Pandemonium's Full Review: WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos for Windows, Mac
I have been a fan of the WarCraft series since the original game that was brought out over ten-years ago. The series has come a long way since then now placing you in a 3D environment with some pretty powerful heroes. It seems to be loosing a little of it's roots from the first two games but it still keeps that basic concept and feel that the others made famous in the gaming world.
Story-Line 4/5
The basic concept of the game is to build an army, or take the one given to you, and just destroy the other faction you are facing in that mission with some story line tossed in. The story is complex enough and comes in the way of cut-scenes at the beginning of each missions. There are also a lot of cut-scenes thrown in during the missions while you progress through each of them. This keeps you involved enough with the story line that you never go to long without it moving foreword in some way. There is enough involvement with each hero you control throughout the game to give them a personality. There are some beautiful cinematic scenes but unfortunately they are far and few between.
The main story builds up around one major event. This is Demons are slowly invading the world with intent of destroying it and taking it over for themselves. Being lead by an unknown leader and help from the Undead. Each of the four factions plays it's own roll in the unraveling of this. As you play through the single player campaign you will see how they all tie together into one large story.
One quick note, this game has an excellent game manual. I am writing about this because it provides great reading material and help for newbies. The manual goes into great detail about each faction and the story-line between them all (almost 100 pages of story). It also has information about each hero in the game and other creatures you will find throughout the land. A nice little extra you get for the money.
Game Play 5/5
If you are familiar with other RTS games or have played other games in the WarCraft series there is not much of a change. You build up your army with different buildings that have different functions. You do this by getting two resources, the stealing of gold from gold mines placed throughout each mission and harvesting wood from trees. You upgrade and produce your units at the various buildings. You then take your army and take down the other faction you are facing in that mission. It is pretty cut and dry. If your not familiar with these types of games there is good help throughout the game. And as mentioned earlier the manual is great as well.
There is one nice addition to the basics and that is the introduction of heroes. No matter what faction or mission you are playing, you will have at least one hero for you to control (some missions you will have two). These heroes are bad asses that can be leveled up getting stronger each time and carry up to six items for various effects. However, the level up system is not in-depth at all and each hero only has four abilities to learn and improve. Your hero will be maxed out at level ten (they will reach that during campaign mode) with each new level gaining one point to put into a spell or skill. At the tenth level all of his/hers skills will be maxed out. Each faction has three heroes that are tied into the story.
The new WarCraft also introduces Creeps during game play. These are various monsters you will encounter throughout your missions and some will be tough customers. They are there to help level up your hero and a lot of times they drop valuable items your heroes can pick up. You will also encounter some merchants and mercenary camps. These are also a nice addition as well and play the purpose of buying items and hiring different creatures to help you.
Overall the game play is well done and addictive with some nice additions. It will take some a little while to get used to but, that's the fun of the game.
Campaign Mode 5/5
You start off in campaign mode limited as you will only be able to play as the humans. As you complete the campaign you will unlock another faction to play as. This continues until you unlock the Dark Elves and eventually complete the game. Of course, at anytime, you can just play a custom game and play with any faction, against any faction, or team up with the computer in team games. Each faction has between 7-9 missions in their own campaigns.
Each of the four factions start off getting the story going and easing you into how to play with them. So the first couple of missions are shorter and pretty easy. There is some nice variety here though as not every mission involves building a base, then and army, eventually destroying your opponent. Some missions may give you a base already constructed and you will have to add to it, some don't even give you a base at all, just some troops which you take with you to complete the mission. The game provides many different ways to play with your army and things to do outside of your typical RTS style.
Each mission has at least one required quest that you must complete. There maybe two or three of these that you unlock as you play through. Most missions will also have some optional quests that you don't have to finish to further the game but, are worth it. They will provide valuable experience and items. Some of these optional quests will also make the required ones easier to do. You will unlock these as you play through the missions as well. Again, there is a lot of variety to these and that should keep you very involved as your playing.
The only real complaint I have here is with the usage of heroes. You don't end up using all three of each factions heroes at least once throughout their campaigns. Again, you will have two heroes at once during a lot of missions but some heroes are left out. You see them in the story just not enough hands on. You can fix this of course by playing a custom game and producing a certain hero you wish to use.
Graphics 4/5
Overall the new 3D graphics are done well. I just purchased a basic store bought Intel Pentium computer with Windows Vista with no extras and a basic video card. I wasn't even sure if the game would work however, it runs great. I have graphic settings all the way up. It works very well on an old system that I have as well with the graphics turned up fairly high. This is a very computer friendly game.
However, the graphics will not blow you away by any means. The cinematic cut scenes are some of the best I have seen, there just isn't very many of them. And the characters look a little pixilated and cartoonish. You have the option to zoom in and out and change your view anytime during game play. This is a great except it is really hard to manage all of your troops while zoomed it. Even though I liked the full zoom look better I never get to play that way very much. The frame rate never slows down and runs smooth no matter how many troops are fighting on screen at once. This is very important as you will have a lot fights where the screen is full of action.
In all I was pleased with 3D graphics of the game. Most people had high expectations and were disappointed. If you look at the way the game has evolved over the years I think they are definitely going in the right direction.
