Warcraft 3 Review

 Job's Done

A game with a legacy so vast it left me unsure how to put together this review. Warcraft 3 is an RTS by Blizzard in it's heyday. With a Hero system and full 3D graphics after the companies previous landmark titles, the game has a lot to get into when it comes to what makes it tick, as well as discussion points on why it got as big as it did. However, I'm going to limit myself to a more approachable question. Should you play this game in [current year]?

I'm no RTS expert, my experience with the genre is limited to a handful of random entries over the years alongside the Blizzard staple entries. Including a few years of starcraft custom game love. However, Blizzard's games are popular for a reason. And a part of that is approachability. Warcraft 3's single player campaign takes its time introducing units and features, spending entire missions on ideas and strategies to pace itself out and let you get a feel for things before it starts ramping up the challenge. Add in a hefty dose of setpiece, objective based level structure akin to something like Rollercoaster Tycoon, and powerful player exclusive units to help even the field against occasionally cheating AI, and the game becomes a fantastic first option for an RTS player. (But I'd still suggest Starcraft)

The hero system is.... ambitous, I think. It's development history is beyond me but suffice to say having a singular uber powerful unit at the core of your army leads to a very focused play experience. Letting the one important unit lead waves of mooks into battle and single handedly deal half the damage is certainly a unique experience, and helps the game stand out. But I don't know, I never enjoyed it as much as standard RTS gameplay. The item system and level ups felt distracting when I would rather have been micromanaging a horde. That said, the hero units are utterly fantastic for custom games and make the 'dungeon crawl' missions that lack base building a lot more engaging to roll through.

All that said, Warcraft 3 still hits hard because you can tell these are some skilled designers making something they put their heart into. Faction design and lore remains top notch if derivative and there's a lot of small touches that still make me grin mission by mission. From the obvious like the unit barks whenever you give orders, to the more subtle stuff like units in cutscenes almost always sticking to their actual game abilities.

I think Warcraft 3 is a worthwhile playthrough if you're interested in the setting, a landmark entry in gaming, (even beyond RTSs due to custom games and DotA paving the way for MOBAs as a whole) or want to try out an approachable RTS. However if you've never touched an RTS before, I think the hero units make this, not  a bad starting point per-se, but they're different enough that Starcraft is the easier recommend. Or maybe even Warcraft 2 if you just really really like fantasy.

For RTS veterans? I couldn't tell you and you probably have already played it, it's if I wanted to tell a classic rock fan if they should ever listened to Queen. Seems a bit pointless.

So that's why WotLK was uber hyped

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