Spellcross

Spellcross: The Last Battle (Spellcross: Poslední bitva in Czech; Spellcross: Ostatnia bitwa in Polish) is a turn-based strategy game for IBM PC compatibles, developed by the Slovak company Cauldron HQ and published by Sales Curve Interactive in 1997/1998. In Spellcross, a contemporary Earth military fights for survival against an extradimensional invasion of orcs, undead, harpies and other fantasy creatures.

Spellcross: The Last Battle
Developer(s)Cauldron HQ
Publisher(s)Sales Curve Interactive
Platform(s)DOS
Release1997
Genre(s)Turn-based strategy
Mode(s)Single-player
Helicopters against dragons, tanks against golems.

Gameplay

The single-player game is split into tactical battles and a strategic planning mode.

Strategic phase

In the strategic phase the player oversees a military campaign of the human forces, represented by conquering sectors on a map from the forces of darkness.[1] One sector is the site of a final battle; when it's taken, the player progresses to the next campaign.[1] Sectors provide limited amounts of resource points, which the player allocates between performing research, and acquiring, upgrading, and replacing the losses of military units. Reviewer Niko Nirvi observed in his article for Pelit that Spellcross was distinguished from its contemporaries by how the enemy would launch its own attempts to conquer ground - a feature, he went on to write, with strategic depth to it, as a player could find themselves hit while vulnerable instead of being allowed to get their ducks in a row.[1] He remarked on Spellcross' resemblance to the XCOM series for having a research mechanic about studying the enemy in order to gain new equipment and plot information.[1]

In what Nirvi noted to be a system similar to Panzer General,[2] the player's core units persist from mission to mission, retaining their experience and equipment. They lose experience when their dead are replaced, though this can be mitigated by paying for more expensive reinforcements.[2]

Tactical phase

In combat each unit has action points, which can be used to commit actions such as attack or move, or reserved for opportunity fire or movement. [3]

Plot

The story line pits the alliance against the forces of darkness, the game begins with Alexander(you) a colonel in the alliance forces who has become trapped behind enemy lines with a few squads of men, fighting your way through the forces of darkness you meet with the rest of the alliance and are brought to your first mission. The computer plays against you as the gate keepers or under lords who have unleashed a terrible onslaught on the earth torturing and killing many of the population they have conquered in sacrificial magic experiments. The story unfolds that they are attempting to awaken a sleeping titan within the Earth's core.

The forces of darkness use portals and gates to different dimensions to bring hordes of demonic creatures into the world.

Release

The newer English version differs from the older Czech version. Some graphics and animations have been improved, the mission design has been tweaked and some of them joined. The English version includes a tutorial and cheat codes. The English version has only two difficulty settings, while the Czech version has three.

Reception

Pelit gave the game a score of 85%.[4] In his review, Niko Nirvi lamented a lack of interest on the part of the press and the publisher in what he called an "excellent" game, though one he wished had gone even further with the premise.[4]

The Slovakian Riki Multimedia Magazine gave the game an overall rating of 89%.[5]

Petr Poláček, Marketing Director of THQ Nordic's in-house Bratislava studio Nine Rocks Games, former Head of Marketing of Bohemia Interactive and LeveL editor, called Spellcross the most significant video game from Slovakia[6] in a phone interview quoted in a blog post.

