Someone once said that good things come in small packages. Mostly, this statement is correct. Babies, for example, and Ronnie Corbett; the Mini Cooper, Babybel cheese, and let us not forget Kylie Minogue. However, in order to prove that, in fact, good things often come in very large packages too, JoWood Studios have given us SpellForce Universe.

Those of you familiar with the groundbreaking, genre-mixing SpellForce series will already know what's on offer in this new bumper edition, while those RPG and RTS fans who have never had the pleasure of experiencing JoWood's masterful saga are in for a real treat. The box set includes the original game, SpellForce: The Order of Dawn, along with the Breath of Winter and Shadow of the Phoenix expansions, and finally SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars and its Dragon Storm campaign add-on.

In both games, the action takes place on the world of Eo, a planet peopled by the usual mix of fantasy races; humans, elves, dwarves, orcs and so on. A while back in Eo's past, a group of thirteen wizards known as the Circle decided to ignore the classic fantasy Rules and Regulations for Averting Global Destruction when they foolishly attempted to make the world a war-free paradise. In order to accomplish this, they created the Rune Warriors, powerful fighters each bound by magic to a mystical stone. Upon dying, a Rune Warrior is returned to his or her stone and resurrected to fight another day, albeit with a slightly fractured memory. With this indestructible army at their disposal, the Circle brought peace to the world. However, this was not enough; one of their number was chosen to become the recipient of their combined power, a supreme being of magic who would have power over the entire planet. Unfortunately, someone forgot to carry the two, so to speak, and it all went terribly wrong, resulting in a planet-wide catastrophe that left the land looking like a scattered handful of fragmented islands. Trying to make amends, one of the surviving Circle wizards, Rohen, created portals on each of the fragments, connecting them together. You arrive in this broken world, taking the role of one of the last Rune Warriors, awakened from slumber with a memory as fragmented as the world around you - and you've got some cleaning up to do.

This tale forms the basis for the first game and its subsequent add-ons. The fantasy setting and back-story make for a large, involved world that is peopled by a diverse, if somewhat stereotypical, range of races. I say stereotypical because, once again, the elves are mystic, the dwarves like to mine and the orcs are guttural-speaking, sadistic brutes. On the plus side, such well-trodden fantasy races such as these are already known to many players and they manage to make you feel almost at home in this strange new world. This is a good thing, because it allows you to focus more on the gameplay than trying to fathom out Eo's history. And believe me, the gameplay offers a lot to focus on.

Several games have attempted to mix RPG (that's Role Playing Game, for those of you who still count with an abacus) and RTS (Real Time Strategy) elements, and have, frankly, failed. SpellForce is the first series to really succeed in this marrying of genres and while neither facet particularly exceeds its respective genre-leading games, they balance each other out perfectly, each complementing the other to create a huge, in-depth gaming experience. In my book, that's no mean feat.

Following the tried and tested method of RTS games everywhere, the strategy portions of SpellForce give you a central hub building to work around. From this hub, other buildings and worker/soldier units can be unlocked by meeting various criteria. In SpellForce: the Order of Dawn, these units are unlocked through the acquiring of lost rune stones, which adds a slightly different spin on the proceedings. The idea of these sections is to advance your settlement, build defences and create an army of military units with which to conquer the map, kill the NPC, defend the nearby town and so on. So far, so Civilization, but whilst SpellForce's RTS elements are not as in-depth as Civilization or Age of Empires, for example, they are supplemented wonderfully by the RPG side of things. Developer JoWood Studios should be highly praised for seamlessly blending both genres without making either seem "bolted on". How it works is simple: your avatar (in-game character) is the commander leading the settlement to victory and is therefore present at all times. Whilst building nad advancing from the base of operations, you can move your avatar freely, exploring and expanding the visible areas of the map. Along with their band of loyal companions, the avatar is many times stronger than enemy units of the same level and is therefore a brilliant scout. This simple innovation involves you in a very real sense.

In terms of RPG elements, the game uses tried and tested conventions to form the meat and potatoes, whilst small changes and splashes of originality make up the gravy. Experience is earned through completing missions and quests for various lazy NPCs that you meet on your travels. When enough experience is gained, your avatar advances in level and you can select new skills and abilities, leading him or her down a customised path of advancement. Outside of the confines of the RTS arenas, the game has a real Dungeon Siege feel to it, as you guide your avatar and group of heroes through wild adventures and white-knuckle magic and melee confrontations.

Aesthetically speaking, even in 2004 when SpellForce: The Order of Dawn was first released, the graphics - whilst well-drawn - were never groundbreaking. Textures and draw distances are well handled, the scenery carefully crafted to create a different atmosphere in each area, while the inclusion of random grazing wildlife, windswept trees and glittering water effects all combine to make a vivid, immersing world. Let down at times by a poor, generic fantasy script and some quite woeful voice acting, the general sound quality in SpellForce is okay. Battles sound like battles and the score moves quite nicely from whimsical, mystical fantasy chimes to pounding rhythms during combat, which helps a great deal with the overall atmosphere.

