It's amazing what scientists are attempting and even achieving nowadays, with their attempts at crossbreeding animals. They do all that DNA splicing and transplantation malarkey and manage to create animals that sport the characteristics of other animals. (don't worry; this will tie in with SpellForce somehow.) Whether this is a good idea or not is a moot point, especially since this is a very risky process for the animals involved, with survival rates not very high.

This can be compared to what Phenomic have attempted in their endeavour to splice together multiple game genres within one title. Such hybrids are rare in the game world and a good deal of this scarcity is due to the financial risk the publishers take in funding such an experimental and contemporary evolution of games as we know them. A few have succeeded in the past, in varying degrees of genre mergence, although some have let their vision cause their downfall, by allowing that vision to obscure their sensibility of what makes an enjoyable game. SpellForce attempts to combine the RPG and RTS genres and with an additional hint of Third-Person Action. Quite an undertaking, I'm sure you'll agree.

The game begins as any normal RPG would with a bit of storyline, a quest to embark upon and various items to improve your character's abilities. You can create your own character and this allows you not only to determine how he or she looks, but also what his or her abilities are. These range from physical Strength and Stamina for the budding warrior, right through to Intelligence and Wisdom for wannabe mages. Your chosen forte can be slowly changed as you progress through the game and accrete experience points to spend, but choose your metier carefully from the beginning, as this will determine the way your character plays.

The story is one of those generic Good vs. Evil scenarios that pits you against seemingly insurmountable hordes of goblins, orcs and the rest of the monsters that make up a traditional fantasy setting. As usual, there are thousands of items to pick up on your travels, some that you can make use of yourself and a whole load of frippery that can be sold to the traders scattered about the lands. Aside from the main mission there are also numerous side-quests you can embark upon for additional rewards. These typically follow the same formula, necessitating an object to be recovered or a beastie to be slain, but give a lot more depth to the storyline.

Rather than acquiring a band of unique warriors as you progress though, the RTS side comes into play, letting you build armies to overcome the opposition. This is done in the traditional style; harvest resources, construct appropriate buildings, conscript army. There are quite a few resources to stockpile, from the basics of wood and stone to more mystical materials like aria and incense. The units you can build are varied and can use traditional fighting and/or magic skills. This RTS skeleton is not as advanced as many other titles, with less available options and tactical decisions, but that is only to be expected due to the hybrid nature of the game and even so it still gives them a run for their money. The final half-attempt at a genre is the Third-Person Action element. This is basically just a fully zoomed-in camera view that lets you control your avatar directly with the familiar W,A,S,D configuration. You will rarely find a use for this though, as the default isometric view is so much more practical in every way.

At first you can only control human workers but as the game progresses you get to build armies of different races as well, such as Elves and Dwarves. The sheer variety is commendable, each race having different units and warriors and each with their own personal strengths and weaknesses. As well as the countless minions that you can build up to fight by your side, you can also summon heroes that will join your army until they die and even then they can be summoned again as often as you please if you have access to the correct hero monument. You can even equip these heroes with your own weapons and items.

Enormous battles are the highlight of SpellForce and it really does make the process more fun to swarm into an enemy camp with hundreds of warriors instead of barging your way through with a select group of ultra-skilled fighters in typical RPG style. The variation of units also helps. Magic casters will run about just behind your hand-to-hand soldiers, unleashing fiery death as well as healing the injured friendlies; archers will line up behind everyone, raining steel-tipped projectiles from afar; and your avatar and selected heroes will join in whatever way their remit dictates. The further you progress through the game, the larger and harder the encounters become, placing even more emphasis on battle awareness and adept unit commands to supplement weaknesses.

Making things even more magnificent is the fantastically monikered Krass (sic) engine, which creates a remarkably believable 3D world. The verdant, sloping hillsides and the native fauna ensure that you are never short of eye candy during your strolls and the fights are even more majestic, with hundreds of nicely animated troops beating the living green slime out of each other. All this, intermingled with moderately impressive spells being cast hither and thither every few seconds, makes for exciting gameplay. For the best possible experience, the camera can be zoomed right in, giving a thoroughly immersing taste of the action and showing off the graphics a lot more than the standard isometric view.

Don't expect to play through this in a couple of days; the scale is simply enormous and the copious amount of sub-quests stretches it even further. When finished you could potentially play through the whole game again with a different skill-orientated character for a slightly different experience. The inclusion of a basic multi-player mode further bolsters the longevity.

Mention must go to the frankly awful voice acting and script, which renders all cut scenes boring monotonies that you end up skipping through. The script is so poorly planned that when you are offered options as what to ask or say, the game will always assume you have listened to all prior speech options and frequently make the latter speech routes unfathomable if you choose to listen to them first. Equally ridiculous is the way all conversations are addressed to a male character, even though your avatar may be female. Despite this, the music is quite inspirational and the sound effects are adequate.

SpellForce does a commendably good job of bridging the gap between genres but in so doing becomes more a Jack-of-all-trades, and indeed, Master of none. With slightly higher production values, SpellForce could have been a major title, vying for position with the big boys. But unfortunately it is comfortable with remaining good in all areas, rather than genuinely great. A true shame but still an enjoyable romp and well worth the investment. Pull on your +4 jerkin of Orc-bashing and head for the virtual hills.

Reviewed by Adam Shirley for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).