Cossacks 3 is the latest instalment of the famous war-waging, strategy, economy and empire building game that originally dates back to Laws concerning the use of this software vary from country to country. We do not encourage or condone the use of this program if it is in violation of these laws. In Softonic we scan all the files hosted on our platform to assess and avoid any potential harm for your device. Our team performs checks each time a new file is uploaded and periodically reviews files to confirm or update their status.
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Of course, the formula is a little more complicated than that. Whereas the original game was very much a direct Age Of Empires rip-off - a kind of preemptive attempt to outdo Age Of Empires III - this time developer GSC Game World has taken equal inspiration from Total War, sidelining the linear series of campaign missions and supplanting it with a dynamic battle for Europe in which you leapfrog your army across a Risk -style map of Europe in between real-time battles for land and glory.
However, unlike Total War, Cossacks is big on resource management, though things have certainly been scaled down since the original game. Wood, coal, food, iron and gold are all required to fuel your war machine, but rather than having to go through the process of erecting farms and milking cows, here most of the resource gathering is automatic, with pre-built villages that specialise in one raw material and which, if you capture them intact, will add to your constantly dwindling supplies.
The formula has been streamlined in other areas too. Research and technological advancement are no longer important, which is unsurprising given the year timeframe the game covers. Armies too are far simpler to control. In the first game, the battles would often become unmanageable once your armies reached a certain size, as the view simply wasn't big enough for you to take stock of the situation without whizzing all over the place.
Rather than feature 3D units and a zoomable camera perspective, what the developer has done is create a handy two-tier camera system, so you can zoom out and better appreciate your tactical situation without losing control of your units in the process. There's an impressive degree of automation too. Select a line formation and rather than having to drag out the direction you want your units to face, they often find the correct facing on their own. When advancing too, they're cohesive and avoid getting tangled up with each other.
Battles are far more tactical than you might expect given the 2D perspective. Essentially, Cossacks 2's battles are ones of supply, position and morale.
It's a distinctive mix. In terms of structure, there's a mixture of the game standards, with a few twists. Skirmish mode, Internet play and a narrative campaign. The skirmish only has ten levels, with no random mode, which is a clear weakness. Internet play allows you to play in a skirmish fashion against other humans. No, really. The campaign is your abstract introduction to the game's foibles, a task it manages to perform with admirable mediocrity.
Certainly the missions aren't particularly interesting, and there's a rather overenthusiastic difficulty gradient at work.
The plot, such that it is, is inherently ludicrous, with any real amusement caused by some particularly ill-chosen American voice-acting. A special nod must be made to the section where the subtitles state a 'Huzzah!
Other modes are more interesting, underlining its position as a historical game well. Firstly, the lesser seen historical missions section, which allows you to play through tasks more directly inspired by the period. Even more interesting is the Battle for Europe mode, where you step up from the tactical scale of the conflict to an overall strategic map of Europe. While you'll initially compare it to the similar section in the luscious Rome: Total War, it's actually far simpler. Rather than playing like Civilization, it's more like a slightly glorified Risk with each region giving your growing or shrinking Empire more resources, and your General gaining experience through conflicts thus allowing him to command more troops.
While far from genius, it provides a reason for playing battles far more enthralling than that of the more traditional campaigns. Also, rather than Rome's 'Just Kill 'em All' approach, you're given secondary missions which you can accomplish to gain more needed resources or experience for the commander.
For the single-player, it's definitely the most interesting part of the game. Probably the most important thing about Cossacks 2, however: it's hard. I found myself losing incessantly. While I wouldn't lay claim to any Napoleon of the RTS-esque mantle, the amount I was thrashed about you'd be thinking I'd chosen to invade Russia in winter or something.
And then came a single moment of clarity, which made everything click into place. Now, the majority of modern RTS games feature the ability to give orders in pause mode, but it's primarily used to take stock in a difficult situation rather than a constant crutch to your tactics.
Not in Cossacks. It's not that you have a lot to think about and do Well, you do, but that's not the real problem. It's that it has to be particularly well timed, and if you mess it up, that's the battle decided. Let's take a hypothetical example to illustrate the point.
Consider you have two lines of troops at either end of the battlefield, facing off against similar number of opponents.
While resources are usually used just for construction, here two have a more transitory use. Food is constantly used by your ever-munching armies, and a complete lack will lead to a major hit to morale.
Coal is used as gunpowder, and is used up with each shot by your units. The period is one of the few where you could actually get away with using coal, due to the extreme time needed to reload. Since you count your shots, you know roughly how many volleys your resources will allow you before they're exhausted. What increases the tension is that a gun's effectiveness is inversely proportional to the distance to the target.
Holding Alt reveals the area zones. Fire in the green and you'll probably do little harm. In the amber, expect some damage. Wait for the extremely close Red, and it's utter devastation.
While most fights end in hand-to-hand, it's the actual timing of each side's volley before engagement which decides most fair fights. Luckily there are a few ways to make sure that fights aren't fair.
High terrain extends range particularly devastating with cannon. Stay stationary in line for a while and your troops arrange into the incredibly defensive holding ground, gaining bonuses.
However, that leaves them highly vulnerable from the rear and flanks. Essentially, Cossacks 2's battles are ones of supply, position and morale.
It's a distinctive mix. In terms of structure, there's a mixture of the game standards, with a few twists. Skirmish mode, Internet play and a narrative campaign. The skirmish only has ten levels, with no random mode, which is a clear weakness. Internet play allows you to play in a skirmish fashion against other humans. No, really. The campaign is your abstract introduction to the game's foibles, a task it manages to perform with admirable mediocrity.
Certainly the missions aren't particularly interesting, and there's a rather overenthusiastic difficulty gradient at work. The plot, such that it is, is inherently ludicrous, with any real amusement caused by some particularly ill-chosen American voice-acting. A special nod must be made to the section where the subtitles state a "Huzzah!
Other modes are more interesting, underlining its position as a historical game well. Firstly, the lesser seen historical missions section, which allows you to play through tasks more directly inspired by the period.
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