|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (War3 or WC3) is a real-time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment in July 2002. It is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, and the third game set in the Warcraft Universe. The game proved to be one of the most anticipated and popular computer game releases ever, with 4.5 million units preordered and over one million additional units sold during its first two weeks.[citation needed] Warcraft III contains four playable races, including the Humans and Orcs, which had previously appeared in Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II. In addition to these are the Night Elves and Undead, which are new to the Warcraft mythos. Warcraft III's campaign is laid out similarly to that of StarCraft, being told through all four of the game's races in a progressive manner. Blizzard Entertainment released two versions of the game: the regular edition and a limited Collector's Edition. 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. Warcraft III won many awards including Gamespot's Game of the Year (PC) Award for 2002.
GameplayGameplay of Warcraft III was markedly different from its predecessors. In the prequels, such as Warcraft II, there were only two playable races, Orcs and Humans. The differences between each were mostly cosmetic; every Human unit had a corresponding Orc equivalent. In Warcraft III, the Night Elves and Undead Scourge were added as playable races. In addition, differences between the races was dramatically increased, giving each race certain advantages and disadvantages. For example, Human and Orc units regenerate hit points faster during the day, while many Night Elf units can turn invisible during the night. Undead buildings can be "unsummoned" to recoup a certain amount of the resources that went into its construction; Human buildings can have their armor upgraded; and many Night Elf buildings can "uproot", being living creatures, and move around the map.[1] Warcraft III had the addition of full 3D terrain and weather effects, never before seen in a Blizzard RTS title. Single playerWarcraft 3 is like several games in one. The campaign setting inserts the player in a long, plot-driven sequence. The single-player option allows the player to play in a variety of custom scenarios, utilizing various terrains and scenarios. In single-player mode, Warcraft III adds powerful units called Heroes; each race has three. Heroes can find or trade items to increase skills, defense, and other abilities, and with each kill of an enemy, the heroes gain experience points, eventually resulting in increasing their level and gaining new spell options (thus introducing RPG elements to the series). Certain heroes also can apply beneficial auras to allied units. The highest level that can be gained in a normal game is level ten. At level six, the hero can obtain an "ultimate" skill that is potentially more powerful than the others.
Another new feature is the addition of creeps, (or mobs) which are computer controlled units the player fights even in multiplayer. They guard key areas such as gold mines or neutral buildings and are designed to act as a resource for the players to kill to provide experience points to a player's hero and to provide hero items. The idea is to force the player to be aggressive instead of "turtling up" (spending all resources on defenses, rather than attacking). Warcraft III also introduced the concept of a day/night cycle to the series. 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.[1] Other smaller 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] CampaignWarcraft III's campaign is broken up into chapters; each chapter has the player control another race. Unlike previous Blizzard titles, such as Warcraft II or Starcraft, players are not directed to mission briefings in which plot exposition occurred and objectives are announced; rather, Warcraft III uses a system of "seamless quests".[1] Some plot development happens in occasional cinematics, but most occurs in-game with cutscenes. Objectives are revealed to the player during the progress of the map. While the player's completion of "main quests" is integral to the success of a mission, there are also optional quests which are not initially revealed, but can be discovered and completed without changing 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. At the beginning of a mission, much of the map is covered in "the black mask", hiding terrain where the player has not explored. Exploring these areas reveals the presence of enemy units and natural landmarks. If a player's units leave an explored area, the area reverts to the "fog of war", where the terrain remains visible, as well as enemy buildings encountered; however, changes to the area, such as building destruction or enemy units coming and going, will not be seen.[1] MultiplayerMultiplayer differs slightly from Campaign mode. In default melee matches, players can pick their own heroes, and losing one will not end the game. The objective is to destroy opponent's buildings. To make the game proceed more quickly, by default there is no black mask, only the fog of war for multiplayer games.