Early Hours with…
Sacrifice
Tom's Comments: Some games you play for an hour and
you get a sense that you know just what you're in for. Sure,
you'll get new weapons, you'll play new maps, and you'll meet
a Really Big Boss. But the basic paradigm is established early
and it's not going to change. Diablo II. Zeus. Red Alert 2.
Rune.
But some games are like Sacrifice. You spend the first hour
scratching the surface and getting a vague sense that there's
going to be a whole lot going on that you can't quite appreciate
yet.
At its most superficial level, Sacrifice is just another
attempt to let the player sit inside a real time strategy
game. Yeah, yeah, that concept kind of peaked early with Battlezone.
But the twist here is that we're in one of Shiny's funky Alice
in Wonderland universes (please note that we're talking Earthworm
Jim Shiny, not Messiah Shiny). There are five gods that each
serve as a "side" with unique game-bending spells and creatures,
some of which are intentionally not mentioned in the manual.
I cannot begin to imagine the insidious combos you get when
you mix and match them in the single player game. I hope there's
some provision for that in the multiplayer game, but so far
it looks like this is something you have to unlock by finishing
a single player campaign.
I've played five scenarios in the single player game and
discovered that the choices you make between missions determine
the contents of your spell book; this is like a big fat neon
sign that says "Replay Value". I've also run through a few
multiplayer games, but only against people who haven't been
able to climb the learning curve yet. The game moves quickly
and it can get very messy. "Utter chaos," said one of the
players after I had handily desecrated his altar. Shiny has
streamlined it so much that it's equal parts RTS and action,
but perhaps without a smooth enough interface to support the
speed of the action. For instance, it's nearly impossible
to target a fast moving enemy with a direct spell and it's
easy to lose track of your creatures. I'd say 75% of the battle
is creature management. But what a battle so far.
Mark's Comments: I haven't played it quite as much
as Tom, though I hope to get back to it because I really enjoyed
what I did play — the tutorials and the first two missions.
Sacrifice is another game with an interface learning curve.
It's not difficult, but you will have to play through the
tutorials. This is not a game you can pick up start with the
campaign and learn as you go.
A lot of games go for quirky and end up just weird. Sacrifice
draws back its bow and aims for quirkiness and hits “charming”
right between the eyes with one of those little wooden arrows
with a red suction cup on the end. It's that kind of game,
one that never takes itself seriously about anything other
than its intent to provide fun. From the bickering gods you
choose among before each mission to the individual units like
the Shrike which sings "La la la" as it attacks,
Sacrifice is made to be played with a grin plastered to your
face.
The reservations I have about the game center on its strategic
elements. Since the creation of new units is dependant on
the harvesting of souls and souls come from dead enemies or
your own troops (or some neutral creatures in some scenarios),
it may be hard to gain a numerical advantage on your opponent.
In most RTS games the strategic aspects focus on building
efficiently and grabbing and protecting neutral resources.
Sacrifice doesn't have much of that. Since you can teleport
your troops in Sacrifice, there's little reason to split them
up, because bigger armies will invariably beat smaller armies.
Being successful at Sacrifice seems to hinge more upon quick
mousework and judicious use of spells than any other tactical
considerations. But hey, you're a wizard, ok? So jump in and
start acting like one and throw some lightning bolts!
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Publisher: Interplay
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Developer: Shiny
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Genre: Action/real time strategy
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System requirements: P300, 64MB RAM
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Installation options: 700MB single player install,
300MB multiplayer spawn, CD required in the drive
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Expected street date: In stores now
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November 13, 2000
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