Sound

Allakhazam

We all know that sound is vitally important to help immerse you in a game. Games could be very compelling experiences without sound, but once you're used to having songs, voices, and sound effects - there's no going back. What's even worse, nowadays when you hear a classic soundtrack like Mechwarrior 2 or WarCraft II, everything else seems like an inferior effort, no matter how good it is. The same goes for FMV, speech and sound effects.

Speak of the devil

Sigh

One publisher that has historically had some of the best effects is Interplay. We don't know quite how they do it, but they've managed to even keep up with Blizzard when it comes to picking voice actors for in-game speech. Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Fallout, Fallout 2 and now Sacrifice are really top-notch. We're having a hard time trying to imagine how much better the speech can get in games.

The various wizards and gods, especially the one you play in the singleplayer game, are acted as well as any character in any game. What's more commendable, however, is the attention paid to the various minions you and your foes summon. They don't exactly have a lot of lines, though what they say tends to stay in-character and are said reasonably well.

Wooo purrty

Gotta get closer

Weaker points

We found ourselves less impressed with the music and sound effects. The music is above average, not overly creative but suits the mood. No single tune stood out in our memory, though there is a fair number you'll hear in the game. The songs accompanied the flow of the game more than actually helping set the pace. At no time did a song get the blood pumping, add urgency to the action or do much except fill the occasional silence.

The sound effects are good but when you consider the high standards present in games now, Sacrifice feels average. The sounds do their job of supporting visuals very well, but not much more. Much like the music, there isn't anything memorable.

Line dancing? This is war, dammit

Oi I'm in trouble now

Upon further inspection, some of these sounds really deserve strong praise. After all, the visuals in Sacrifice are some of the best we've seen. When one of the spells a wizard casts involves summoning a volcano, the sound effects involved keep up with the wondrous visuals, that's saying quite a bit. Of course, the volcano isn't the typical effect. The more mundane visuals are partnered with 'merely' average sound effects.