Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
North American box art
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Blizzard Entertainment Sierra Entertainment Capcom
Designer(s)	Rob Pardo
Version	1.22a (2008-06-30)
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS and Mac OS X
Release date(s)	July 3 2002 July 5 2002 2003
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) OFLC: G8+
Media	CD (1)
System requirements	Recommended: 600 MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, 32 MB 3D video card, DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card (Windows)
Input methods	Keyboard and Mouse

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (War3 or WC3 or RoC) is a real-time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment on July 5th 2002(US). It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, and it is the third game set in the Warcraft Universe. An expansion pack, The Frozen Throne, was released on July 1st 2003(US).

Warcraft III contains four playable races:^[1] Humans and Orcs, which had previously appeared in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, and the Night Elves and Undead, which are new to the Warcraft mythos.^[2] Warcraft III's single-player campaign is laid out similarly to that of StarCraft, being told through all four of the game's races in a progressive manner. Multiplayer mode allows for play against other people, via the internet, instead of playing against computer-controlled characters as is done in the single-player custom game mode.

The game proved to be one of the most anticipated and popular computer game releases ever, with 4.5 million units shipped to retail stores and over one million units sold within a month.^[3] Warcraft III won many awards including "Game of the Year" from more than six different publications.^[4]

Gameplay

A game of Warcraft III takes place on a map of varying size, such as large plains and fields, with terrain features like rivers, mountains, seas, or cliffs. In Campaign mode, the map is initially covered with the Black Mask, a dark layer which obscures the landscape beneath until it is explored. The Black Mask, once gone, is permanently removed.^[5] Areas that have been explored but no longer are within sight range of an allied unit or building are covered with the fog of war. Though terrain remains visible, changes such as enemy troop movements and building construction are unseen.^[5] During a game, players must establish settlements to gain resources, defend against other players, and train units to explore the map and attack enemies. There are three main resources that are managed in Warcraft III: gold, lumber, and food.^[6] The first two are required to construct units and buildings, while food restricts the maximum number of units the player may control at one time.^[7]

The game also introduces creeps, computer controlled units that are hostile to all players.^[8] Creeps guard key areas such as gold mines or neutral buildings and, when killed, provide experience points, gold, and special items to a player's hero.^[8] This encourages players to be aggressive instead of turtling. Warcraft III also introduced a day/night cycle to the series.^[9] Besides having advantages or disadvantages for certain races, at night most creeps fall asleep, making nighttime scouting safer; however, the line of sight for most units is also reduced. Other minor changes to the gameplay were due to the 3D terrain. For instance, units on a cliff have an attack bonus when attacking units at lower elevations.^[2]

In previous Warcraft games, there were only two playable races, Orcs and Humans, which had more similarities than differences. Barring cosmetic changes, most Orc units were identical to their Human counterparts. In Warcraft III, the Night Elves and Undead are added as playable races.^[1] Additionally, as in StarCraft, each race has a unique set of units, structures, technologies, and base-building methodology.

In addition, Warcraft III adds powerful new units called heroes. For each enemy unit killed, a hero will gain experience points, which allow the hero to level-up to a maximum level of 10. Progressing up a level increases the heroes attributes and also allows the hero to gain new spell options (bringing RPG elements to the series).^[10] Certain hero abilities can apply beneficial auras to allied units. All heroes can equip items to increase skills, defence, and other abilities. At level six, the hero can obtain an "ultimate" skill that is more powerful than the three other spells that the hero possesses. Heroes can also utilize the various natural resources found throughout the map, such as controllable non-player characters, and markets in which the hero can purchase usable items.^[11]

Campaign

Warcraft III's campaign mode is broken up into four campaigns, each featuring a different race which the player controls. Each campaign is itself divided into chapters, which are like missions. Unlike previous Blizzard titles, such as Warcraft II or StarCraft, players are not directed to mission briefings in which plot exposition occurs and objectives are announced; rather, Warcraft III uses a system of "seamless quests."^[12] Some plot development happens in occasional cinematics, but most occurs in-game with cutscenes. Objectives, known as quests, are revealed to the player during the progress of the map. Main quests are those that the player must complete to proceed to the next chapter, but there are also optional quests which are not initially revealed, but can be discovered and completed alongside the main objectives.

Through each race's campaign, the player retains control of one or more heroes, which slowly grow in experience as the levels progress. This experience is carried over to subsequent missions, allowing the hero to grow throughout the course of the campaign.

