Genre: Real-time Strategy
Year: 2003
Developed by: Blizzard Entertainment
Published by: Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms: PC, Mac OS X
#30
Feeling Like: War Chief?
OK, this entry is a bit of a cop-out.
I’m including Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos and Defense of the Ancients (or DOTA) alongside the expansion Frozen Throne. I’ll do the same with StarCraft, and StarCraft 2‘s add-ons. All of them technically belong to the same game, right? Plus it’s my list and we’re getting down to the nitty gritty here. There’s very little room on the “these games are amazeballs holy shit” couch so I had to make room somehow.
There was a time when a Blizzard game was an auto-buy. For a period of a decade or so, they simply couldn’t miss. They only had a few IPs, but when those franchises are Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, you can justify quality over quantity.
Warcraft 3 didn’t break the mold on any one thing, but the combined elements made the package sing. We’d seen real-time strategy like this before, but not with these types of graphics. Its style is pure Blizzard, cartoonish but not overly so. There’s blood and drama, but not visceral enough to stave off younger players. It’s clearly an evolution of Warcraft 2, but the 3D elements and camera work make it feel like a whole new series. The focus on heroes and a smaller army size meant less spamming groups of underlings and throwing them at the enemy base. You can’t really do that here – conflicts last longer, units have more HP and even losing a single ally can turn the tide.
There were four races this time (five, if you include the Naga) and I was instantly overwhelmed. This wasn’t a color palette swap either, the races didn’t necessarily have identical ranged units, heavy units, air units, etc. Not this time. I’m always a campaign-first kind of guy and I’m glad I went that route – I wouldn’t have had a chance online if I’d just jumped right in.
Well, actually, that’s not true because when I did finally start to play multiplayer, I still didn’t stand a chance.
Trying to play online matches in Bigelow was a fool’s errand. The connection itself wasn’t very strong, and would be susceptible to random disconnects when… I don’t know, the minus 40 weather knocked out the power, or disrupted the servers. I played about forty matches (winning 9) before I realized there was too much going against me.
I needed reinforcements, so I retreated back home and enlisted the help of Eric, Kaz and Dob. My home connection was fast and stable, even if I wasn’t. I was the Humans (always), Eric was the Orcs, Dob was the Undead and Kaz tried the Night Elves. Playing 4 on 4 was an entirely different affair – battles were massive, chaotic and fast. There was rarely an 8 player conflict that didn’t immediately result in one team or another throwing in the towel.
Eric knew what he was doing at least, so we did managed to cheese our way to some victories. It was pretty exciting seeing our team name on some leaderboards (Dob, Er, Kaz – any recollections as to what our team name was? WERE there team names?), but that was soon wiped out by the nightmare of the Huntress.
Before Blizzard nerfed them, or buff’d up other units, mass Huntresses from the Night Elves seemed impossible counter. Impossible. My rifleman fell like paper, and my Footman couldn’t withstand their glaives, even with the defensive upgrade. I couldn’t last long enough to upgrade to Knights. As soon as we saw the team we were going up against were all Night Elves, we knew we were in for a swift, merciless death. Getting four of us together wasn’t an easy task, so we parted ways on this particular venture. The only remaining legacy is the memory of Eric mentioning that EVERYBODY had to pick an Aura for their heroes’ first skill, since we didn’t have enough of them.
It still didn’t help, although it might have been a skill issue.
As if the fantasy melodrama campaigns weren’t enough (and they were, it’s an insane amount of enjoyable content), we have Warcraft 3 and Frozen Throne to thank for DOTA, the game I have literally played more than any other. It’s a mod based on the heroes found in the campaign, with various other units filling in. You had the Naga Siren, a Huntress as Luna, a centaur as Bradwarden, etc. The premise is so genius, it’s the kind of competition you’re surprised wasn’t conceived earlier.
Two sides of the map divided by a diagonal river. Five on five. Computer controlled waves of “creeps” (easy to kill enemies that grant experience and gold) automatically spawn every 30 seconds or so into each of the three “lanes”. First to destroy the others fountain wins. I’ll go into far more detail when I get to DOTA 2, but just know that Fuzz, Graeme, Eric, Dave R., Dobbo and I played an obscene amount of these matches. Borderline unhealthy. By the end of my tenure at Mount A, my Frozen Throne CD was a husk of its former self. I’d worn my mouse completely out. The combination of heroes, items and strategy was unlike anything I’d played before. It felt like capture the flag meets Lord of the Rings with a dash of football for good measure. And this was originally created by fans! Long live Eul, Icefrog and Guinsoo. I could see the 5.84 loading screen in my dreams. Between DOTA and World of Warcraft, I’m shocked I was able to keep my GPA up in my final few years.
The density of this package is unbelievably rare. Skyrim or Grand Theft Auto 5 can be played for thousands of hours, but I never had a desire to. The single player experiences in both those games were terrific, sure, but I might just be more of an Real Time Strategy guy. The frequent scenario switches made sure I wasn’t bored for a single second. The writing and villains are right out of a B-movie, but an enjoyable B-movie. With names like Rak Coldskull and Grom Hellscream, you know what kind of story you’re getting yourself into. Interspersed within levels would be cutscenes, usually between characters of note across varying factions. Threats and philosophical lamentations were frequent, promises of retribution and destruction even more so. There’s always a world-ending threat around the corner, switching of allegiances and long lost artifacts to acquire. The scope of the conflict could barely be contained within my computer monitor.
Arthas’ arc specifically was noteworthy. Instead of doing a typical hero’s journey, Arthas falls victim to his pride, then fear as he slaughters innocents who have been infected by a plague that turns them into the Undead. It’s one of Warcraft’s greatest moments ever, I’ll never forget it. If this small intro piques your curiosity at all, it’s well worth giving Warcraft 3 a shot. What a level!
I’ll always love Warcraft. I like creating little minions to collect gold for me. I like researching build orders and seeing how fast I can get my barracks up. Finding new equipment for my hero, constructing shipyards, locating a secret batch of mercenaries, and widening my eyes at Arthas’ descent into madness are all highlights that I can only get with this type of game. The fact that it lead directly into the events of World of Warcraft made the universe feel even more alive. I don’t think Blizzard will ever do a fourth Warcraft or even a third StarCraft, but that’s just me being greedy. The amount of video game you get in a Blizzard game (or at least peak Blizzard) is worth three times the price you pay for, and I’d only make that claim for a precious few.
The 500 