This isn’t a big deal, but when you’re looking at the same modestly toned green landscape some subtle animations in fauna would’ve made the visual experience a bit better. Also things in the landscape such as fauna and geological objects feel very underwhelming most environmental models feel very flat and have no movement. The terrain for the most part never really looks different despite the map being randomly generated in multiplayer and random play, so you will see the same bland green environment a lot through your playthroughs. While performance is smooth and each playable nation’s respective units and buildings are nice, the rest of the game looks average at best. The game features multiple playable nations and these nations have different building and units that fit the nation’s historical context. Unit and building design is the strongest thing about the game visually. This is nice considering that in a strategy game you’re more than likely to be zoomed so far out that it would be difficult to see individual units. The game ran at smooth 60 fps for me despite the number of particle effects and units shown on screen, and the animations are solid, with unit movement and unit actions being very smooth and concise. For the most part, the performance, at least in a graphical sense, was very pleasant.
While this may be more than enough to appease old RTS veterans, is that enough to make this game stand out in a modern context? After having some time with Cossacks 3 I have found my answer and I honestly wish I had something more unique to say about the game.Īs mentioned above, Cossacks 3 is a remake of Cossacks: European War, with the main difference being an update to the graphical fidelity of the game. The game sets its scope on 17th and 18th century European warfare with many playable nations, each with their own unique units and buildings. Cossacks 3, as mentioned earlier, is an RTS with a solid balance of economy management, building, army macro and micro, and tech tree upgrades. This is more or less true because Cossacks 3 is a remake of 2001’s Cossacks: European War but with an updated graphics engine. Cossacks 3 – as described by its developer GSC Game World – is an RTS game that harkens back to the golden age of the genre.