While different in terms of storyline and precise gameplay, all of the different races' campaigns are structured similarly. Each begins with a level involving simple mechanics to introduce the player to the race and the basic elements of their hero and units. After one or two such levels the player's first "building mission" occurs, requiring them to build and maintain a base while competing with one or more enemy forces. The only campaign that breaks this pattern is the Night Elf campaign, whose first mission involves building a limited base. The last level of each race's campaign is an "epic battle".

Multiplayer

While campaign games can have many different objectives, the sole objective in melee games is to destroy all the opposition's buildings. In default melee matches, players can pick their own heroes, and losing one will not end the game. To make the game proceed more quickly, by default the map is covered in fog of war instead of the Black Mask.^[2] Warcraft III, like Blizzard's previous title StarCraft, allows for single and multiplayer replays to be recorded and viewed, allowing a game to be played at slower and faster speeds and viewed from the perspective of all players.^[13] Like all previous Blizzard titles since Diablo, Warcraft III uses the Battle.net multiplayer network. Players can create free accounts in regional "gateways," which helps reduce lag; these are Azeroth (U.S. East), Lordaeron (U.S. West), Northrend (Europe), and Kalimdor (Asia).^[14] One should note that at this point in time the U.S. East Gateway / Azeroth has become the de facto standard for online play. Most competitive play is held on this gateway as well as most public play in general. As the game has aged the players have condensed for this reason. Unlike previous Battle.net-enabled games, Warcraft III introduced anonymous matchmaking, automatically pairing players for games based on their skill level and game type preferences, preventing players from cheating and inflating their records artificially.^[15] If players want to play with a friend in ranked matches, Warcraft III offers "Arranged Team Games", where a team joins a lobby and Battle.net will search for another team; as with anonymous matchmaking, the enemy team is not known beforehand.^[15] Players can also host custom games, using maps created in the Warcraft III World Editor. The game also offers Friends Lists and Channels for chatting, where players can create custom channels or join Blizzard-approved ones.^[16] Warcraft III also allows players to band together to form "clans", which can participate in tournaments or offer a recreational aspect to Warcraft III. Global scores and standings in matchmaking games are kept on a "ladder".^[17] These rankings can be checked online without the need of the game.

Synopsis

Setting

Warcraft III takes place in the fictional world of Azeroth. Several years before the events of the games, a demon army known as the Burning Legion intent on Azeroth's destruction corrupted a race called the Orcs, and sent them through a portal to attack Azeroth. After many years of fighting, the Orcs were defeated by a coalition of humans, dwarves and elves known as the Alliance; the surviving combatants were herded into internment camps, where they seemed to lose their lust for battle. With no common enemy, a period of peace followed, but the Alliance began to fracture. The events of Warcraft III occur after a timeskip from Warcraft II. This period was originally intended to have been documented in Warcraft Adventures, but that game was canceled in mid-development.^[18]

Characters

The Prophet, aka, Medivh, The Last Guardian: Medivh was a wizard given enormous power in order to keep the demons from Azeroth by the magic of Dalaran, who made him a Guardian of the Tristfal Order. He was, however, possessed from birth by Sargeras, of the Burning Legion, and used to bring the Orcs through as a precursor to a full invasion. He returns in Warcraft Three to ensure the Legion is defeated.

Thrall: The son of an Orcish chieftain who had refused the demonic corruption, Thrall was brought up in slavery by the humans after his parents were betrayed and killed. Having escaped from his human masters, he freed his people, imprisoned in the internment camps after their loss of the Second war. He became overall ruler ("Warchief") after the death of the previous leader in battle. He is an honourable and idealistic leader.^[19]

Grom Hellscream: The chieftain of the Warsong clan, Grom willingly acquiesced in the corruption, but as it left him he had to fight the lethargy that was usually an inevitable result. His clan were the first free orcs which Thrall found after his escape from slavery, and they became friends: they address each other as brother. Grom briefly fell again to demonic corruption after the legion's invasion, but was rescued and freed by Thrall and Jaina. Grom was killed by the action of slaying Mannoroth.

Terenas Menethil II, King of Lordaeron: Terenas was a very old man by this time. He ruled Lordearon, a kingdom involved in almost all the Campaigns, but only appeared in the game cut scenes. He was killed by his son, Arthas, who had been corrupted by the Lich King (known to many for some time as "the dark lord"), the master of the undead scourge.

Uther the Lightbringer: Uther is the founder of an order of knights, the Paladins of the Silver Hand, that fight and heal by the power of the light. Although he is the original mentor of Arthas, not even he can prevent the prince's eventual corruption. In the end, he is killed by Arthas as well.