Eo is a large world and has a few dozen hours' worth of gameplay in it; with the inclusion of the Breath of Winter and The Shadow of the Phoenix expansions, it'll keep you occupied for literally days on end, especially with the added modes included in BoW - the Free Mode is a particularly wonderful addition, allowing you to take an avatar and play through what is, to all intents and purposes, a second full-length campaign with the emphasis on personal improvement rather than storyline advancement.

But this is only half of the story because, as already mentioned, SpellForce Universe also includes the sequel, Shadow Wars, and the Dragon Storm add-on pack. Set several decades later, the story follows the exploits of the Shaikan, a race of humans infused with the blood of dragons. This combination of human and dragon DNA makes them almost invincible as long as there is another of their kind around to resurrect them. This is a function of the game that competently replaces the Rune-resurrection system of the original and is also easier to get to grips with, making SpellForce 2 even more accessible to newcomers, whilst remaining similar enough to appease long-standing fans. The Shaikan have their own enemy to overcome - the evil Sorvina, a half-demon nutcase who has laid waste to the fortress island of the Shaikan and kidnapped Ur, the beloved dragon ruler of the race.

There are more RPG portions in the sequel, creating a world that's very reminiscent of Dungeon Siege II, with the option to switch views to a more modern World of Warcraft-inspired third person viewpoint. Indeed, the developers added a few subtle allusions to Blizzard's legendary RPG monster, with a few amusing in-jokes thrown into the random bursts of dialogue between your assembled heroes. At one point a two-handed sword is found on a vanquished foe and the archer in the group immediately shouts, "Hunter Weapon!", to which one of the other characters replies: "Never! Roll for it?". Whilst some may argue that moments like this detract from the realism of the setting, I think it shows the fun that JoWood Studios wanted to inject into the game and adds a touch of playfulness to the proceedings. This is essential in fantasy games, which can occasionally be accused of taking themselves too seriously.

Graphically SpellForce 2 is better looking than its predecessor, which is to be expected. Textures are more advanced and on a high-spec machine the world is truly breathtaking. Swaying grass, reflections in water surfaces and well-animated dust-ups abound. The graphics engine is capable of handling literally scores of enemies onscreen, all duking it out with very little slowdown. Unfortunately the scripting is no better and the voice acting is still somewhere in the realms of Xena and Hercules. Thankfully, this only casts a faint shadow on the proceedings.

The RPG aspect is handled slightly better in SpellForce 2, with more choices where skill selection is concerned. There are five other player-controlled characters to be recruited along the way, and the game partially controls the advancement of four of them; a fighter, a healer, a sorcerer and an archer. How it accomplishes this is unique and well thought out; at certain points in the advancement of these characters, a skill becomes available that is automatically chosen, guiding them down a specific path, or "calling". You choose other skills in the interim, meaning that overall control of their development is still yours. The fifth character, your avatar, is entirely developed by you, allowing you to complement the other four in any way that you please.

The inclusion of the "Click & Fight" system makes the RPG sections even more accessible, too. Click on a player character or ally and skill buttons appear beneath the portraits of beneficial spells and buffs; click on an enemy and the offensive spells appear. In the thick of battle, assigning individual actions to your characters becomes a doddle, whilst orchestrating your characters and a mass of created soldiers in the RTS portions to attack single targets and enemy strongholds becomes an absolute joy.

The RTS portions themselves are also slightly more in-depth but still very accessible. Build a hub and gather resources (Stone, Silver and Lenya plant), and expand by creating new buildings and upgrading your headquarters with either Human, Dwarf and Elven upgrades, each opening new training constructs and different military units, from gryphon-mounted mages to sentient trees - and that's just the human side of things. Later on in the game you will control orc settlements and create wolf-mounted shamans and troll armies. The story is advanced by a well-balanced mix of RPG and RTS, and you are never left feeling that there is nothing to do - but at the same time you are never overwhelmed. Had enough of strategy and plot for a while? Nip off and complete some side quests to earn experience and rewards, or alternatively, return to your very own settlement and prove yourself to be a powerful, fair leader. At a certain point in the story you are granted your own island of Westguard, the protection and advancement of which is entirely your responsibility. Westguard can be travelled to at any time via "Journey Stones" (waypoints) whenever you feel like doing something different for a while.

Add in the Free Mode, a freeform RPG/RTS campaign centred around the advancement of a separate avatar and his/her companions, and Skirmish Mode (a purely RTS mode) and the game's size almost doubles. Factor in the other factions available in Free Mode (the orc Clans and the demonic Pact) and Skirmish Mode; and then consider that the Dragon Storm expansion includes a new faction (the Shaikan), a new campaign with fresh maps for the taking, new character advancements and an Arena Mode for higher level players, and SpellForce Universe starts to look like perhaps the most comprehensive game package available in either the RTS or RPG genres.

In SpellForce Universe you get not one game but half a dozen - literally hundreds of hours of high quality gaming that seamlessly mixes fun, strategy and deeply involving, story-driven gameplay. It's not the greatest RPG or the most taxing RTS, but the SpellForce series is nonetheless the only truly successful amalgamation of the two genres. Huge and involving, good-looking, well rounded and, perhaps above all, lovingly crafted, SpellForce Universe is fantastic value and proof that quantity and quality can go hand in hand. Good things can come in large packages, and when they do - sorry Kylie - I know where my money has to go.

Reviewed by Mick Fraser for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).