WARCRAFT 2 Blizzard Entertainment Reviewed by: Daniel Kao Game category: Commercial Game type: Real-time War/Strategic Simulation Price: Not avaliable _________________________________________________________________ Requirements: * 486/33 or better processor * 8 megs of RAM * Super VGA Monitor and card * Microsoft compatible mouse * CD-ROM drive * Sound/Music card optional but highly recommended by reviewer For Included Scenario Editor: * All of the above plus... * Microsoft Windows 3.1 or better * WinG (provided with Warcraft 2) * Win32S (provided with Warcraft 2) _________________________________________________________________ [IMAGE] I remember when I dropped by the local Egghead software store looking for some new software to buy not too long ago. I distincting remember browsing through the software when a box caught my eye. The 1995 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calander for IBM PC. Needless to say, I was impressed with the good looking blonde on the front cover, but another box caught my eye just to the right of it. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. I turned the box around and read the requirements. Not too shabby. IBM disk version too. So I picked it up and went home to play it. After 5 minutes of playing, I was addicted for life. The gameplay was smooth, the sounds were great, and the plot was simple. Destroy and flatter your enemy. Blizzard Entertainment had really out done themselves. I just recently ran into some friends who had also bought Warcraft when it came out. Now I've been blowing my friends away in head-to-head play. "Remember! A good review for Warcraft 2!" Although this review is on the Alpha Magazine version, I no doubt the final commercial release of this game will be any less then what the alpha version provided. For veteran Warcraft players, I was tickled to find what taunts the Orcs and Humans said when I "pointed and clicked" on them numerous times. The guys at Blizzard put off a nice touch for us reviewers. For example, excessive clicking on a Human character will make him taunt, "You're the best writer of the land!" and "Have we kissed your butt enough yet?" Excessive clicking on a Orc would yield, "You give good review or I will chop you into little bits." and "You give good review... PLEASE?" I almost laughed by head off. I'm sure the guys at Blizzard will change these taunts for the final commercial and shareware releases. This review will follow this outline: there are ratings of such game aspects as graphics and sound (out of 10, with 10 being the best), each with corresponding descriptions and comments. In addition, however, there is a separate section devoted to additional noteworthy comments that don't really fall into the other categories and don't have scores attached to them but that I still felt were important. An overall rating for the game is found at the end of the review, and an overview of it follows. _________________________________________________________________ [LINK] Human and Orcs, 572x393 Overview and Story Warcraft 2 takes place the time after the first Warcraft, where Humans and Orcs battle each other. For people who are not familiar with the original version, Warcraft is set in the medieval times, refered to by the game as The Age of Chaos . Humans dwelled in paradise in The Kingdom of Azeroth. The Knights of Stormwind and the Clerics of Northshire Abbey roamed far and wide, serving the King's people with honor and justice. The well trained armies of the King maintained a lasting peace for many generations. Then came the Orcish hordes... No one knew where these creatures came from, and none were prepared for the terror that they spawned. Their warriors wielded axe and spear with deadly proficiency, while others rode dark wolves as black as the moonless night. Unimagined were the destructive powers of their evil magiks, derived from the fires of the underworld. With an ingenious arsenal of weaponry and powerfull magic, these two forces collide in a contest of cunning, intellect and brute strength. With the victor claiming dominance over the whole of Azeroth. Warcarft 2 is a continuation of Warcraft. _________________________________________________________________ Enhancements and additions from the previous version of Warcraft * SVGA 640x480 resolution graphics with 3D-rendered buildings and units * Multiplayer play with up to 6 players competing * Greater numbers of units and buildings that now span land, sea and air * a FULL DIGITAL AUDIO soundtrack and sound effects * the Fog of War map masking * Four resources types: Gold, Lumber, Ore and Oil * More freeform building of towns * A variety of map sizes, the largest being four times bigger than Warcraft 1 * TON more units and buildings _________________________________________________________________ Graphics 10/10 The graphics are incredible. A huge improvement over the original version. The 640x480 SVGA with 3D rendering was stunning beautiful. It looks like they spent quite a bit into making the graphics look good. The characters and building units look great. The character's movement in the game are gorgeous. The animations of the Humans and Orcs chopping down trees, mining gold and ore was nicely done. There was real work involved in getting things to look this good, and it shows. I doubt any nicely equipt machine should have problems handling the 640x480 SVGA with no problems. [LINK] Orcs overpowering the Humans, 640x480 _________________________________________________________________ Sound 09/10 The sound was just as great. The sound effects were nicely done and the music added a nice touch. However, my test machine only has a Sound Blaster Pro, so the MIDI sounded like you know what. . But it supports the standard array of SB 16/AWE, Pro Audio Spectrum, Gravis Ultrasound, Wave Jammer and RAP 10. All the effects were just like the original Warcraft, except much better. Great job going into it Blizzard. _________________________________________________________________ Gameplay 9/10 Just like the original Warcraft, it couldn't be any easier. Just point-and-click. There's all there is to it. I usually have my right hand on the mouse, and my left hand for the commands. I also use the "Shift-F2" keys for map use. When the maps are 4 TIMES as big as the previous version, you'll be saving map positions A LOT. Controlling the new sea vessels are just as easy as a regular unit. [LINK] 3 Orc Destroyers near coast, Humans nearby 640x480 _________________________________________________________________ Documentation NA/10 Since this was an Alpha demo version for reviewers, no documentation was avaliable except the README.TXT file. [LINK] Human Town with 3 ships, 640x480 _________________________________________________________________ Miscellaneous Notes Performance The test machine was a P5-100 so I can say that there was of course, no problems with performance. But, I highly doubt this game will be the type of game like Mechwarrior 2 a.k.a. "The Game with the requirements from HELL". The first Warcraft ran just fine on my 486/33 which was plenty for it. I would bet that your old 486/33 would run it just as well as my P5-100 until excessive sprites came onto your screen. [LINK] One of the creatures you can summon, 640x480 Multi-Player This is what I've been waiting for that Warcraft didn't have before. No more just 2 player head-to-head. * 2 player modem * 2 player direct-connect * 6 player network play including versus mode and team play * 6 player play through online services Value I'm not sure what the price is going to be when it comes out, but if you are a Warcraft veteran who loves Warcraft, or a war/strategic simulation buff, don't pass by this game. Warcraft 2 is slated for Late October while the shareware/demo version should be out in September. The shareware version should give you a good look at what Warcraft 2 is like. [LINK] 3D rendered Human Spearsman, 640x480 Overall 10/10 This game deserves a full 10 points. It's a huge improvement over the original Warcraft and has the fittings of a game well worth buying. I'm assuming this game will fit all on one CD-ROM since my Warcaft came on floppies. I will definately do another review of this game when the full commercial release is in the stores. _________________________________________________________________ * The README.TXT file that came with the WC2 Demo This file contains almost everything you wanted to know about Warcraft ][. _________________________________________________________________ WE NEED YOUR COMMENTS! Please let me know if you like this review. Any comments, suggestions, flames are welcomed. E-mail me at kao@u.washington.edu I'm also looking for people who would like to review other games when they come out. Please e-mail me with your info. Thanks! Copyright © Daniel Kao for Kao's Gaming Page, 1995