Arthas Menethil, Prince of Lordaeron, Son of King Terenas: Arthas, as seen at the beginning of the story, is an honorable paladin, a pupil of Uther's, who fights with enormous devotion to save his people. Driven to madness by the battle against the plague, he seeks to end the scourge forever by journeying to Northrend, the "roof of the world". However, once there, he comes across his old friend, Muradin Bronzebeard. Although Muradin is able to slow his descent into paranoia for some time, eventually Arthas nearly kills him by freeing the runeblade, Frostmourne, which finally corrupts Arthas fully. He returns to his kingdom and turns on his father, slaying him and putting himself on the path to join the Lich King.^[20]

Antonidas: An archmage in Dalaran, seen only briefly. He sends Jaina to deal with the plague and is at the forefront of the defense of Dalaran from the Scourge. He lead the forces of Dalaran during its siege, however was murdered by the mad prince when the scourge stormed parts of the city. During the battle, a tome, known as the Book of Medivh, is stolen from Dalaran. Although the remnants of his forces succeed in breaking the siege, and almost kill both Arthas and his majordomo, Kel'thuzad, Archimonde (a demon lord and leader of the Burning Legion) arrives just in time in Azeroth, and destroys the city state.

Jaina Proudmoore: A young Archmage, the daughter of Admiral Proudmoore, taught by Antonidas. She is an old flame of Arthas's and still his close friend when she first appears. She alone of the human leaders listens to the prophet, and journeys to Kalimdor. She then joins up with Thrall, Malfurion, Cairne and Tyrande Whisperwind and they defeat the burning legion, and the scourge.^[19]

Kel'thuzad: He is first seen living. He was thrown out of Dalaran for Necromancy, and submitted to the Lich King. Arthas kills him before his own fall to the scourge, and later raises him as a Lich. In this form he summons Archimonde, field commander of the burning legion, to Azeroth.^[19]

Mal'ganis: Demon and dreadlord. He is responsible for much of the plan that leads Arthas to the Lich King, and to corruption. Appears to be killed by Arthas (seemingly on the direct orders of the Lich King, which surprises the Dreadlord), but is actually alive and plotting for revenge.

Muradin Bronzebeard: A brother of one of the dwarvish kings. He was one of Arthas's mentors. Believed to be killed by the shattering of the ice when Arthas picked up Frostmourne.

The Lich King (aka Ner'zhul): Ner'zhul was an orc, who, in their old homeland was deceived by the demons and served them, later trying to escape. He was caught, and his body preserved and tortured. His spirit has been frozen in a block of ice in Northrend, and his mind greatly enlarged. He controls all the vast armies of undead by his mental power. He is not an ally of the Legion when he can avoid it (this is why he kills Mal'Ganis).

Tichondrius: Demon and dreadlord. First seen overlooking Arthas's work for the Scourge/Burning Legion, later direct commander of the undead. Killed by Illidan in Felwood.

Sylvanas Windrunner: Ranger general of the High Elves. She attempts to defend her country against the scourge. Killed by Arthas, but then raised as undead, and becomes a major character in the sequel.^[19]

Archimonde: The field commander of the burning legion, at this time second in command only to Kil'jaeden. His summoning is the final object of the undead campaign, and his death the final object of the game. Killed by the ancestral spirits of the night elves on the command of Malfurion Stormrage.

Cairne Bloodhoof: The chieftain of a group of Tauren. Almost defeated by the Centaurs, Thrall befriends him and aids his people to retreat. He then joins and aids Thrall.

Mannoroth: Demon and pit lord. Responsible for both the original corruption of the orcs and the attempted recorruption. Killed by Grom Hellscream in a canyon in Ashenvale, which was named Demon Fall Canyon after this event.

Cenarius: Son of Elune (the moon goddess of the night elves), Cenarius has dwelt in Ashenvale for ten thousand years with his people. Killed by Grom in his brief demonic recorruption.

Tyrande Whisperwind: Priestess of Elune and greatly favoured by her, lover of Malfurion Stormrage. She fought in the original defeat of the Legion ten thousand years before. Until she awakens the druids, she is the sole leader of the night elves after Cenarius's death.

