WARCRAFT III.
It took Blizzard 4 years to produce WarCraft III. After defeating all the single player campaigns, I can honestly say that it was 4 years well spent. The game is full of humor and sharp wit, layered over a compelling story featuring some very cool characters.
The play is typical WarCraft, only buffed with a much improved graphics engine and a tweaked user interface. The graphic engine allows for improved mouse scrolling and the ability to “zoom” in on the action by closing in and lowering the camera angle. But I never really used that feature other than to get a better look at any new unit I was given.
The world looks to be much richer and deeper than previous WarCraft titles. More animals, wind, water, and day night effects work together to give the player a more fulfilling experience. The trees alone are worth the extra graphics requirements.
The races are typical WarCraft, but with some changes.
The Human are just like before, however the Elves are no longer allied as before. Dwarven Riflemen can be developed and these guys rock. Air or Ground targets, they don’t care… just pick them a target and let them go to work. Keep a platoon of these guys handy and out of the battle for flanking moves behind the enemy line to take out special units or enemy heroes.
A new race of elves is very interesting… the “Night Elves”. These cats are at one with nature like you wouldn’t believe. Buildings are actually living and animated trees with the ability to not only uproot and walk, but also attack and defend. One advantage the Night Elves have is that the fountains you build to allow more unit production can actually heal you and even restore “mana”. (Mana of course being your level of energy for spell casting) They can also go invisible or “Hide” at night. You can hide and the enemy will pass right by you. You can stay hidden all night long or until you move or attack. A very cool and useful ability. As cool as the night elves are, they have a disadvantage. While probably the most powerful race, it is limited due to slower development times.
The fastest development times have to go to the Undead, another “Race”. These guys are in a word, “Icky”. Suicidal cultists, Necromancers, and cannibalistic ghouls… The reason that these guys are so fast, is that they can (like the Protoss in StarCraft) summon a building, then move on to summon another one while the first one or more buildings are still coming. This allows you to throw up a nice base, with good defenses very quickly if you have the resources for it. Undead forces can (like the Zurg from StarCraft) swarm out and dominate the map quickly. When your up against them, make sure you develop your defenses as quickly as possible. They can use your own fallen against you. For every one that falls, they can raise 2. Area effect weapons and indirect fire are critical for a layered defense. Any lone character will quickly be surrounded… including heros. So be careful.
My favorite race has to be my Horde… the Orcs. The Raiders are the green guys that ride giant wolves and pack huge curved swords… They can throw nets and drag any enemy air unit out of the sky. A talent highly needed on many maps. Orcs are also at the most disadvantages in development as they are slow to build, almost as slow as the night elves and the base warrior unit, a Grunt, is expensive. The upside is that they can be buffed up nicely with upgrade developments. The Orc heroes have some nice talents that are unlike other races, one hero in particular can be very devastating all by himself. The Orc buildings themselves can be buffed up with spikes that can do up to 6 points of damage every time an enemy melee unit hits it. A nice touch as a small squad of undead can kill themselves against your buildings before they take them down.
Some tricks to master… layered attacks and defenses are required. Just large single type swarms can be easily defeated due to area effect spells.
Get a handle on using multiple spell-casters and the use of the keyboard shortcuts. This is critical. Also, on damned near every map and with every race – seek out other gold mines right off the bat. Mines can run out and collapse before you are ready for your main assault. You can also run out of gold during development of your defenses. Backup bases can be used for further development and resource harvesting… this is important. Start these outposts as fast as you can. Catapults, mortar teams and the like can make or break a battle. Have some with you. Don’t neglect air units. Some enemy can’t target air units, so this gives you an advantage. Summoning and hiring mercenaries can also turn the tide of battle in your favor. So use them too. One last thing. Your hero’s items. Every chance you get, explore the map and take down those noncombatant units to snake the special items they drop.
One last tip… the final mission. Give up the Human base. Give them some light defensive aide only for awhile to help delay the Demons. Make your stand at the Orc encampment. Thrall is a great warrior and your combined defenses can hold off the enemy. Buff your defenses just inside the Orc defenses. Use your Hero’s powers here as much as you can, but reserve your mana for the firefights… Built some moon wells here to restore your units. This is also a good place to build your fighting trees, the ones that throw rocks. Move all of them down and place them next to the Orc guard towers. There are two other mines – tap them instantly as soon as the fight begins.
WarCraft III has got to be one of the best games ever made.
Have fun!