Rating: Summary: Warcraft III: Yet another standard Blizzard sequel Review: Warcraft III does well in the long tradition of Blizzard sequels: Outdated graphics upon release, terrible voice acting, thin plot, but gorgeous cut scenes. It has a number of similarities to Warcraft II, which makes it easy to pick up, but also detracts from the overall appeal. The peons still have the same ridiculous Cockney accent, the Grunts are Warriors are still your standard Orc and Human shock troops, etc. etc. While the two new races are welcome additions to the Warcraft world, and day and night adding a little diversity to game play, there really isn't much to hold my attention. Yeah, it's neat that my heros can retain skills, spells and items from adventure to adventure, gaining experience as they go along, but Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Dungeon Seige, etc. etc., they all do it better. Warcraft III is part adventure, part role-playing, part mindless "make lots of guys and attack", and unfortunately, the game's whole isn't greater than it's parts. If you loved the mindless hack-and-slash of Diablo II, this is right up your alley. If you're wanting anything stimulating or challenging, I'd suggest going somewhere else.
Rating: Summary: One of the Best RTS Games Ever Review: I've only played through the human campaign, and I'm already hooked on this game. I have played as the other races in custom games, but I'm not going to tackle Battle.Net (Although I'm sure that is excellent) until I've gone through the game. Anyway, the game is one of the best RTS (Real-Time-Strategy for the uninitiated) games I've ever played. The story is engrossing, and I can't wait to play more to find out what happens to the world in Warcraft. All the races, although very different, are pretty much perfectly balanced. The aspects that are different from the older Warcraft games are great, such as the addition of two races, the 3D view (You can zoom in to be right in the action), and the addition of the Hero unit is great. I love the Hero, because it combines an RPG element with an RTS, and I love both. The union is superb. The cutscenes in this game are also excellent. I wish I had bought the Collecter's Edition so I could get the cutscene DVD. I would buy this game, it is well worth the money. I hope Blizzard continues to produce games of this quality, and I can't wait for World of Warcraft to come out. This game, in my opinion, is far better than Starcraft or the other Warcraft games. Buy it!
Rating: Summary: Warcraft 3. Current RTS champ. Review: Lots of us have heard about this game and have seen a trailer 3 (?) years ago. when i heard about this game, i thought.... oh.. okay sure. but i was wrong. right before the game was released, i preordered the collector's edition just for the special package and to have some fun with it. but man, this game is not "some" fun. it a blast! Graphics: this game is an RTS (real-time strategy) game. most of these games are not to have good graphics unlike first person shooters. but for an RTS game (relate to Age of Empires series) its the best that i have seen. 5/5 Gameplay: a limit of a poplation of 90 is not that large. and some units take up "2" or "3" of the population. also, as usual, blizzard puts in a limit of only 12 characters that can be moved at a time. there are also units called heroes which are like the leader of your army. the heroes aspect of the game mixes Warcraft3 with the RPG genre. the heroes can be leveled up and can learn 4 spells and spell points can be put in the spells. there is also items that can enhance the hero and units around it. all 4 different "civilizations" have strength and weaknesses, thus creating a strong balance in the game. 5/5 Sound: music is good, but like most RTS games, you click on a unit, itll say somthing. tell it to move, itll say something different. if you keep telling it to move somewhere itll say a repeated line of speech. 4/5 Fun: this game really is great. experiencing how you can play each "civilization" differently puts a lot of fun into it. there are also an unlimited amount of strategies to use on b.net with allies and enemies. 5/5 story: i just had to put this in because in the single player mode, the story to the campaign is just awesome. the story has so many different twists to it and they are all unpredictable. 5/5 overall, this game is a great game that will last you all the way until Age of Mythology (successor to age of kings) comes out in fall 2002. when mythology comes out, there will be a fierce battle on which RTS is the best!
Rating: Summary: From a girls point of view . . . Review: I know girls aren't supposed to be into this stuff but I have to say that so far this is the coolest game I've ever played. I bought the new Xtasy 6964 graphics card at the same time I bought this game and I don't know if the graphics card makes the game or the game makes the graphics card. The graphics are fabulous. The interface looks great and is very intuitive. A must for any Warcraft fan. Another brilliant triumph for Blizzard!
Rating: Summary: Perfection ! Review: ...without a doubt this game is close to perfect that you can get in terms of balance, graphics, playability, learning curve. Only one fault, it is expensive...Also, the voices and music are awesome. In fact I was unable to find fault with ANY part of this game. Story was good and immersive. etc etc. Buy it and you will not regret it.
Rating: Summary: A game beyond any other Review: After playing the warcraft 2 in the late 90s, I got hooked on Blizzard games. I have everygame made by Blizzard. Games such as the first Warcraft, Diablo II, and Starcraft. After playing all of them I was convinced Warcraft 3 would be another success, so I preordered Warcraft 3 in 2000. Now after getting the game on launch, I was surprised by all it offered. Things such as heroes and personal items to four races and 3-d video. Each mission takes from ten minutes to around one hour at least. (Without Codes) I believe this game is a must have for any gamer out there. However, if you don't have a video card with at least geforce 2, i suggest you don't get this game at all. I began playing this game with a Voodoo 3 and the game lagged horribly. Afterwards, i got a geforce3 and everything was better. Also make sure you have plenty of RAM and memory in your computer when playing.
