Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (PC, 2002)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8 Control-8.5 Challenge-7 Story-6
Level Design-7.5* Frustration-6.5 Fun-7.5* Originality-7
Overall Score-8
*Single player
+
Improved interface (unit and upgrade queues, subgroups within group selections, subgroup order modifier key (ctrl+command to order only a selected subgroup), formation bypass (hold Alt when rightclicking to make units in a group move at their highest speed), rally and waypoints, 12 units per group, Hero selection hotkeys (F1-3), customizable hotkeys, idle worker icon, messages log (can't review cutscene dialogue though)) and sound design (3D sound, music changes depending on events)
Two new races/factions (Undead, Night Elves, as well as Tauren who ally with the Orcs faction) - all four play quite differently
Fleshes out the Warcraft world quite a bit with added lore to previous events
Difficulty options
Better focus on tactics through changing unit health vs. damage dealt (battles last longer so you'll have more time to micro) and limiting the pop cap more
Autocasting on some supportive spells
Day/night cycle (sight is shorter during night time, creeps/npc monsters sleep at night, various other changes)
Well balanced overall
Tons of (skippable) in-game cutscenes (develops the heroes more making the game more involving)
Great cinematic cutscenes
Improved map editor (many more options)
Save replay feature
Terrain effects (high ground)
The different factions were made more morally complex
Hidden items/npc monsters
Improved enemy AI (higher level enemies will target damaged units, etc.)
Control allied troops after they leave the game (or in co-op mode?)
Better mission variety
Mercenaries and rescuable NPCs
Extra non-playable races/factions in SP (High Elves, different Orc clans with unique units, corrupt Night Elves)
+/-
Heavily stylized art style (sometimes reminiscent of Lego and the muppets)
Less focus on macro/economy (you still need to spam farms though)
Upkeep mechanic (army costs maintenance, adds another layer of strategy - to steadily build from the get go or go for a higher tech economic build and then getting the army, meant to also keep players from turtling)
RPG elements (heroes that level up through combat, gain spells/skills, buy/sell items, have a limited inventory) - you can win games almost solely by using your heroes well (a team can survive as long as one player has a building left)
Tilted/zoomed in camera (you can tilt it down and rotate but not upwards) - somewhat worse overview of the action
Fixes some pathfinding problems while adding new ones (units quite easily get stuck on eachother when you need to pull a single unit away from or towards the enemy)
Resurrectable heroes
Pretty depressing Human campaign
Plenty of pop culture references tossed in for the unit dialogue
On rails SP - player has no influence on how the SP story unfolds are larger scale tactical decisions (such as which area to attack and when)
Goblin land mines are very strong and destroy buildings (can be exploited in SP)
-
Pretty cliché and cheesy storytelling (in-game cutscenes have a cartoon or even puppet show feel to them, characters talking to themselves, uneven voice acting (most human villagers sound really exaggerated), obvious bad guys who explain their plans to the protagonists, gullible characters, Arthas turning to darkness is too rushed to be convincing, sloppy exposition where the characters act stupid, etc.)
Skeleton archers not affected by Holy Light spell
Some fog of war/line of vision oddities (you sometimes need to stand right next to a bg object for it to be illuminated)
Invincibility (Arthas) is overpowered in SP
No ship combat (added in Frozen Throne)
Some dissonance between in-game cutscenes and what happens in the actual gameplay (for example humans can build bridges in them and there are human ships but no buildable shipyards)
Plot oddities (Night Elves ambushed by Undead, then later trusting Illidan to go on his own to the corrupted Felwoods)
Some annoying voices (Goblin Zeppelin)
Mannoroth (silly and dumb)
Sleeping units still respond vocally to orders
The enemy AI in SP is sometimes very bad at reacting to your attacks (not helping allied bases, having units next to a tower that don't react to you shooting the tower) - you also can't make allied AIs send units from another base to help you out
NE Chimera never introduced in SP
Level Design-7.5* Frustration-6.5 Fun-7.5* Originality-7
Overall Score-8
*Single player
+
Improved interface (unit and upgrade queues, subgroups within group selections, subgroup order modifier key (ctrl+command to order only a selected subgroup), formation bypass (hold Alt when rightclicking to make units in a group move at their highest speed), rally and waypoints, 12 units per group, Hero selection hotkeys (F1-3), customizable hotkeys, idle worker icon, messages log (can't review cutscene dialogue though)) and sound design (3D sound, music changes depending on events)
Two new races/factions (Undead, Night Elves, as well as Tauren who ally with the Orcs faction) - all four play quite differently
Fleshes out the Warcraft world quite a bit with added lore to previous events
Difficulty options
Better focus on tactics through changing unit health vs. damage dealt (battles last longer so you'll have more time to micro) and limiting the pop cap more
Autocasting on some supportive spells
Day/night cycle (sight is shorter during night time, creeps/npc monsters sleep at night, various other changes)
Well balanced overall
Tons of (skippable) in-game cutscenes (develops the heroes more making the game more involving)
Great cinematic cutscenes
Improved map editor (many more options)
Save replay feature
Terrain effects (high ground)
The different factions were made more morally complex
Hidden items/npc monsters
Improved enemy AI (higher level enemies will target damaged units, etc.)
Control allied troops after they leave the game (or in co-op mode?)
Better mission variety
Mercenaries and rescuable NPCs
Extra non-playable races/factions in SP (High Elves, different Orc clans with unique units, corrupt Night Elves)
+/-
Heavily stylized art style (sometimes reminiscent of Lego and the muppets)
Less focus on macro/economy (you still need to spam farms though)
Upkeep mechanic (army costs maintenance, adds another layer of strategy - to steadily build from the get go or go for a higher tech economic build and then getting the army, meant to also keep players from turtling)
RPG elements (heroes that level up through combat, gain spells/skills, buy/sell items, have a limited inventory) - you can win games almost solely by using your heroes well (a team can survive as long as one player has a building left)
Tilted/zoomed in camera (you can tilt it down and rotate but not upwards) - somewhat worse overview of the action
Fixes some pathfinding problems while adding new ones (units quite easily get stuck on eachother when you need to pull a single unit away from or towards the enemy)
Resurrectable heroes
Pretty depressing Human campaign
Plenty of pop culture references tossed in for the unit dialogue
On rails SP - player has no influence on how the SP story unfolds are larger scale tactical decisions (such as which area to attack and when)
Goblin land mines are very strong and destroy buildings (can be exploited in SP)
-
Pretty cliché and cheesy storytelling (in-game cutscenes have a cartoon or even puppet show feel to them, characters talking to themselves, uneven voice acting (most human villagers sound really exaggerated), obvious bad guys who explain their plans to the protagonists, gullible characters, Arthas turning to darkness is too rushed to be convincing, sloppy exposition where the characters act stupid, etc.)
Skeleton archers not affected by Holy Light spell
Some fog of war/line of vision oddities (you sometimes need to stand right next to a bg object for it to be illuminated)
Invincibility (Arthas) is overpowered in SP
No ship combat (added in Frozen Throne)
Some dissonance between in-game cutscenes and what happens in the actual gameplay (for example humans can build bridges in them and there are human ships but no buildable shipyards)
Plot oddities (Night Elves ambushed by Undead, then later trusting Illidan to go on his own to the corrupted Felwoods)
Some annoying voices (Goblin Zeppelin)
Mannoroth (silly and dumb)
Sleeping units still respond vocally to orders
The enemy AI in SP is sometimes very bad at reacting to your attacks (not helping allied bases, having units next to a tower that don't react to you shooting the tower) - you also can't make allied AIs send units from another base to help you out
NE Chimera never introduced in SP