Spellcross

Game review

Spellcross: The Last Battle is a turn-based tactical war strategy game in which you pit your modern technology units (tanks, artillery, infantry, helicopters, etc.) against the magical forces of the Middle Ages that include wizards, undead, golems, hell-riding, orcs, and more. In the game, you take the role of John Alexander, leader of the contemporary Earth military force – The Alliance, fighting for survival against an extra dimensional invasion of orcs, undead, harpies and other fantastical creatures – the Other Side. The game only features a single-player mode, split into tactical battles and a strategic planning mode. The former is the actual 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. Resource and troop management, research, maps, territory acquisition and counter-attacks tie the scenarios together in a strong storyline arc.

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 game features two game modes. In the first, very important one, you will research, invent, buy, etc. You can buy classic units, then research various upgrades (better engines for cars, better vests for soldiers...) and then buy and apply all this to your units. What is important in the game is the promotion system. Every unit gets battle-hardened, and it's far better to have a few true veterans than a bunch of rookies. In this global mode, you see occupied territories, set up research, defend your own lands that you have occupied (yes, the enemy can counterattack), and most importantly, you can recruit commanders and then assign subordinate units to them. As long as the units are within range of their commander during combat, they have their bonuses available, provided that you leave the commander in one such unit directly on the battlefield. It is better to put him in an extra strong unit, of course the enemies are primarily after him. Even the commander gains experience...