[2] The game heavily emphasises on micromanagement and unit choice. Strategic resources for Warcraft III include online discussion, replays and audio commentaries. Like all previous Blizzard titles with multiplayer components since Warcraft II Battle net editon, Warcraft III uses the Battle.net multiplayer network. Warcraft III owners can create free accounts and participate in regional "gateways", which helps reduce lag; players can create accounts in Azeroth (U.S. East), Lordaeron (U.S. West), Northrend (Europe), and Kalimdor (Asia). 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. Every matchmaking game contributes to a player's rank, with global scores and standings kept on a "ladder". These rankings can be checked online without the need of the game. Warcraft also bestows "ranks" on players, in the forms of icons which are unlocked by a certain number of wins with each race in ladder games. Every player begins with a peon icon; by winning more and more games, the player can receive new icons which denote their status. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is no longer used in professional tournaments. Every tournament uses the game's expansion, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. It is faster paced (all unit costs have been lowered by fifteen to twenty-five percent) and less spellcaster-oriented, because of the introduction of anti-caster units. Nonetheless the game itself has automated and sponsored open tournaments for any player to join. The game is also featured at large events such as WCG and WEG At the end of every season ie. the start of the year battlenet resets all of the ranks and levels of all profiles thus giving new players a chance to get a rank without having to match the time that some players have racked up. In some cases players may have played over 1500 games, and with each game taking about half an hour or more to complete it is a very hard challenge for a new player (newb) to compete with. The season generally ends with a tournament of the best players in the world. If a player has not played Battle.net for more then ten days in a row then experience deterioration will occur, which is when a player's wins, level, and rank on Battle.net will slowly disappear. This is generally seen as a way of Blizzard addicting players to Battle.net so that they will never lose interest for fear of losing their record. Players on Battle.net are easily recognized by their icon. An icon is a picture which is shown next to a player's profile name. Depending on the amount of wins a player has generated with each playable race, he or she will be able to use a certain icon. For example, if a player has 25 wins with a certain race then he or she will unlock their first icon. In the Frozen Throne expansion the first icon is generally a ranged unit, but in Reign of Chaos the first icon is generally a melee unit. After 25 wins have been generated, the next goal is 250 wins, followed by 500 and then 1500. However, in Frozen Throne expansion the icons are unlocked at 25, 150, 350, 750, and 1500. Also Battle.net provides online tournaments every day. They can be in 1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-3 or FFA modes. SynopsisSettingWarcraft III takes place in the fictional world of Azeroth, which is divided into three main continents: Azeroth, Kalimdor, and the icy Northrend. The humans primarily live in Lordaeron, as did the Orcs, while the Night Elves are guardians of Kalimdor. In the center of the world lies a large, never-ending storm called "the Maelstrom", the site of the original Well of Eternity. CharactersSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The tutorial campaign, "Exodus of the Horde", has the player take command of Thrall, a young Orcish warchief, as he leads his army across the sea to Kalimdor. Later in the narrative, Thrall once again appears, along with his right-hand Blademaster Grom Hellscream, as the Orcs arrive on the shores of Kalimdor. In "The Scourge of Lordaeron" the player commands Arthas Menethil, a young prince and paladin who unites with the mage Jaina Proudmore in an effort to investigate a mysterious plague, directed by a shadowy cultist named Kel'Thuzad. In Kalimdor, high priestess Tyrande Whisperwind and Malfurion Stormrage direct the Night Elves against the Burning Legion's forces. Illidan is also a major role character that is introduced, but not until Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne does he play any major role in. PlotThe 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 Night Elves, and the Orcs. Exodus of the HordeThe game opens with Thrall, warchief of the new Orcish Horde, wakes from a nightmare warning him that the return of the demonic Burning Legion is imminent. After a brief encounter with the Prophet, and fearing that his dream was more of a vision than a nightmare, he leads his La Migra in an exodus from Lordaeron to the forgotten lands of Kalimdor. In the retail version, this tutorial