SpellForce III Reviews
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In case you're still not sure whether or not you should purchase THQ Nordic and Grimlore Games' RTS/RPG hybrid SpellForce III, here's a new batch of reviews that cover the game's pros and cons rather extensively and may help you with making that final decision:
PC Gamer 74/100:
For all its idiosyncrasies, SpellForce 3 is an RPG above all else. It's a smart move, as the RTS portions grant a sense of the stakes involved, while the RPG section keeps the story personal and full of emotional impact. The RPG part, in fact, contains SpellForce's more rewarding (if predictable) systems, whether it's the multiple talent trees that help you steer your companions into the roles you want them to play or the loot system that drops gear that's more interesting than what you'd expect from a hybrid RTS. Early on, when I found a helmet that spawns a goblin to fight for me, I was reluctant to give it up for objectively better digs.
All this makes SpellForce 3 is one of the finest hybrids of RPGs and real-time strategy games out there, but it achieves that distinction mainly by being one of the few. Neither of its two halves hold up particularly well compared to purer iosmetric RPGs or RTS games, but together they deliver a enjoyable experience that manages to feel unique even with its constant callbacks.
WCCFTech 6.5/10:
SpellForce 3 isn't a bad game, it can even be pretty good at parts. A vast world is left for you to explore with far reaching problems to solve. The game merges RPG and RTS in a great way, never leaving one side the worse for it. However, it can often fall foul of leaving you with little to do outside of RTS, with areas impressive to look at, but boring to walk through. There certainly is something interesting to find out with the story as well, but the delivery leaves a lot to want with too much exposition and terrible voice acting. You can certainly have fun with SpellForce, particularly the fast paced strategy side of things, but it can feel like a slog at times.
Impluse Gamer 4/5:
I’m a pretty big fan of RTS and certainly a big fan of RPG’s, I love being able to dig into a character and forge them the way I would like. Spellforce 3 does a good job of mashing those two genres together and the result is a pretty decent campaign that should have you entertained for quite some time. A little bit of this and a little bit of that, in just the right doses and you get a great game that stands above the sum of it’s parts.
SelectButton 8/10:
SpellForce 3 is a pretty fantastic game, but it's also pretty large and potentially overwhelming. That's not to say it doesn't create an excellent challenge, but there is quite a bit to pick up and run with for people new to the RTS genre. I feel that given some time, most can become quite adept and will thoroughly enjoy the game. And at the least, the game has some beautiful graphics to admire while you're slaughtering some crazy beast or an enemy army.
KeenGamer 8/10:
I liked my time with Spellforce 3, it's a beautiful game and definitely a unique combination of genres that's unlike anything else out there. Where other RPG's talk about your involvement in a war or large-scale skirmishes, Spellforce actually lets you not only take part in but also control such battles with the addition of the RTS element. I would definitely recommend it if you are a fan of either genre but perhaps you'll want to wait some time for the bugs to be cleared out with additional patches. But even now, it's a fun throwback to a bit older RPGs in a modern coat of paint. Might not be as deep, layered or polished as Original Sin 2, but it has enough going for it that makes the 30-hour long campaign well worth it.
GamingBolt 7/10:
It’s a trope of wrap everything up as Spellforce 3 “is greater than the sum of its parts” but then again, Spellforce 3 itself is at its weakest when it leans on the tropes of the western fantasy setting and some mainstays of the genres it’s mashing up. But the game is also at its best when it is seamlessly moving between the best of both genres and giving the player the agency to tackle its quests in some unique ways and on some grand maps. Get over the small learning curve and Spellforce 3 has many interesting ideas to show.
