The start of an addiction! (WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos (PC))

Member Name: xonica

Product:	WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos (PC)
Date:	11/04/09 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be picked up and put down at will

Disadvantages: Beginning to show its age

Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos
Like me many people have been introduced to the game through the
popular release of World of Warcraft. Much of the WoW's plot lines
have been taken directly from this release.

The game is a follow on from Warcraft 2 a moderately successful RTS or
real time strategy, where players assume control of entire armies and
do battle against either computer controlled armies or human
controlled opponents online.
When playing the single player campaign the player is taken through
the typically fantastic storyline that has made Blizzard Entertainment
(the games designers) so renowned, and follows the story of Arthas the
son of a king as he falls from the heights of a protector of his
people to the kingdoms eventual downfall at the hands of the prince.

The four playable armies in Warcraft 3 are the Orcs and humans, taken
from the previous two titles and to them are added the armies of the
Undead and night elves. As the single player campaign progresses the
player fights using each of the armies to unfold the whole story. I
found this a fantastic method to keep the game fresh and free from
stagnation while uncovering all it had to offer.
As well as the introduction of new races to play, the game also
introduced Hero Characters, mighty units that are vastly superior to
the normal troops you can command, these heroes can gain experience
much like in other MMO's and become harder to kill and more powerful
from mission to mission. Indeed I felt had become attached to many of
them and it was this technique that I felt really brought the player
into the world and made each twist in the plot that more interesting
with the arrival of new heroes and the permanent deaths of old ones!

The multiplayer aspect of Warcraft 3 I found to be the real key to my
continued gaming, joining several friends for an online battle against
other humans or a free for all battle with multiple armies clashing
can lead for some great excitement. Although I have never created one
there is also for the more programming savvy people out there to
create their own maps to fight over, shaping the terrain for others to
download and play. As well as maps players are invited to create their
own games, known as scenarios, the most popular being Defence of the
Ancients or DoTA, a player made scenario where instead of armies the
player controls a single hero and does battle with friends against
opposing heroes in an effort to destroy their computer controlled
base, while of course defending their own base.

Touches like these have ensured that this game has stood the test of
time for seven years, this of course being helped with the release of
an expansion pack Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne in 2003, which added
more units and the ability to build sea units. I won't go into depth
on the expansion but suffice to say that buying the two together
creates a superior gaming experience than the Reign of Chaos alone
achieves and they can usually be found in a cheap bundle deal.
The boring stuff!
The game itself costs around £9.99 and the expansion for the same
price, the bundle deal seems to retail at around £18.99

Minimum System requirements
Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP:
* 400 MHz Pentium II or equivalent
* 128 MB of RAM
* 8 MB 3D video card (TNT, i810, Voodoo 3, Rage 128 equivalent or
better) with DirectX® 8.1 support
* 700 MB HD space
* 4X CD-ROM drive
Macintosh® OS 9.0 or higher/ Mac OS X 10.1.3. or higher:
* 400 MHz G3 processor
* 128 MB of RAM
* 16 MB ATI Technologies or nVidia chipset 3D video card
* 700 MB HD space
* 4X CD-ROM drive
Recommended:
* 600 MHz processor
* 256 MB of RAM
* 32 MB 3D video card
* DirectX® 8.1 compatible sound card
Multiplayer:
* Low-latency, active Internet connection rated at 28.8 Kbps or
faster. LAN play requires TCP/IP connection

Summary: A great addition to the warcraft universe for fans of the saga