Warcraft 3: The Reign of Chaos

I, being a long time fanatic of real-time strategy games, can't tell you how much I appreciate this game. It has a countless number of pros and very little cons involved. First, let me discuss its features.

Offline content includes single player campaigns, which are very interesting and long, single player custom games, and also single player real-time strategy games. The Campaigns are based on the storylines of four races, each with its own story behind it. The four races are orc, human, undead, and night elf. Single player custom games have nothing to do mostly with warcraft except for its graphics. Most of the objectives in custom games are not about building a base and conquering your opponents as in single player real-time strategy games.

Now, let me explain what real-time strategy games are. They're the games that make you think on your feet. Because while you're building some archers and researching some abilities, your enemy may be massing footman and rifleman while another player may be preparing to attack you. Often, you are in a position where you must make a difficult choice that will eventually decide the match. Offline, real-time strategy matches are always against computers or otherwise known as AI.

You may also play online with a feature known as BNet (short for Battle net). Hosted in four continents by various companies, Blizzard entertainment continually updates its servers. Servers are located in East USA, West USA, Asia, and Europe. Though, over 300,000 players in Korea log into servers worldwide.

On BNet, no campaigns are available, but there are computer paired up matches against other players. These games are played for records. A complete record is kept in a player's profile and there is also a web profile, which includes more details than the one on BNet. Blizzard Entertainment also organizes tournaments for players worldwide. These tournaments are not sponsored by Blizzard, but rather by other companies such as Alienware, Microsoft, Newegg, and other companies as well. These tournaments offer prizes varying from cash to items. consider that there are at least 300,000 players logged in to BNet at any given time, over 1 million players worldwide during busy hours. There is also some lag online. I use a T3 connection but I experience some delays online as I log into BNet becaue of the sheer amount of people playing. In addition to playing capabilities with other players, custom games are also available. Custom games are made by other players for fun. Also, there are many chatrooms on BNet. In addition to chatting with Warcraft players, players can also chat with friends on Diablo or even Starcraft because all three games use BNet as a server.

Aside from the gameplay, graphics are not so great. Minimum requirements feature a video card with only 8 MB of memory. The recommended video card is a bit more. But even with a 256 MB video card (I use) and graphics levels set to high in all categories, graphics are not as great as newer games. This game is considerably older than many of the newer games on the market with better graphics capabilities. Graphics in this game are not very detailed, characters look a bit square and large and some bugs blank out parts of the screen during extensive use.

Warcraft 3 is for you if you if you enjoy strategy, don't mind average graphics, and if you like campaigns as well. Also the storyline is very interesting. This game features a long history (I have just recently read a 655 page book about the history of Warcraft and several of its game manuals to get more history). As you play through the game, you'll be able to understand history more and better. Definitely a good addition o your game library if you can spare the cash. For only 10-15 USD (depending on where you get it) you'll be loaded with action and strategy for months because learning to play well on this game takes a lot of time. Not only are patience and skill needed, but a quick decisive mind helps too.