The Warcraft Saga begins (Warcraft: Orcs and Humans (PC))

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	Warcraft: Orcs and Humans (PC)
Date:	13/08/09 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very original at the time, still easy to play and reasonably entertaining

Disadvantages: Long since superceded by its sequels, dated graphics

Warcraft- Orcs and Humans is a rather ancient fantasy-themed real time strategy game released by Blizzard Entertainment way back in 1994. Essentially an embryonic version of Warcraft 2/Warcraft 3/Starcraft, the game allows you to play as either the Humans or the Orcs, and requires you to collect lumber and gold using your peasants in order to allow you to construct production facilities such as barracks and temples to produce combat units, as well as building structures such as blacksmiths and stables that allow you to research new technologies resulting in new combat units and more andvanced armour, weapons and spells.

One of the first games to be released on CD, Warcraft starts with a long, rendered FMV cutscene outlining the story of the Orcish invasion. The game only takes up a tiny fraction of the CD, and the cutscene is the result of games developers not knowing how to fill up the huge amount of space on the new computer media. This was the norm back then, with lots of games having similarly massive intros, such as Magic Carpet and Dungeon Keeper to name but two.

The game itself is incredibly simple, with very basic VGA graphics and midi music to boot. Whilst visually different, both sides are largely identical, with counterpart units with the same strengths and weaknesses available to each side. For example, human footmen are equivalent to Orcish Grunts, human knights to Orcish wolf-riders, Human conjurers to Orcish Warlocks, Human archers to Orcish spear-throwers and so on. There are only a handful of unit types available to each side, with combat taking place in Human countryside or Orcish swamplands, though there are some levels set in caves, although these are less interesting as they do away with the resource management aspect altogether.

Its all very dated, and the gameplay feels overly simplistic and repetitive now, with little to draw in gamers beyond its nostalgia value. It remains playable however, and is still mildly diverting, but has been superceded again and again by its numerous sequels. Warcraft- Orcs and Humans remains an important gaming relic however, helping along with the original Command and Conquer to shape the real-time strategy-game landscape as we know it today.

Summary: Very dated now, but an important strategy game nontheless