campaign ends with the orcs sailing to the distant shores of Kalimdor. However, in the official demo, this campaign is extended to detail the journey across the great ocean. Thrall's ships are damaged from a massive storm, having unwittingly passed through the Maelstrom, and he stops at a small island midway between the two continents for essential repairs to the ships. For those who have only played the retail version, the fact that the forest trolls left the Horde after the second game seems like a contradiction, there was apparently no explanation as to how jungle trolls appeared to now be in the New Horde. Sen'jin, the leader of the trolls of the Darkspear Tribe living on the island, befriends Thrall, and passes on leadership of the tribe to Vol'Jin after being mortally wounded by indigenous Murlocs. After holding off the fishy peril for as long as possible, the two races board the ships and sailed onwards to Kalimdor. The Scourge of LordaeronPrince Arthas Menethil, a Knight of the Silver Hand, is meanwhile fighting demon-worshiping orcs, who are preparing to attack a nearby human village. He arrives just too late, with most of the village already dead, and the last few being taken away by orcs. After the remaining orc in the area have been killed, the surviving townsfolk word there concerns about the ones who were taken. Arthas then receives a message from a knight working for uther, telling him that he is needed on the frontline. when he arrives uther tells him that Arthas should lead the attack. Arthas accepts, and begins to create a settlement while Uther defends him. After the base is created the orc blademaster sacrifices the villagers taken from the village attacked earlier in an attempt to summon demons. Arthas kills him and the other orcs, but is afraid about the rituals the orcs were performing. He then meets Archmage Jaina Proudmoore, with whom he investigates a strange plague that is spreading across the lands of Lordaeron. The plague coincides with the rise to power of a shadowy "Cult of the Damned". To their horror, they find that the plague kills and turns human victims into the Undead, compelling Arthas and Jaina to stop the Cult of the Damned's leader Kel'Thuzad from converting towns over to the Scourge. Arthas proceeds to kill the plague's originator, Kel'Thuzad, then hunt down the dreadlord he serves, Mal'Ganis. Traveling northward to Northrend, the icy stronghold of the Lich King, Arthas pursues Mal'Ganis and aids an old friend, Muradin Bronzebeard. Muradin tells him of a legendary sword called Frostmourne that could help him stave off Mal'Ganis's punishing counterattack on their position, and they set off to find it. Arthas ultimately obtains Frostmourne against Muradin's advice, upon his discovery that the blade carries a curse. Muradin is killed as Arthas draws the sword from its frozen sheath, and Arthas, consumed by his hatred for the Undead, goes on to use the blade to defeat Mal'Ganis. Frostmourne slowly taints and consumes Arthas' soul, and he becomes the first of the Lich King's Death Knights. Arthas, now enslaved by the corrupting voice of Frostmourne, becomes a General of the Undead Scourge and the Cult of the Damned. Doing so, he loses his holy powers of the light in favor of the darker necromantic powers granted through the Lich King. Leaving the rest of his expedition to die in the frozen wastelands of Northrend, Arthas returns to Lordaeron a hero to the unwitting populace, and kills King Terenas, his father. Path of the DamnedWith the death of King Terenas Menethil, Lordaeron lies in ashes, and Arthas is met with the leader of the dreadlords, Tichondrius who assigns him to a series of tests that would make way for the return of the Burning Legion. As Arthas completes a series of quests to revive former adversary Kel'Thuzad as a Lich, he kills the Knights of the Silver Hand and destroys the High Elves' kingdom of Quel'Thalas. The Lich then informs him of the Burning Legion, a vast demonic army that has consumed countless worlds before their own. The Lich King was created to aid the Legion with his undead Scourge, but in truth he wishes for the Legion to be destroyed and to be free of his prison in The Frozen Throne. Kel'Thuzad's true master is actually the Lich King, rather than the Burning Legion. Arthas' next task is to, with the aid of Kel'Thuzad, open a dimensional portal with Medivh's Spellbook so that the Burning Legion can enter the realm of Azeroth. Archimonde, the general of the demonic forces, having no more use for Arthas and Kel'Thuzad, places the dreadlords directly in control of the Scourge. However the Lich King still has ambitions for them, which take place in the expansion, Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. The Invasion of KalimdorAfter escaping Human captivity and fleeing to the shores of Kalimdor, Orcish warchief Thrall has to lead his brethren to safety and ensure their survival in Kalimdor. With the aid of the Tauren Chieftain, Cairne Bloodhoof, Thrall heads north to Ashenvale Forest to seek the Oracle of Stonetalon Peak, clashing with a human