Sound 4/5
The sound likeness will vary from player to player. I personally liked the voice overs and sound effects throughout the game. Certain heroes that look rough and tough sound like it too. As you play through the game you will have to click on each unit over and over again just to hear their different replies. Some are down right hilarious. The sound effects of the fighting are well done hearing the clink of armor and death cries of fallen units. However, this probably will get annoying after a while hearing your hero speak every time you move him to a different location. I thank Blizzard for the option of turning this off and on whenever you want.
The music is well made and you can tell time and effort was put into this. It will just depend on what type of music you like to listen. no matter what though, you will probably be hitting the mute button after some time and listening to something else you want. It still is worth listening through at least once.
Map Builder 5/5
There is a very nice map editor that comes with the game. If you ever wanted to create your own game with missions and events this is truly your chance. It is complex and will take you a while to get the hang of all it does. The manual does give some good help for the map editor. You can do pretty much everything that Blizzard did to make WarCraft III. If you have the patience and the drive this could be where you will spend all of your spare time. You can also place these maps on-line and let others play through them.
On Line 4.5/5
There are still plenty of games to be found on-line even after all this time (I'm one of them). Blizzard Has always been pretty good with on line play and here as well. Finding a game is a snap with filters and quick loading times. you can play 1-1 or a free for all up to six players if you wish. Or you can play team battles 2vs2 or 3vs3. Not the most options ever but, enough that you should be able to find a game that you are in the mood for at that time. With the ability to create your own maps and adventures there is never a shortage of games to be played. They don't fall short here as they still continuously look for cheaters and hackers. The game keeps a variety of win/loss records which is shared with community. Of course you will find an occasional stick in the mud as you play against different people but, for the most part, it is a friendly community. The only complaint is that people seem to just take it a little to serious for me. It is just a game after all.
Conclusion & Replay Value 5/5
The replay value of WarCraft III is excellent. The campaign mode is long enough that by the time you finish through all four factions you might just want to start over back with the Humans. You can also play through any mission that you have already completed anytime you want. You also can play custom games against the computer in some free for all or team matches the same as on-line. Don't think that the computer is a walk in the park. Put them on insane mode and they will give a run for your money.
This is one of the my favorite games of all-time. Since buying my new computer I have started the game all over again and still having a lot of fun. You may play against me on-line as well. Good luck. :)
I highly recommend this game to ages 13 and up.
Thank you for your time!
Related game reviews if you are interested in reading them
Quick Race Breakdown
Each race has it's quirks and perks.
The Humans
The humans have some good unique features. One of these abilities is they can build their buildings faster than any other race. You are able to place many peasants on one building speeding up it's build time faster and faster. They are also able to use a skill called "Call To Arms" which calls over all of your peasants to the castle to pick up weapons and armor making them better fighters. A nice little added defense to your bases. You can also improve the sturdiness of your buildings making them harder to take down. They are able to upgrade their harvesting getting more wood per bundle brought back by the peasants. Last but not least they can upgrade their guard towers to cannon towers which do not attack air units but do much more damage to ground units. This race focuses on quicker base setup.
Orcs
The Orcish Horde have less special features as they concentrate on force. One unique skill is they can upgrade their building with spikes. These spikes damage any melee unit attacking any building. The can also add extra defense with their burrows (their means of food) with peons. Five peons per burrow which fire arrows at incoming land and air units. This feature is like the humans "Call To Arms" except the the orcs go into the burrows for protection. They also have the "Pillage ability. Some of the orc units can gain this ability which enables them to gain resources when attacking enemy buildings. The Orcs may not have a lot of unique abilities but, they some of the toughest heroes.
The Undead
Their best feature, in my opinion, is they summon buildings instead of building them. This means once a building a summoned by the Acolyte (peasant or peon) he can return to the gold mind right away. They also have a slower base build time. They can haunt a gold mine so their is no travel time to get the gold but, they can only build a Necropolis to start with. You have to wait for this building to finish before you can summon another because of the Blight. Blight is like a poison that kills the land around it and each building will generate a radius of Blight once completed. The good thing about this is, your units will generate hit points faster when they are standing on this Blight. They can also harvest and use corpses which give some of your units some fun and unique abilities. Instead of having peasants and peons gathering gold and lumber they have Acolyte's for the gold and Ghoul's for wood. Ghoul's are their basic ground unit so you can call on them for base defense. They are better attackers and defenders and they get upgrades like the rest of your units unlike the peasants and peons. The last feature is their Ziggurat. This is their source of food but also their basic base defense. This helps base building because it's faster not having to build farms or burrows along with towers for defense. It's all in one.
Night Elves
The night elves have some fun unique abilities. One is that most of their buildings are alive and can uproot and travel. Most of them can also attack when uprooted. Also, some of their buildings can eat trees to heal instead of having to send another unit to repair them. Their gathering of resources are very different. This happens from a unit called the "Wisp". This unit will gather gold or circle a tree for lumber. They do not cut down the trees which can be used as a great defense for your bases. The other races cut down the trees which may lead to opening new paths to your base for attack. Their means of food is also a big boost to defense. The "Moon Wells" can heal troops nearby while they fight. you can build these anywhere you wish. Some of the elves can also learn to become invisible for some fun sneak attacks and recon.
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