WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos
July 12, 2002
Blizzard Entertainment returned to the real time strategy front with the latest in the hit series of Warcraft. Warcraft III: The Reign of Chaos fell into the traditional trend of not being released in time like many other Blizzard titles and also getting patches released in a relativly short period of time. Don’t get me wrong here, they produced a real quality title and also shows that they are still working to make sure the game is absolutely perfect when the end user gets to handle it. This is an extremely high caliber game and Blizzard’s attentions to detail as well as their impressive storylines really come through in this amazingly well developed game.
People who played Warcraft I and Warcraft II: The Tide of Darkness would expect to have an edge playing this game?Ķwrong. Warcraft III brings about highly radical changes to the way the game is played. The first thing that will strike players is the role heroes play compared to previous games in the series. Instead of heroes just being a much stronger version of a generic unit, the player is pleasantly surprised with heroes that have different abilities as well as completely different graphic sets and unit classes. These heroes gain levels throughout the course of game play as well as have the ability to collect items and “level up” their spells. Heroes are a pivotal part of the experience of Warcraft III throughout the story, heroes will develop a personality and most players who are sucked into the story will find themselves commenting to themselves about how smart or stupid an action the hero makes. Blizzard also worked out a way to prevent you from failing a mission if your hero dies. Most people know a hero mission in most games ends up that the hero just sits at home while an army goes out to kill because of the risk of losing the mission if the hero dies. For the most part players can resurrect their heroes at the cost of gold and build time. This is a lifesaver in most cases and it also allows heroes to play a more active role in strategies. Each race is given 3 distinct hero types to work their mojo with. A player who can manage heroes carefully will have a significant advantage over a player who lacks the ability to do so.
Now the part that you all have been waiting for, the actual game play. Warcraft III is a radical departure from traditional RTS gaming where the ideas is to just hoard units and attack and kill off your enemy. Warcraft III works on the premise that you work with a small squad (normally not exceeding 24 units) and strategically choose your battles. Resources aren’t extremely abundant and you can quickly find yourself in finance trouble by playing recklessly. Units are a lot stronger and normally have some special abilities or upgrades to improve them over time. Another general premise would be the NPC’s (Non-Playable Characters) worked into the game. In almost any map you play, there will be NPC characters. Most of these are hostile and their sole purpose for being on the map is so that heroes can gain experience by fighting with them. Some NPC’s are extremely weak while some are insanely strong. It is important to pick and choose which fights you engage your army in when there are NPC’s involved. Blizzard also incorporated some friendly NPC structures and units. Heroes can buy items with various effects at a Goblin merchant or hire some special units from a Goblin Laboratory. A player can also purchase special units from Mercenary camps, which may even tilt the game into your favor as most of these have some special abilities. It’ll be up to the savvy player to work out some strategies to overcome their opponents. One thing that is normally overlooked in most RTS games is the AI. Most people the AI’s are only around for the sole purpose of rising the players up on their virtual shoulders. The AI’s in skirmish mode are INSANE. They are extremely good and extremely well coordinated with their partners. They can make even the best players look like fools when an AI team just demolishes a player. Warcraft III truly came through in the challenge department.
Blizzard works in 4 races into the epic battle that is Warcraft III. Humans and Orcs return to continue their epic struggle (or do they?) while throwing the Undead and Night Elves into the fray. Most people believe and work on the premise that most races have parallels to other units in other races. For the sake of building units, yes there are parallels but for the sake of unit comparison, you better hope you know the stats of most of the units. For example an Orc Grunt has roundabouts 780 Hit Points and does approximately 24 damage (upgraded) while a Human Footman has 420 and does an average of 12 damage. With that said it is important that a player plans accordingly or they may find themselves in a very painful situation. Each race has a distinct style and way to play them and it’s up to the player to find their strength but for the record?ĶNight Elves kick a whole lot of ass despite how weak their units look. Blizzard did an incredible job of working balance into the game despite the fact that each race is radically different from the next.
Another thing players will notice is that Blizzard really worked in graphics as a part of this game. Blizzard was never overly critical on the graphics and focused majorly on the game play. In Warcraft III, the designers put a lot of effort into the graphics. From the trees falling to the intricate movements of the units, the time and effort put into the graphics really pays off. An example would be each unit leaves a somewhat distinct track in levels with snow or the trails left in water while a unit runs through a shallow portion. Details like this really add to the flavor of the game. Blizzard yet again came through with superb cut scenes. These really advance the story and help appreciate the overall theme of the game. They are amazingly well done and could pass for motion picture quality. Blizzard also did a superb job on voice acting and sound effects of the game. Each unit type has a distinct voice as well as each hero type. The sounds and effects really help pull the player into the experience.
Multiplayer is highly entertaining. Heroes level up faster and players fight for control of gold mines. Its is highly cutthroat and just sitting and waiting for your opponent to make a mistake could be highly costly. Supporting up to 12 players, Warcraft III allows for massive games in which players will have great difficulty and great fun overcoming their opponents. I’ve only participated in games with around 8 people but it’s still incredibly fun and I encourage everyone to try this game on Battle.Net. It’s an experience. The Map Editor is extremely powerful as well. Blizzard bundled an RPG type map, which is also loads of fun. If you get bored of the conventional fights hunt down some good RPG maps and have a blast with some friends.
But alas there are always downfalls to games. Warcraft III had remarkably few but still there are some worth mentioning. First and foremost would be the annoyance of upkeep. After you cross the threshold of 40 supplies, your miners only pull in 7 gold instead of the average 10. (It takes 10 from the mine for you only get 7) When you cross 70, the pain starts as your miners only pull in 4 gold which can quickly put the brakes on if you like building a lot and don’t have much of a stockpile of gold. I can see this being a good add-on in multiplayer, but it does not do much in single player aside from being a major annoyance. There are also some points where the game can slow down to a crawl but that is normally caused by hardware or settings which can be resolved by lowering some settings and adjusting others. The small army sizes are a good idea but can get frustrating as well but it adds to the fun in some cases so it can be considered a double edged sword. A major idea Blizzard should look into is a way to adjust the difficulty on the AI’s as it can become incredibly frustrating when an AI can constantly beat you senseless and you can’t do a thing about it.
Overall, Warcraft III is an extremely well designed and well executed game which will win Blizzard even more fans and it also helps secure it a position for years to come as a leader in RTS and RPG gaming.
CVG Report CardWarCraft III: Reign of Chaos
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
1 Player Game
Genre: Real Time Strategy
Rating: A+
Platform: PC
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