expedition who has also arrived upon Kalimdor for unknown purposes. Meanwhile, Grom Hellscream and the Warsong Clan has been left behind to gather enough lumber to build a permanent Orcish settlement on the isle, and, in cutting down the large amount of trees necessary to do so, angers the native night elf race and their demigod, Cenarius. In order to defeat Cenarius and his night elves, Grom succumbs to demonic corruption by willingly drinking the pit lord Mannoroth's blood; binding his clan and himself to the Legion's control. Back on Stonetalon Peak, Thrall has reached the Oracle to discover that it is actually the mysterious Prophet. The Prophet informs Thrall and Archmage Jaina Proudmoore that Grom has succumbed to demonic control and that the two races will need to join forces to save him, and suggests that Grom has a crucial role to play in the unfolding of events. With the humans' help, Thrall managed to fight his way through the ranks of the Warsong Clan and the Legion and is able to capture Grom and purge him of the demon blood. Grom then has a premonition of Mannoroth's presence in a local canyon, and the two go there to face Mannoroth. The two are able to defeat Mannoroth, but Grom dies in the battle. Eternity's EndWith the coming of the Undead Scourge and Burning Legion as well as the Humans and Orcs, Tyrande Whisperwind and her Night Elf Sentinels fight a desperate battle to save their beloved home of Kalimdor from enemies old and new alike. After realising the situation is beyond the Sentinels alone, she first reawakens her lover, Malfurion Stormrage, and then the Druids of the Talon, and finally the Druids of the Claw. She also decides to free the great betrayer, Illidan Stormrage, who is eventually instrumental in weakening the Burning Legion, but at a great cost. Finally, she and Malfurion join forces with the outlanders Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall to delay the Legion's advance until a proper end can be arranged for the demonic leader Archimonde. The lines were quickly overrun by the Legion and the Scourge, Archimonde pressed on to make his final blow and grab for power - consuming the energy of Nordrassil, the tree of life. But moments before he can strike, Malfurion Stormrage springs his trap. Realising the danger all too late, Archimonde is destroyed in a colossal blast of energy that shatters the tree of life--but unlike Archimonde, the tree would heal and its roots would once again grow deep. Peace once again came to Kalimdor as the Burning Legion's forces withered away in defeat and the Humans, Orcs, and Night Elves stood victorius. This apparent end would last but for a short while, as the great betrayer, Illidan Stormrage would seek revenge for his imprisonment, and the Lich King, now free from the Legion's grasp, also has plans. Spoilers end here.
Music and SoundBackground MusicMost of the music within Warcraft III is orchestral, and composed by Tracy W. Bush, Derek Duke, Jason Hayes, or Glenn Stafford. Although the music is orchestral, it uses several MIDI sounds, and is in mp3 format. The music varies depending on the player's race, monastic music for the humans, ambient and Indian-sounding music for the Night Elves, tribal, warlike, slightly African-sounding music for the Orcs and fast, haunting music for the Undead. New themes were added in the expansion. Examples of such music can be found on the World of Warcraft subpage. Here you can listen to songs from both Warcraft II and III and even a few from World of Warcraft. All are orchestral compositions with the exception of three, two of which are 'skits' and one other constructed from the many in-game unit responses. QuotationsWikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: 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 to other games, movies, or jokes. For example, after several clicks peasants exclaim in an accent, "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!" — a quotation from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They also say "You're the king? Well, I didn't vote for you," and "We found a witch. May we burn her?", while footmen exclaim, "It's only a flesh wound!" — all of which are from the same movie. Knights remark, "My favourite colour is blue... No, YELLOW!" and "I never say Ni." The human "spellbreaker" unit makes reference to The Lord of the Rings by saying "I stole your Precious!", while an orc unit references Full Metal Jacket. The human Dragonhawk Rider quotes Top Gun by saying both "Permission to Buzz the Tower" and "I'll hit the brakes, he'll fly right by!" . Other movies quoted include Army of Darkness, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Blade Runner, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Toy Story, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Flash Gordon. Games like Mortal Kombat, Warhammer 40,000, and Banjo-Kazooie are paid homage, in addition to shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Twilight Zone, Iron Chef, and Beavis and Butthead. Other references are to the famed sharpness of Ginsu