"A fresh idea to an already great series"

Warcraft III did so much more than the already great Warcraft II it's hard to keep track of everything they have. The only thing they messed up on was the addictiveness of the prequel Warcraft II. Early trailers of the game showed two new parties to double the already existing Orcs and Humans. They are the Night Elves and the Undead Horde. But I'm still wondering why they changed it so much more than Warcraft 2, the old saying goes, “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” But it still turned out to be a great game none the less and who knows what they will change and add for Warcaft IV.

The game controls very nicely with better character voices and your units have the ability to tell when somethings happening. Heroes are heavily focused on in this game, so he/she/it has their own menu where it shows all items they have and what level they're at. There are also other new cool features, there is actually a better point to choosing who you are. Each race has their own advantages and disadvantages which really change the point of the game. During the game, it goes into a day and night cycle. The night can get really annoying because it is very hard to see and some enemies (specifically the elves) just pop out of nowhere and start attacking your party.

These graphics are amazing. Each character has their own picture in their status menu that moves and talks when they are talking. Every building has a more realistic look to it. When building are attacked, they gain realistic damage and fire. If a character is killed, depending on what they are is what ends up on the ground along with their remains. Liquids like blood and green ooze appear around to let you know how brutal that attack was. Movement is also nicely done. It actually looks like they're walking now and you can see them move their arms and legs to attack. If they die, they don't just appear on the ground, they might stumble or fall to a knee and then collapse on the ground. Character models all have a unique look. You can always tell who is what and if it's someone important or not. The trees and bushes are also very realistic, but maybe too realistic as you can lose your guys by having them get lost as they blend so much in with all the surroundings.... especially at night. A Day/Night cycle adds realism and changes to appearance of the characters darker, not to mention that characters lose a lot of their site during the dark do to the shadows.

Basically you get setup with players and they (the developers) set the teammates evenly. The only problem here, is that if your teammate drops out, you're basically screwed and put into a handi-cap battle. Unlike WC2 where you'd build your city and attack with armies, in WC3 you train your Hero and build and army around him to attack civilizations at once. There's also created games that players can make for some truly huge games, things like, “No Air, Only Air, Sea Battle, No heroes and Archers only” with huge limitations the possibilities are near endless.

The game is loads of fun, but since online made what Warcraft II what it is today, you'd expect better. Mainly you have to get a hero and you need to be real good to even have fun online. Single player is very good here as there is a great story to play through and as all RTS (Real-Time Strategy) there are so many things you can do to change the outcome and funness of the level. Sound is also great with the perfect sounding voices to the background music played throughout the game.

Warcraft III keeps you coming back for more. But it doesn't recapture you as most of the other great RTS titles. You'll still have a blast coming back and replaying online and in all the campaigns. You then can start to discover the whole meaning of the game and why everyone did what they did. Custom maps are back and there are a ton more that are already pre-made on the game for you. If you have a lot of time on your hands, spend it creating the biggest and most detailed map to play. This certainly is a superb game to have when you simply have a mind of creativity. You can then create a story for the map and get a friend to play through it while you talk about what's going on.

I love this story, it is the only thing better than the prequel. The story in this game creates huge twists as your progress. What begins as one things transfers into another and then you wonder why this all happened and what was he thinking. Upon beating the scenario you chose, you have the option of switching the race you were and continuing the story you left off, it's really enjoyable seeing what you've done as the humans and then to transfer to the orcs to see what they have been doing while you were the humans. Unlike in Warcraft II were the whole backround was given to you in writing and a bunch of characters were just suddenly plopped on the map with objectives, in Warcraft there is a whole point. Characters are introduced and strategies are formed, things that couldn't be done in the game are shown as beautiful FMV's (really nice movie sequences) and give a lot of feeling to the overall story.

This title has been out for a few years so the price is around $20-$30, but is still new enough to be in most gaming stores. Used copies aren't that safe because you need a CD key for the game. And most “Smart” people would take that CD key before they give it away. Pick this up if you liked the first ones or see it cheap around.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/02/04, Updated 08/04/05