GSC Game World has officially released Cossacks 3, the enhanced remake of the original RTS from 2001, on Steam. Yesterday we reported the game would be available in India, unlike the other games in the series.
And it has landed on our PCs. We here at Geekiest, bought the game and played them for a couple of hours. Before going into our mini review of Cossacks 3, that let's take at the hardware which you need to run the game.
Cossacks 3 System Requirements
Minimum
- Operating System: Windows XP/7/8/10
- Processor: Intel® Core 2 Duo 1,6 GHz/AMD 3000+
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 256Mb / Intel HD3000
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 4 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Screen Resolution - 1280x768
Recommended
- Operating System: Windows XP/7/8/10
- Processor: Intel Core i5-3470, 3.20GHz or AMD FX-6300, 3.5Ghz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: nVidia GeForce 560 / ATI Radeon HD 7900 Series
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 6 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Screen Resolution - 1920x1080
My laptop is more powerful than the minimum requirement, and is almost as powerful as the recommended specs, except for the CPU which is an i3 chipset. Mind you, my computer plays most mid-high end games like Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, Grim Dawn, Divinity Original Sin, etc flawlessly. But Cossacks 3 was not very smooth on my laptop. I could play it in Low, Medium, and High (max settings), but the frame rate on all settings was a bit choppy.
This wasn't the case on the desktop which we tested on, where the game ran smoothly.
So I'm going to say that Cossacks 3 needs to be optimized for laptops, with integrated graphics like the Intel HD 5500.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very similar to the original Cossacks. You build town halls, recruit serfs, build farms to gather food, mine for gold,iron,coal, stone and chop wood. These are essential for building ships, creating units, and researching upgrades. Think of it as a more massive army version of Age of Empires III, and that's what Cossacks 3 feels like. The cannons are unmanned in the game, reverting to the original style, after the animation issues of the Cannon crews, which made Cossacks 2 a bit unpopular. You can capture cannons (peasants, and some buildings), but the lack of a crew makes it look a bit awkward.
Naval combat is quite good in the game, and you can rain cannon balls from sea to shore, to bombard your enemies from a safe distance. Cossack mercenaries are handy for emergency defense/attacks, but you may want to watch your coffers, which if runs out will cause them to turn against you. Strategy plays an important role in Cossacks 3, and you will need to rely on proper units to counter your enemy's army, and this applies to defending against enemy waves.The singleplayer campaign is interesting, and so are the random maps. You can go online to unleash your hordes against other players, which many prefer to playing offline.
Cossacks 3's launch was marred by a slight delay, while the developers fixed critical bugs, but not without drawing flak from its fans who yelled at the delay at Steam's forums, and the game's official forums. That being said, the game is not entirely bug free, and the developers have promised to work on fixing bugs. In fact there has already been a patch roll out today.
But it is entirely playable. So go ahead, and buy Cossacks 3 from Steam for $20. The game only costs Rs. 565 for the standard edition in India. The Deluxe edition costs Rs. 729.
Gamers who buy and run Cossacks 3 within two weeks will get a special Early Bird Pack, which contains the following:
Additional mini campaign for single player, that will be available in two weeks from the release.
2 unique mercenary units that could be hired from the every nation’s Diplomatic Centre.
A special Early Bird Badge visible in multiplayer shell.
The Deluxe Edition has the following extra content:
6 single player campaigns.
12 additional single player missions.
8 historical multiplayer battles.
Original Soundtrack in lossless format.
As a free DLC all the players will receive 8 additional playable nations with the unique music main themes.
Both the Early Bird and Deluxe Edition bonus contents will be released in the future.