Knives, Shakespeare, and the lyrics to ...Baby One More Time Several of the units also make comments relating to other Blizzard games. For example, the Demon Hunter Illidan Stormrage, after repeated clicking, will say "Wings, horns, hooves... what are we saying, is this Diablo?". Likewise, the Acolyte will say "My life for Aiur!... uh, I mean, Ner'zhul.", a reference to StarCraft and the Protoss Zealot's war cry. The Mortar Team also says "Clearly Tassadar has failed us. You must not." also in reference to StarCraft, while upon the end of training for a Mortar Team, they exclaim "Mortar Combat," in reference to the Mortal Kombat series. Some units also speak about the same issue such as the Demon Hunter when he says "Darkness called... But I was on the phone, so I missed it. I tried to star-69 Darkness, but his machine picked up. I yelled 'PICK UP THE PHONE, DARKNESS!', but he ignored me. Darkness must have been screening his calls." or when Arthas asks "Who is this Darkness anyway?" or when the Dreadlord gets a call from Darkness wanting the Demon Hunter's phone number and Tichcondrius saying Darkness needs to get DSL because his line is always busy. ModdingWith the Warcraft III World Editor that came with Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, players were able to create their own custom maps to play in multiplayer mode or as a single-player game. The world editor had features such as unit editing and event triggers (which allowed for almost unending diversity in campaign design). A small community of modders started up, and spawned several tools for spell editing through SLK spreadsheets, customizing skins with .BLP converters, JASS editing, and a file importer that opened up .MPQs. With the expanded World Editor that came with The Frozen Throne, users could edit spells without using SLK spreadsheets, import their own custom .BLP textures files, .MDX models, various sounds, and any other file that the editor was willing to put in without third party software. This made modding infinitely easier and less reliant on third party software. After a long time, Blizzard began to recognize the modding community, and released the Warcraft III Art Tools plugin for 3D Studio Max, which allowed skilled model makers to create fully animated three dimensional models (which could be imported via the expanded World Editor). In the Warcraft III 1.10 patch, the World Editor was once again updated, to be able to use caches and custom campaigns which allowed modders to create entire campaigns for Warcraft III. In addition to custom maps, total conversions are available for download. Total conversions completely replace one or more of the original races with completely new units and upgrades. Some of the many total conversions made for Warcraft III include Divine Right, FPS Mod, and the Tales of Raviganion. Some mods add whole new races, such as Extra Races and Creep Rebellion. The ease of use and advanced capabilities of the Warcraft III World Editor led to a large quantity of custom maps available to play on Battle.net. Some, like DotA (which's genre was originally spawned by Aeon of Strife based maps) or Tower Defense, are based off earlier Starcraft multiplayer maps, while others were created specifically on the Warcraft III platform. Popular gametypes, often with numerous versions by different authors, include Footmen Wars, Arenas, Tower Defense, Hero Line Wars, and Zombie Survivals. DevelopmentThe storyline for Warcraft III started with the story of Thrall, which was originally the plot line that was developed for WarCraft Adventures, also known as "Lord of the Clans". Warcraft Adventures was to be a point-and-click graphic adventure game set in the Warcraft universe. However, despite publicized development and positive feedback from many, the entire project was scrapped in 1998.[3] However the story and some game elements would later influence Warcraft III. ReceptionReception of Warcraft III was overwhelmingly positive; the game averages a 91% at GameRankings.com,[4] and "Universal Acclaim" at MetaCritic, based on dozens of reviews.[5] 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."[6] Gamespot noted that as with Starcraft, the ability to experience the action from all sides "is of great appeal."[7] 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.[8] IGN, giving the game a 9.3 out of ten, noted that while "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."[9] Some common criticism included the inability of the player to change the fate of Arthas' "turn to the dark side." Instead, the player "has to sit by as [Arthas] slides into insanity."[8] Other reviewers thought that the use of four races was simply gimmicky.[4] See alsoReferences
Sites |
Searched sites for "Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos" |
|
No sites found. |
Sorry, no matching site records were found. |
Want your site listed here?
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Submit
your site |
 |
|
Relevant quality search results and fast easy navigation throughout the
different sections of the site, make Americola.com |