Malfurion Stormrage: Leader of the Druids. Woken by Tyrande to fight the legion.^[19]

Illidan Stormrage, The Betrayer: Illidan is the brother of Malfurion and a Night Elf Demon Hunter in his own right. He too fought against the demons in their first invasion, though by unconventional means that others (possibly rightly) distrusted. He was imprisoned for recreating the Well of Eternity on the summit of Mount Hyjal, an action which the Night Elves believed would cause the demons to return. He was cursed by Sargeras which left him "blind" but still able to see all magical properties around living or non-living objects. After being released from his prison 10,000 years later by Tyrande Whisperwind, he consumes enormous power with the skull of Gul'dan, and transforms into a demon (later in the game series he is half demon, half night elf, but can transform into a demon at will).^[20]

Plot

The game's plot is told entirely through cinematics and cutscenes, with additional information found in the Warcraft III manual. The campaign itself is divided into five sections, with the first acting as a tutorial, and the others telling the story from the point of view of the humans of Lordaeron, the Undead Scourge, the Orcs, and the Night Elves.

The game opens with the orc leader Thrall waking from a nightmare warning him that the return of the Burning Legion is imminent.^[21] After a brief encounter with a man called "the Prophet", and fearing that his dream was more of a vision than a nightmare, he leads his forces in an exodus from Lordaeron to the forgotten lands of Kalimdor.^[22]

Meanwhile, Arthas defends the village of Strahnbrad from demon-controlled orcs, however the Orcs are successful in raiding the town. He then follows them to their encampment, and slaughters them all.^[23]. He then joins Archmage Jaina Proudmoore, who aids him in investigating a rapidly-spreading plague which kills and turns human victims into the undead. Arthas kills the plague's originator, Kel'Thuzad, and then resolves to purge the infected city of Stratholme. Jaina parts ways with him, unwilling to commit genocide, or even watch him do so. The Prophet, after previously trying to convince other human leaders to flee west, begs Jaina to go to Kalimdor as well.^[24] Arthas pursues the dreadlord Mal'Ganis to the icy continent of Northrend, where he helps his old dwarf friend Muradin Bronzebeard find a powerful sword called Frostmourne. Upon discovering the blade, Muradin learns that the sword is cursed;^[25] Arthas disregards the warning and offers his soul to gain the sword. By doing so, it kills Muradin. Arthas kills Mal'Ganis with the sword before abandoning his men in the frozen north as his soul is stolen by the blade. Some time later, Arthas returns to Lordaeron and kills his father, the king.

Now a Death Knight, Arthas meets with the leader of the dreadlords, Tichondrius, who assigns him a series of "tests". First, Arthas exhumes the remains of Kel'Thuzad. He then attacks the kingdom of the high elves and destroys their capital of Silvermoon, kills Sylvannas Windrunner, the Ranger General of Silvermoon (only to resurrect her as a banshee), corrupting their sacred sunwell and reviving Kel'Thuzad as a Lich. The Lich informs him of the Burning Legion, a vast demonic army who are coming to consume the world. Kel'Thuzad's true master is the Lich King, who was created to aid the Legion with his Undead Scourge, but in truth he wishes for the Legion to be destroyed. Arthas and Kel'Thuzad open a dimensional portal and summon the demon Archimonde and the Burning Legion, who begin to destroy Lordaeron.

Thrall arrives on Kalimdor, meeting Cairne Bloodhoof and the tauren, and clashes with a human expedition on the way to find an Oracle. Meanwhile, the Warsong clan are left behind in Ashenvale to build a permanent settlement, but anger the Night Elves and their demigod Cenarius by cutting down the forests. To defeat them, the Warsong leader Grom drinks the pit lord Mannoroth's blood, binding his clan to the Legion's control. Thrall manages to reach the Oracle, in fact the Prophet, who tells him of Grom's doings. Following the Prophet's directions, Thrall and the humans join forces to purge Grom of demonic influence. Grom turns on Mannoroth and kills him, dying to release the orcs from the pit lord's control.

In order to oppose the Burning Legion, the Night Elf Tyrande Whisperwind reawakens the sleeping Elf Druids, starting with her lover, Malfurion Stormrage, and frees his brother Illidan from prison. Illidan meets Arthas, who tells him about the powerful "Skull of Gul'dan". Consuming the Skull and becoming a demon-elf hybrid, Illidan uses its power to kill Tichondrius. Meanwhile, the Prophet reveals that he used to be Medivh, the betrayer from Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. The humans, Orcs, and Night Elves unite to spring a trap on the Burning Legion, and many ancestral spirits destroy Archimonde at Mount Hyjal. Peace once again comes to Kalimdor as the Burning Legion's forces wither away in defeat.^[26]

Sound

Most of the music within Warcraft III was composed by Tracy W. Bush, Derek Duke, Jason Hayes, and Glenn Stafford.^[27] The Limited Edition of Reign of Chaos came with much of the orchestral music on a separate soundtrack. Each of the four playable races has different music: monastic music for the humans; ambient and Native American-sounding music for the Night Elves; warlike African-sounding music for the Orcs; and fast, haunting music for the Undead. New musical themes were added in the expansion.