References
  1. Nirvi, Niko (October 1, 1998). "Spellcross: The Last Battle – Tää on viimeinen taisto". Pelit. Pelissä on kuutisenkymmentä tehtävää eli valloitettavaa aluetta. Nämä on niputettu karttoihin, jotka koostuvat useasta alueesta, plus alueesta, jonka valtaamalla pääsee jatkamaan eteenpäin. Päinvastoin kuin yleensä, alueista käydään jatkuvaa kädenvääntöä. Pelaajan toivoessa hetken rauhaa ehtiäkseen korvata tappionsa, sektoriin saattaakin iskeä kova joukko karaistuneita pimeyden sotureita. […] Vallatut alueet tuottavat tietyn vuoromäärän ajan resurssipisteitä, joita jaetaan joukkojen ostamiseen, päivittämiseen ja tappioiden paikkaamiseen. […] myös tutkimukseen, joka muistuttaa X-COMeja ja paljon. Tutkimalla vihollisyksiköitä ja niiden motiiveja juoni etenee, ja käyttöön tulee uutta teknologiaa. [The game has sixtyish missions - which is to say, areas to be conquered. These have been bundled into maps which have one area that, when conquered, moves the player onward. Contrary to common practice, these areas are constantly contested. A player wishing for a moment's peace to replace their losses may instead see a sector hit hard by hardened warriors of darkness. […] Conquered areas produce resource points for a limited number of turns; these are allocated into buying, upgrading, and reinforcing forces […] also into research, which heavily resembles the X-Coms. Researching enemy units and their motives progresses the plot and enables the use of new technologies.]
  2. Nirvi, Niko (October 1, 1998). "Spellcross: The Last Battle – Tää on viimeinen taisto". Pelit. Slovakiassa on pelattu Panzer Generalia. Spellcrossissa pelaaja johtaa ydinyksiköitä, jotka seuraavat pelaajaa taistelusta toiseen. […] Ydinjoukot keräävät kokemusta ja spesiaalivarusteita, ja näin kasvavat voimassa. […] Taisteluissa yksiköiden kärsimät tappiot ovat joko kuolleita ja haavoittuneita. Haavoittuneet voi parantaa, mutta kuolleet sotilaat joudutaan korvaamaan rekrytoimalla. Mopot ovat halpoja, mutta laskevat yksikön kokemusta enemmän kuin kalliimmat normaali- ja eliittitäydennykset. [They've been playing Panzer General in Slovakia. In Spellcross the player commands a core of units that follow the player from one battle to another. […] Core units gather experience and special equipment, and thus increase in power. […] Casualties units suffer in battle are either wounded or killed. The wounded can be healed, but the dead must be replaced through reinforcement. FNGs are cheap, but lower the unit's experience more than more expensive normal or elite reinforcements.]
  3. Nirvi, Niko (October 1, 1998). "Spellcross: The Last Battle – Tää on viimeinen taisto". Pelit. Alun alikynnessä olon jälkeen, kun peruskikat on opittu ja miesten kokemus kasvaa, alkaa pimeyden joukoista valitettavasti tulla altavastaajia. Paitsi jos ne pääsevät yllättämään. […] Pahiksien yksiköillä on tietysti maagisia kykyjä. Harpyijat esimerkiksi lamauttavat ympäröivät yksiköt ja elävät kuolleet voivat musertaa moraalin niin, että eliittijoukot pötkivät pakoon. Erikoistaikuutta voisi kuitenkin olla enemmän, sillä on jokseenkin sama, ampuuko golem salamoita vai Leopard 2 saboteja, jos käytännön tasolla lopputulos on sama. Taistelusysteemi on yksinkertaisen elegantti. Joukoilla on toimintapisteitä, jotka ne voivat käyttää liikkumiseen tai ammuskeluun, tai kumpaankin. Jos yksikön jättää paikoilleen eikä tee sillä mitään, alkaa se kaivautua puolustusasemiin. Uhraamalla kaikki toimintapisteet voi yksikkö parantaa haavoittuneensa. […] Yksinkertaisuudesta huolimatta taistelut ovat meneviä ja mielenkiintoisia. Olisin kuitenkin kaivannut asteen tahi kaksi lisää monipuolisuutta. Tehtävissäkin saisi olla enemmän monipuolisuutta, "tapa kaikki viholliset" on liian yleinen. […] Tekoäly on standarditasoa. Kauas ampuvat yksiköt yrittävät pysyä havaitsemiensa vihollisten kanto- ja näkömatkan ulkopuolella, mutta muuten paha käy suoraan kimppuun. Mihinkään varsinaisiin typeryyksiin kone ei sorru, eikä näytä huijaavankaan, siis "tietävän", missä ihmiset lymyävät. Peli menee yleensä siihen, että pelaaja linnottautuu pääjoukoillaan hyvään paikkaan ja yrittää houkutella örkit kimppuun. Tietokoneen vahvuus on massat, mutta liian usein sen yksiköt tulevat tapettavan pienissä ryppäissä. [After beginning on the back foot, after learning the basic tricks and the men rise in experience, the forces of darkness sadly start to become the underdogs. Unless they manage a surprise attack. […] Naturally, the bad guys' units have magical abilities. For example, harpies paralyze surrounding units and the living dead can crush morale and send elite troops running. The game could do with more special magic, however: it doesn't matter much whether a golem shoots lightning or a Leopard 2 fires sabots, if the practical outcome is the same. The battle system is elegant in its simplicity. Troops have action points, which they can use to move or shoot, or both. If the player leaves a unit standing still without doing anything with it, it starts to dig into defensive positions. By expending all action points a unit can heal its wounded. […] Despite their simplicity battles are interesting and not too clunky. However, I would've wanted a touch or two more versatility. The battles could be more varied too, "Kill all enemies" is too common. […] The AI is standard-level. Far-shooting units try to stay outside the weapon and vision range of enemies they've spotted, but otherwise evil just comes charging. The computer doesn't quite blunder, and it also doesn't seem to cheat - which is to say, "know" where humans are hiding. The game usually boils down to the player fortifying their main force in a good position and trying to lure the orcs to attack. The computer's strength lies in numbers, but too often its forces come in killably small groups.]
  4. Nirvi, Niko (October 1, 1998). "Spellcross: The Last Battle – Tää on viimeinen taisto". Pelit. Spellcross on pelimarkkinoijan painajainen: Dos-pohjainen, vuoroissa pelattava strategiapeli Slovakiasta. Eipä ihme, että yhtä kymmenen minuutin pelailuun perustuva britti"arvostelua" lukuunottamatta siitä ei mitään puhutakaan. SCI tuntuu suorastaan häpeilevän peliä. […] Spellcross on erinomainen peli, joka ilmiselvästi on varastanut hyvistä peleistä hyvät ideat ja heittänyt pari omaa joukkoon. […] Loistavasta peli-ideasta ei ole saatu puserrettua kaikkia tehoja irti, ja mielelläni näkisin vielä monimutkaisemman, monipuolisemman Spellcross II:n. [Spellcross is a game marketer's nightmare: a DOS-based turn-based strategy from Slovakia. No wonder, then, that aside from one British "review" based on ten minutes of gameplay, nobody's talking about it. SCI seems downright ashamed of the game. […] Spellcross is an excellent game which has obviously stolen good games' good ideas and thrown a couple of its own into the mix. […] [The developers] have failed to fully capitalize on the brilliant concept, and I'd much like to see an even more complex and versatile Spellcross II.]
  5. Silval (1998). "Spellcross: Poslední Bitva". Riki Multimedia Magazine. No. 30, Január-Február 1998. Bratislava: NOVA TRADING INTERNATIONAL s.r.o. pp. 50–51.
  6. Buday, Pavol (2016-04-10). "The thumb culture of video game pioneers". Slovakstartup.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
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