If you are anything like me you loved strategy games as a child, I know I did. The thrill of building an empire and watching on in guilty pleasure as your ships tear through the enemies units is such a deplorable yet delicious one. There’s just something about the way a stronghold shatters when your cannons fire a hundred slugs at it. There is an air of delight when you observe as the hapless enemy units fall one by one whilst trying to scale your impenetrable walls. Call it nostalgia , call it sentiment ,what I know is this; its a tub-load of fun.
The game instantly reminds of the classics as you play for the first time. The game controls very fluidly and swiftly, it feels natural. You are able to control the camera either by panning with the mouse on the screen edges or by using the keyboard assigned keys, this is a basic but welcome feature. The camera moves reasonably fast yet it would have been agreeable to be able to adjust these values based on height. You are able to zoom in quite far to get a better look on those units and surroundings when needed.
The experience is quite an artistic one, with models that are three dimensional but almost feel two dimension-ally prerendered. The game is vivid in every sense of the word, foliage is very green and abundant whilst quite beautiful with towering elms and shadowing saplings galore. The grass and plants are a bit static though which is a pity in terms of overall feel of the nature in the world. Overall there is an obvious lack in variety when one studies the wildlife and natural elements in the title , with the former being almost non-existent. Generally the scenes look decent if a bit scarcely spread but it is blisteringly obvious that the developers were very performance aware with many of the models being vastly lacking in terms of geometry and quality. While this isn’t a huge dilemma , it does take way from the experience.
The audio in the game is acceptable but not genuinely fantastic. While everything sounds appropriate nothing really stands out. Musically is very much the same story, we feel that a good soundtrack , especially in these genres ,can massively impact the overall feel and quality of a product. Cossacks 3 doesn’t quite make the cut here, much to the regret.
One area where the game very much stands out though , is in its depth and variety of unit and buildings. There are tens if not hundreds of upgrades to choose from as you build your capital. There are multitudes of units to either build or hire, the latter being an option as a product of the mercenary cantonment options, which is another example of the depth on show. In richness of choice this title really aims to stand on its own merits. Another handy feature is the formations that the player is able to choose from to erect the best strategy for victory in the given scenario.
Out and out this is a very difficult one to call. One one hand you have the nostalgia that the series inspires and the fact that overall , this is very much an enjoyable experience. On the other you have the issues plaguing the game , which in honest fact were very avoidable , had a little more time gone into the production. In light of these factors, the game scores well , but not aplenty.
Buy it here : Buy
Review Score
Score - 70%
70%
Cossacks, To Arms!
A nostalgia inspired ride that drops the ball on a few occasions but manages to hold up its end in the pleasure department!