One of the signatures of Blizzard games are the unit quotes. If a single unit is clicked four or more times in a row, the unit's voice samples become more and more comical. The unit may start getting angry at the player, or make allusions and references to other games, movies, or jokes. Movies quoted include Blade Runner, Star Wars Episodes IV & V: A New Hope & The Empire Strikes Back, Army Of Darkness, and Toy Story. Games like Mortal Kombat, Monty Python , Warhammer 40,000, Blizzard's own Starcraft, and Banjo-Kazooie are paid homage, in addition to shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Twilight Zone, and Beavis and Butthead. For example, the Humans in particular do the Monty Python impressions. Click on a peasant character enough, and he'll say things like "We found a witch! May we burn her?" or "YOU'RE the king? Well I didn't vote for you." Or click on a knight, he may say "I NEVER say 'ni'!" or "My favourite colour is blue... No, YELLOW!"

Modding

As did Warcraft II and Starcraft before it, Warcraft III ships with a "World Editor" program that allows players to create their own custom scenarios and maps. The World Editor has features such as unit editing and event triggers. Through Battle.net, players can download and play peers' custom maps. To facilitate modding, third-party developers released tools for spell editing through SLK spreadsheets, customizing skins with .BLP converters, JASS editing, and a file importer that opened up .MPQs. The World Editor was expanded and improved for The Frozen Throne expansion. Though the editor has received updates through game patches, it is not officially supported as a product.^[28]

Some custom maps have enjoyed great success, with Defense of the Ancients (DotA) being a tournament item at Blizzcon 2005 and other tournaments around the world. Other maps such as Stronghold and Sheeptag are very popular. Many modifications have been made for sheep tag such as: Tree Tag and Animal tag, plus many more versions of sheep tag. Along with custom maps, most map-making players create variations of their map Ex:Sheep Tag 2.5/Sheep Tag 2.6.

Development

Other versions

In addition to the regular game, there also exists a limited Collector's Edition Warcraft III bundle. The collector's edition box contained a Warcraft III cinematic DVD, including behind-the-scenes features and the cinematics of all prior Warcraft games; a Collector's Edition Soundtrack; a Collector's Edition instruction manual; The Art of Warcraft book; and lithographic prints.

Blizzard Entertainment also released the Warcraft III Battle Chest, which contains Reign of Chaos bundled with The Frozen Throne in one box, along with guides from BradyGames.

Another version, the Exclusive Gift Set, came bundled with the cinematic DVD, official BradyGames strategy guide, and Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition.

War Craft III is also available in the Best Sellers Series along side Star Craft, Star Craft: Brood War, Diablo and a selection of games from other companies other than Blizzard.

Reception

Reception of Warcraft III was extremely positive; the game averages a 93.1% at GameRankings.com,^[32] and "Universal Acclaim" at MetaCritic, based on dozens of reviews.^[33] While GamePro noted that "WarCraft III doesn’t revolutionize the RTS genre", they still praised Blizzard for delivering a title with "a well-executed story, drum-tight game-play and a long shelf life as a multi-player title."^[30] GameSpot noted that as with StarCraft, the ability to experience the action from all sides "is of great appeal." The reviewer also noted that Warcraft III made the early stages of the game more interesting and less formulaic; in most RTS games, he noted, "the initial build-up period in such games is merely a race to get to the best units first."^[31] Most reviewers noted that Blizzard had finally fleshed out the storyline of the first two Warcraft titles, finally giving each side its own motivations and differences beyond cosmetics.^[34] IGN noted that "There's not a ton that's new to RTS buffs out there, but it's done well enough that you either won't notice or won't care."^[29]

However, criticism included the inability of the player to change the fate of Arthas' "turn to the dark side." Instead, Gamecritics.com noted, the player "has to sit by as Arthas slides into insanity."^[34] Other reviewers noted that the character models were of mediocre quality, especially when viewed up close during in-game cinematics. ^[31]

References

External links

• The official Warcraft III website
• The official Warcraft III strategy guide, ladder, patches, and map downloads
• Matchmaking and Ladder Explanation
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos at WoWWiki, a Warcraft wiki
• Warcraft III on MobyGames