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> Results: Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars
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Spellforce successfully mixed role-playing and strategy elements without losing the essence of either, but had numerous issues. Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars refines just about every aspect of both genre elements while also improving the core gameplay and multiplayer. You obtain multiple optional quests in each adventuring area and then travel to a stronghold location to build up some forces in a strategy scenario. It is not seamless but it flows well along the linear storyline.
The interface is easy to learn through the tutorials and there is plenty of helpful in-game annotation to assist your decision-making. There is an uneven quality to some of the maps and the role-playing and strategy elements are fairly thin. Role-playing mostly involves skill and equipment management, and the strategy often depends more on speedy resource building and the ability to quickly select and move your groups than on developing and carrying out tactics. But the focus is on the hybrid of the two skills, and that's where the game succeeds. Multiplayer is also improved from the original, although finding players for co-operative play was nearly impossible whenever I went online. Minor issues aside, Spellforce 2 is a good game that provides hours of enjoyment for game fans across multiple genres.  
One thing that happened between Spellforce and its sequel is that the ESRB rating changed from T to M. This reflects the darker theme and more graphic tone to the conflicts, combined with a better graphical representation of the blood and violence. The cutscenes contain brutality, beatings and torture and a very dark and violent overall theme. The game itself seldom reaches that level, but is clearly closer in tone to the M-rated Diablo series of games than the T-rated Neverwinter Nights franchise.
Throughout the game you kill hordes of enemies on your quests, and as is typical of strategy games many of your troops die on the battlefield. The combination of strategy with role-playing makes these losses feel more personal, as if you are losing a member of your party instead of a generic soldier created from a stronghold. From the very beginning of the game you are subject to racial discrimination and forced to justify yourself based on cultural hatred. The portrayal of women in the game is likely to be offensive to some, because while they are extremely powerful they are also scantily clad sex-objects without any purpose for their attire. This provides an unfortunate juvenile quality, but it is the brutality and goriness of the battles and cutscenes that make this a game we recommend only for Adults. This review edited by Dave Long Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "spellforce" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars |
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