"Roots of strategy revisited !"

Well this is one of the first really well done strategy games. We all know Blizzard makes some really great products, but how does the game that started it all Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Well after a few years this game isn't as great as I used to remember it, oh well on to the review.

Gameplay/Control 3/10
What may of seemed innovative in 1994 is quite passe by today's standards. Although controlling your units works most of the time but not all. Often your army will move very very slowly and stop half way there. That's of course if they don't get stuck on part of the level or part of your city. It is quite possible to play through, but it's hard to believe how patient I was back then at 14 or 15. The units do respond even though it seems quite unwilling to most of the time.

Graphics 5/10

Not to bad for 1994 , however not really cutting edge either. units look passable but their is a lot of blurring to the sprites as well as blurring and barely passable textures for the CG, but it's really not that bad for 10 years ago. The levels are kind of simple but they get the job done and make you interested enough to complete them. So overall not the greatest but not the worst either, if this doesn't bother then their may be an interesting game waiting for you, sort of like a Warcraft history lesson, it is the first chapter in the saga.

Plot/Story 6/10

Although their is nothing ground braking in the story it does narrate the levels well and it does give you gratification upon completing it, also kind of a surprise too, on how things tie together in the warcraft universe. If your a fan of the other installments you may want to check this out, however you won't forget about your newer strategy games. However like I said the story did hold my interest enough to beat it with the humans as well as the orcs, so it did it's job.

Sound/music 4/10
The only thing that saves this department are the decent voice work which is actually kind of funny. Their is no real music through out the game besides the intro screens and level briefing screens which is well done, and the battle sounds are just passable. However the no music and the pops and clicks of the speech and music almost totally destroy's the sound, quite tragic they didn't put more effort into this department of the game.

Aprox length
I'd say about 12-15 hours for both quests. There really isn't any replayablity since the multi player portion is too out of date and no one plays it, so you won't be playing it for a online experience. But if you are newer to strategy games like I am it will give you a pretty tuff challenge. I pretty much gave up on strategy games for a while after warcraft 2 came out. Another Plus you can probably pick this title up for 10 bucks or under.

Difficulty
medium-hard I'd say if your a veteran of this type of game you won't be stuck too many times. However it gave me a good challenge overall, you got the easy levels but later as you get further in the game some levels you may be playing them for a while.

Overallfun 6/10

This is the first game in the series and does still have some fun left to be had especially if your a fan of the series or genre, it's worth to pick up, if not then I really would say your not missing out on much. It is very interesting to see how far the series has progressed, But overall even today this game is better then a lot of strategy titles out their, it all depends on your individual tastes. I think it's worth going through both quests at least once. but as I mentioned before the thing that hurts this title the most is no real replay value since the online is non-existent, but what do you expect from a 10 year old game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/28/04