BlueSmoke - Review : Warcraft III : Reign of Chaos

		Date	: Jul 8th, 2002
		Genre	: Strategy
		Developer	: Blizzard Entertainment
		Author	: Jin-Ning Tioh

Back in 1996, Blizzard created what is still considered by many a dedicated veteran to be a cultural phenomenon in the real-time strategy genre - None other than Warcraft II : The Tides of Darkness. It took the gaming world by storm, changing the way we looked and played strategy games for many years to come. Finally, after 6 years of impatient waiting, it has finally happened - The next episode in the venerable series has finally arrived. Scrambling to slide in the CD and load up the game, I soon found myself hooked to the screen decapitating orcs and raising undead armies to dominate the opposition. After taking a LONG while to work up the strength to click on the exit button, BlueSmoke today proudly brings you the entrails on Blizzard's newest hit on the real-time strategy world.

The orcs and the humans ain't the only ones having all the fun this time round. As it turns out, the orcs were duped into spreading chaos and generally causing a ruckus all these long years by the demonic hordes known as the Burning Legion. And to make matters worst, they had to bring in their undead friends - The Scourge, along with them. As the Human Alliance struggles to fight off both the Scourge and the Legion, the orcs, led by the young warchief Thrall, struggle to rediscover their once proud heritage and traditions in the lands of Kalimdor. As the orcs prepare their defenses for the onslaught ahead, an unusual force appears in the forests - The night elves, led by the demigod Cenarius. Soon, as armies clash and blood is shed, the world will find itself caught up in a Reign of Chaos.

Four campaigns as well as a prologue campaign tie up to form a single epic storyline, told at different stages from four very different perspectives, including the humans, the undead, the orcs and the night elves, in that order. The prologue is a short two-mission campaign which has players guiding the orc warchief Thrall and his horde of green-skinned brutes. Here, players are taught the basic mechanics for the game. While players have the option of proceeding straight to the first campaign, it's still worthwhile to play through the prologue as it explains how and why Thrall and his hordes sailed for Kalimdor. Although players have to play and unlock the four campaigns in sequence, it seems a small price to pay considering the genuinely intriguing and twisting plot players get to unravel.

Every campaign is comprised of roughly seven to nine missions with interludes in between. Each mission has distinctly different objectives, ranging from the usual destruction of enemy bases to the retrieval of a specific artifact. These objectives are divided into main quests and optional quests. The completion of main quests is necessary for finishing a mission while completing optional quests typically yields bonuses of some sort. To this end, the number of optional quests for each scenario is clearly shown in the objectives screen. Players also get to adjust the difficulty level for every mission to suit their own abilities, making the game more accessible to new strategy gamers.

While the core gameplay of Warcraft III has a lot in common with previous RTS titles such as StarCraft, several new changes has been made, introducing a slightly-RPG like style of play. Perhaps the most obvious change are the heroes. No longer are they simply special units with spiked statistics. Instead, they can now level up and even carry a limited number of artifacts. Needless to say, with enough time, they can quickly become the equivalent of one-man armies. There are three classes of heroes for each race, such as the Archmage, Death Knight and Demon Hunter. Each one has four unique abilities, which can be leveled up for greater effect. Abilities such as Chain Lightning can prove deadly to enemy troops while abilities such as Divine Aura provides increased protection for your own troops. But don't worry. Dead heroes can be raised to fight another day for a price - Equipped artifacts and skills included. Several other changes include a day and night cycle, with the howling of a lone wolf to signify the change from day to night. Units can see further during the day compared to night, and certain neutral units will go to sleep, allowing your troops to sneak up and attack. Merchants and mercenary camps also allow you to either buy artifacts or recruit certain neutral units for your own armies. Another crucial change is the newly introduced upkeep. Upkeep is decided by the amount of food your troops consume, and can be basically described as a tax on your growing army's gold supply. The larger an army, the less gold you receive from your mining activities. This financial snag helps keep stronger forces from renewing their attacks too quickly, smoothing out the pace of the game. Upkeep exists in three stages :

