Sacrifice (Mac)

The story is where this game really shines. You portray an alien wizard who escapes his ruined dimension to a new, even weirder one. Five gods rule this new world. Noble Persephone is the goddess of life, simple James controls the Earth, bombastic Pyro controls fire, wicked Charnel rules destruction and death, and the haughty Stratos (voiced by Tim Curry) is master of air. They bicker and fight throughout. It's your choice whom to serve before each mission. In addition, each mission you complete bestows upon you some of their unique powers and monsters. Because the campaign is dependent upon which god you serve and when, you'll end up with vastly different power combinations each time you play.

The game plays like Activision's Battlezone remake from a while back. It's played like an action game--you can see from behind the shoulder of your wizard character--yet it has Command & Conquer-style real-time strategy components. You have to harvest souls from fallen enemies and troops, summon and control your own army of fascinating monsters, and control the magical resources known as Mana Fountains. The game is daunting and the action may be too frantic for some, but all its components are detailed in an impressive tutorial and tips are scattered throughout the game.

Add instant action play, a host of maps, a complete game editor (ensuring fan- created levels will flood the Internet soon), and a stable multiplayer component, and you'll find unlimited value in the game. Sacrifice is more than just a quirky new PC game, it's a bona fide classic. --Bob Andrews

Pros:

• Deep story and gameplay
• Excellent voice acting and audio
• Full multiplayer support and addictive action

• May be too complicated for some gamers
• High system requirements

I removed some memory to get down to the system requirements, dispite some bugs I got through to the last level a couple times (it was too tough for me, and I just plain enjoyed exploring the other sides of the story).

Since then I have upgraded to OS X full time, and upgraded to a Radion 8500. The system seems to crash a whole lot now, though it is predictable. Most often while desicrating an alter while having too many units in the area. I really don't know if this is the cause, but by pulling back all extra units I have been able to get past many 'crashy' spots.

With all of the trouble that I've had with this game I still wake up and play it first thing in the morning and think about it constantly. I feel that it was worth it even if an incompleat product - you should keep this in mind however before you purchase!

I eagerily await a new computer that MAY play this better (it's possible that something that I upgraded is conflicting, or a I may have a memory chip that isn't up to par for the game...)

----

Also I'm now running the latest ATI driver, and the most current Sacrifice update.


It's Too Bad the Support Was Pulled...   January 19, 2003
Unfortunatley for Mac users, this ported game showed up far too late in Shiny's support of it. They have repeatedly announced that they would not release a sequel, and that last official patch for the game was released over a year and a half ago.

But if you ever wanted to play an RTS which puts you, the general, on the battlefield, this game is it. The interface, which seemed clunky at first, is one of the smartest I have ever seen, allowing both mouse input and fully-customizable keyboard input.

The creatures can line in a myriad of formations, control grouping is incredibly simple (unlike Myth and exactly like the Blizzard titles)and many of them have special abilities of their own you can order them to invoke. Your wizard (your presence on the field) will also be casting quite a number of spells when not summoning creatures to fight. You can create volcanic eruptions, carve a chasm in the earth, send your enemy into a Tornado, or even throw the opponents off into an abyss to name just a few. Full customization for multiplayer is available upon a single completion of the campaign.

Basically, this game has all the advantages of any other RTS on the market now. Truly ahead of its time, and not yet equalled.

The graphics were very damanding in its time; had there been an ongoing effort to keep this title going, it may have paid off. As of now, when the more popular games are also very demanding, most systems that can handle these games can also handle Sacrifice. But you'll need a Mac friend to play online - alas, PC users and Mac users cannot play each other.


A game you'll hate to love ...   March 30, 2002
HLB (San Francisco, CA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Sacrifice has enough eye candy and interesting gameplay that it could easily merit four or even five stars--IF it were stable and reasonably smooth to play. I realize that my 300 MHz B&W G3 represents the low end of the Apple spectrum these days, but since I have no trouble getting Black & White or MYTH III to run smoothly (and both of these have hefty system requirements), I certainly can't see why Sacrifice should sputter and crash the way it does. Don't bother going for the lowest resolution and detail settings, either--it won't help. You might as well enjoy the nice 1024x840 32bit graphics, as the game's performance will not benefit from turning all the nicer video settings off. Form what hear and read, not even having a nice tricked-out G4 will get Sacrifice off the ground--something must be fishy with the code itself. It's a shame, since Sacrifice is quite an original title with amazing visuals and great sound FX. But it's the first game in a long while that I really wish I hadn't bought.