Rating: Summary: What happened to Blizzard? Review: The guys that created Warcraft I & II and Starcraft were not in charge of this project. This is a hack created from Starcraft with a few new RPS features. The graphics are only slightly better than Starcraft(maybe). I had expected more from Blizzard. So why is this game getting such high marks? Are people really being fooled to believe this is Blizzard's best game ever, after years of development??? I had hoped for more... Poor features: 1. Zoom in 3D feature is useless for playing the game. 2. The terrain graphics lack sufficient detail (it looks like a cartoon...starcraft was better) 3. Unit detail is lacking. 4. The time element is an excellent idea but not particularly useful for the game. 5. Mining/harvesting resources is poor and limiting number of units is old school...let's allow people to build the armies they really want to create. 6. Using "magic" in battle is difficult. 7. Unit graphics are pathetic. You can't tell one unit from another in battle. 8. Town defenses are pitiful. No walls, gates or other interesting structures. The story line and movies are quite good...but the graphics within the game are terrible... Thanks to Amazon, I have a place to sell my game and recoop some of my cost.
Rating: Summary: Worst of Both Worlds Review: Blizzard's latest game, WarCraft III, has the momentum to make it one of this year's best selling games; however momentum does not equate to great gameplay. The idea to take Diablo II and WarCraft, two extremely playable games, and meld them together to form a hybrid seems like an excellent concept. The problem is that you get the worst of both worlds. The tedious resource gathering aspect of WarCraft and the micromanagement associated with D2 when you hire a henchman. The graphics requirements are too high for what you get. Compared to the graphics usage done by games like Neverwinter Nights, WC3 looks like it was written for Nintendo 64. Blizzard should have stuck with 2D graphics like in StarCraft instead of attempting to utilize 3D. Make sure your video card can support the game before making the purchase. Although listed as supported, my Compaq n600c ATI Radeon Mobility video card would not run the game. Note that this card runs NWN, Half-life, and Wolfenstein just fine, all of which make much more use of 3D than this game ever will. Voodoo 3 cards can run the game, but I found many screen artifacts. Gameplay is repetitive with little strategy. In the single player mission, there is more cinematic than gameplay. OK if you want to watch a movie. Not OK if you want to play a game. Save your money, or spend your cash on a better game like Neverwinter Nights, because this one is a dud.
Rating: Summary: Blizzard production values Review: Warcraft3 is a good game for sure, but most of the time it just feels like 'DiabloCraft', or more specifically Diablo + Starcraft + heroes + 3d engine. I agree with most of the observations by Jiayan Xiang (see below): 1) The graphics are very nice, but have little bearing on unit behavior. 2) The units in starcraft are much more varied and interesting imo. 3) The campaign structure seems fragmented since many characters disappear without any resolution or many key players we only hear about through dialogue. Expansion pack considerations or not, it could've been handled better. 4) Many aspects of the story/background were lifted from starcraft. Makes sense, since it was penned by the same guy who wrote the starcraft space-opera. Sometimes it was like deja-vu. Artistic taste aside, some of the dialogue is just awful, melodramatic. Shakespeare, this is not.
Rating: Summary: Not really new, not really 3d Review: While this game was fun to play, its nothing new. It's just another rts with different names and faces. I like this game a lot better than warcraft 2, which i thought [stunk]. Air force and land can go together, cause air and land reach each other can fight. Water and land should never go together, because the land guys cna't reach the water, and its basically two different games. Fortunately, blizzard stuck with land and air units only, and the game is much better for it. New features I liked: upkeep: taxes you when your army gets to big. An excellent response to the 40 battlecrusier fleets in starcraft, and a welcome sight for anyone who hated the zerg swarm. autocast: Some spells can be set to automatically attack anyone nearby. this is useful so that you don't have to click on a unit, click the spell, click the target, etc. etc. etc. Heroes: Kinda like the general of your army, guys who stick with you and level up as time goes on. Very useful in single player, as they acn kick butt and save you in desparate times. Also makes story more like story, so things in level before actually carry over. Not as good in multiplayer, because they take to long to upgrade. New races: nice to have more variety than just orcs and humans. Races are similar, but different enough to be interesting. Undead are cool addition. New features I didn't like: Slow combat: More like warcraft 2 than starcraft in this regard. Units seem to take forever to target, swing and move. Not as fun as a horde of zerglings racing toward bunker, only to be shredded. 3d: While the 3d adds to the cutscenes, it has zero value in the game because you cannot rotate camera. Basically there are two views, traditional top down and a zoomed in 3d view. New view is cool, but it doesn't help because you cannot see around, only what's "above" and "below" on map. Might as well be 2-D top down. Overall, this game basically sticks with what works. Blizzard tried to throw in rpg element, but there optional quests in starcraft and hero units as well (raynor, duke, kerrigan, etc.) the only difference here is you get to have a hero in each level, and keep more or less the same ones throughout each campaign. The story was intersting and the game is nice because its new and fresh, but I still liked starcraft better.
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