Upkeep Level			Food Consumed		Gold Income
No	Upkeep	-	0 - 40	-	100 %
Low	Upkeep	-	41 - 70	-	70 %
High	Upkeep	-	71 - 90	-	40 %

This time round, the scale of battles have also been reduced significantly. Instead, skirmishes are focused on clashes between small, powerful and mixed groups of units, each with special abilities of their own. Needless to say, all four races has its own advantages and disadvantages, be it buildings, upgrades or even resource gathering. While humans and orcs mine gold from a mine in the usual way, both the undead and the night elves must first "claim" a mine by either building a haunted mine or entangling it. Once done, five workers can be positioned around the mine to instantly mine gold without having to return to the main structure. On the other hand, all four races collect lumber from trees in the usual fashion, the only difference being the undead uses its basic melee unit to chop wood while the night elves has its wisps circle a tree to collect wood without chopping it down.

As expected, Warcraft III will be playable online via Blizzard's Battle.net service, which includes automatic player-matching based on a player's skill and experience. It also comes with a skirmish mode which allows up to twelve players or computer-controlled opponents to slug it out in an all-encompassing free-for-all or compete in team-based matches. And while strategic geniuses the AI-controlled opponents ain't, they are certainly competent enough to provide most players with a challenge. The game ships with more than 40 different maps, with a nice mix of smaller as well larger skirmish maps. Custom options can also be adjusted to determine if the entire map is visible throughout the game and if teams are locked, among others. Several interesting scenarios are also included in the package, such as the RPG-styled map entitled "WarChasers", or the downright ridicules "The Death Sheep" - A game which has a paladin dodging left and right to avoid hordes of mad stampeding sheep and pigs, arcade-style. If anything, this demonstrates the flexibility of Warcraft III's engine.

Included in the package is the versatile Warcraft III World Editor utility, which proves to be a powerful yet intuitive tool. Enterprising level designers create new maps from the ground up in a fully 3D view, with the ability to easily place creatures, add small scenic details, set triggers, adjust map topography and more. All heroes and units are also readily available here. A sound editor is also included, allowing players to listen to the superb voice work boasted by each and every unit.

Like so many other games, Warcraft III has made the leap into the vivid world of 3D. Blizzard has put this new resource to good use, with even the game's vibrantly colored menu screens being fully animated in 3D. The game's in-game cutscenes, which usually occur before, during and after each mission, also makes full use of this new resource, using the actual 3D characters players see and employ during gameplay to further the story. The colorful artwork and intriguing storyline makes the in-game cutscenes a real treat. Players will also be treated to some undeniably breathtaking prerendered cinematics, which show key developments in the storyline. During the game itself, players may also notice the many subtle details which grace the screen, with shadows changing with the passing of the day / night cycle, blood staining the earth in the wake of combat and so on.

The quality of the voice-acting for each and every unit as well as those found in the prerendered cinematics are nothing short of superb. Grunts still sound like the adorably clueless warriors we all remember and love, while heroes sound classy and dignified. Four examples are the Human Priest, Orc Grunt, Undead Acolyte as well as the Night Elf's Hippogryph Rider. Great sound effects are also boasted, with the howling of a lone wolf to signify the change from day to night, swords clashing, catapults firing great boulders, and dozens of other effects to bring this mystical world to life. The music in the background also serves to complement the atmosphere nicely, forging a sense of doom in players without overwhelming the sound effects.

With four unique races, some truly beautiful graphics, and a highly entertaining plot to unfold, it would seem that all those years spent on the creation of Warcraft III was well worth it. It is a worthwhile experience and if anything, should live up to the incredibly high expectations of gamers around the globe. And with the bundled world editor, it would be probably be a safe bet to expect dozens of maps to appear all over the internet for download real soon. So, in the end, it all boils down to two simple words - Buy it or miss out on a great gaming experience. Wait a minute, that's like seven or nine words actually...