced.

I could list tons of other problems, but this post is too long already
Post Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:56 pm
 
xSamhainx
Paws of Doom
Paws of Doom




Joined: 11 Sep 2002
Posts: 2192
Location: San Diego
   

Looks like my hunch to wait until the "Gold Edition" like TOEE is a good one..
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“Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that's on its mind and can't make itself understood, and so can't rest easy in its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving.”-Mark Twain
Post Sat Mar 13, 2004 9:41 am
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