Nothing shocks these days. The newspapers greeted the release of crime-sim Grand Theft Auto 2 with a nonchalant shrug and barely batted an eyelid when the third Carmageddon game arrived. So what does Shiny go and do? As a follow up to the controversial Messiah ad with the Pope in it (I know, I know, that was Interplay's fault) they've released a game called Sacrifice. Since we've all been treated to a slew of details and divinely beautiful shots of this game already I'm sure you're aware that it is not, in fact, a controversial game about the gruesome favourite past time of the ancient Aztecs but Shiny's first foray into the sort-of-real-time-strategy-genre. Sort of? Yes, sort of, as this is one of those titles that reviewers like myself look forward to simply because it refuses to be completely pigeon-holed into a single genre and therefore might just prove a refreshing change from the average copy-cat title.
Sacrifice places you in control of a wizard who has recently arrived in a realm of floating islands controlled by five gods – Charnel, God of Death and Slaughter; Persephone, Goddess of Healing, Nature and all that; Stratos, God of Air and Thought; Pyro, God of (you'll never guess) Fire; and last off the mighty… James. A name to instill fear in all who oppose him, to be sure. James is God of Earth, as in soil and rocks and the like. The surprisingly involving story involves you fighting the forces of just about all the Gods in the name of whichever you decide to ally with, although for the first few missions you can choose amongst all of them. Your only company during battle is the wonderfully voiced (indeed all of the voice acting is excellent) owl-like Familiar called Zyzyx who will frequently tell you that “all of your Manahoars have been slaughtered” as if you are a silly fool for letting it happen. The arrogant little bastard.
The game gets its name from the resource system where you have to sacrifice enemy souls so you can summon more of your own creatures. There's no gold to be mined, no oil to be drilled, no lumber to collect – the only resources you need are souls from recently killed enemies (or, if you're feeling particularly cruel, any nearby defenseless peasants) and mana, which conveniently fountains out of the ground in odd places. And the only building you'll be doing is of Manaliths (to channel mana to your wizard via creatures called Manahoars) and Shrines, where your enemy souls are converted by these odd creatures called Sac Doctors once you've summoned them (they disappear again once they've converted the soul at a Shrine or your main altar). Yes, in Sacrifice, as is increasingly the trend in some strategy games, the focus is shifted away from base building and resource management and firmly onto getting right into the action as soon as possible. This new resource system is certainly an interesting idea bit it ain't perfect. It's often the case that if you lose a single skirmish you've either lost the game or you face a lengthy struggle to become a contender in the battle again. There really is no in between – you're either king of the hill with a pile of souls or you're struggling to take back your stolen souls one by one, so if you lose any one of the countless skirmishes in Sacrifice you're better off reloading. And reload you will, and often too, because Sacrifice can at times be unforgivingly tough. There aren't many titles that only half way through the whole game pit you up against two vastly superior enemy forces sitting right on your doorstep, ready to charge in and butcher your meager force. Build up a solid defense force magically chained to a Manalith or Alter using the Guarding spell and you'll have won half the battle though, especially as guardian creatures regenerate health. It still won't be easy of course, and in fact some people are likely to find it headache inducingly-hard thanks to the tough odds that you regularly face but if you're after a challenge, Sacrifice certainly delivers. Just don't say I didn't warn you.
