Like the previous games in the series Warcraft III demands that the player take control of one of the four races of Azeroth and lead them to victory. Victory usually (but not always) revolves around the building and maintenance of a base, the building of an army, and the eventual destruction of the enemy.
Building up, slaughter the enemy. All in a days work.
Building structures and units require lumber, food, and gold. Gold and lumber are natural resources found on the map in the form of gold mines and trees. Food on the other hand is generated by small buildings (farms burrows etc.). Managing these resources is vital, and if you have too little of any, then unit production becomes difficult. You will also run into occasions when the resources at hand are limited, and in order to complete your goals you must find other ways of supporting your forces. This of course is all part of the challenge, and sometimes the best way to proceed is to take as much real estate as you can grab, butchering the nearby villagers if need be.
However other missions are more inventive, and see you running the gauntlet in order to sink a fleet of ships, killing as many innocents as possible before the enemy do, and sneaking around dark villages at night, recruiting traitors to your cause. Although occasionally more frustrating than other missions these tasks provide a refreshing breather from the ‘build up your base, bash theirs’ formulae.
The difficulty curve of Warcraft III is excellent. You always feel challenged, yet never so completely overwhelmed that victory seems impossible. However I should warn the hardcore RTS gamers that this is the voice of a novice (when it comes to strategy games at least) and although I find the game challenging, I have no doubt that seasoned veterans will have no problems storming through the campaign levels. One of my other gripes is the rather limited number of units that can be built at one time. Indeed armies numbering more than thirty units are vast by Warcraft III’s standards and occasionally this limitation becomes frustrating. Victory can occasionally be snatched away from you, due to a lack of food and therefore additional units, which might have come in handy.
For Azeroth, Harry and St.George!
What makes the single player experience of Warcraft III so compelling however, is the inclusion of the Legendary Hero units. Unlike other units, these beings can grow in both strength and wisdom as the game progresses, earning new abilities and skills. Heroes are not simply a ‘bolt on’ unit that has a bit more attack strength; they are powerful individuals with skills that complement and augment your army’s abilities.
Hero units should be at the forefront of any major assault, lending both their strength and their magical abilities to your cause. Should your hero manage to get himself or herself’ killed (it’s all that heroic shouting and giving speeches about the ‘dogs of war’ and that, it just gets up the enemy’s nose) they can be revived at an altar for the cost of a large portion of gold. Each hero gains experience through battle with other races but they may also gain magic items and weapons from ‘creeps.’ Creeps are essentially roving bands of monsters that infest most maps, they usually hang around in groups, guarding magic items or gold mines and although not initially hostile, they will attack units that stray too far into their territory.
All of this is supported by an engaging and original plot, told through events occurring within missions and in some of the most lavish cut scenes ever to grace a monitor. It is perhaps this more than anything else that brings Warcraft III up with the big boys. You feel constantly driven to discover the next twist, to discover what fate awaits your hero next, who will be slain and who will be triumphant. It’s damn good.
