Slashdot was lucky enough to get a Beta copy of Blizzard's upcoming Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. So, CmdrTaco and Hemos locked me up inside a closet and forced me to play for the last week. The Beta of Warcraft III is impressive, to say the least. Blizzard is going to outdo themselves again when Warcraft 3 hits the selves in June 2002. Below is my review of Warcraft III Beta. I've included a fair amount of screenshots to give you a preview of the setup and gameplay.

Warcraft III runs on Windows 95/98/2000/NT and Mac OS. My setup was easy as pie which was surprising since I run WinXP. And, on a side note, I was running it on a LCD screen and had no problem. Blizzard has an effective video setup which allows you to customize your game and change your resolution, model detail, animation quality, texture quality, particles, and lights. This is helpful if you're running on an older machine and still want your game to run fast. The sound setup even allows you to have Dolby Surround!

I'm always disappointed that Blizzards Beta's only let you play multiplayer, but that's life. In multiplayer mode, I found my abilities only let me get about thirty minutes into the game before getting demolished by the hard core players. Maybe it was me, but I felt that Warcraft III had a faster pace than the previous two releases. I feel the pace issue is a double edged sword since some players like their video games to be fast paced and others like to take their time. I think Warcraft 3 is somewhere, or can be anywhere in-between Urban Terror and Civilization III. So, until I can take it slow and play in a single player campaign mode, I'm counting the days until Blizzard releases Warcraft III 1.0.

The gameplay was cool. This time you have a choice between four races: Human, Undead, Orc, or Dark Elf. Your race really doesn't matter in multiplayer mode, winning basically comes down to building everything up quickly and creating a massive army with which to crush your opponents. Or in my case, getting crushed. This is where one of my favorite features comes into play. When enemies are attacking you, or your allies, the map flashes letting you know that there is a throwdown and you should send in backup. Some other features I'm looking forward to in the upcoming release include: LAN games (5 laptops, 5 six packs, you know the drill), the single player campaign, the map editors, and cinematics. I realize that cinematics isn't really a feature, but I can use a tub of popcorn when I'm watching Blizzard's cinematics, they're just that cool.

Warcraft III gives new meaning to strategy RPG's. If you like to play pure strategy game where your only goal is to be the only one left standing, this game is for you. If you like games where you can take a character, build him up, and watch the character grow over the life of the game, this game is for you. Warcraft III is a mixture between the two. You can build your basic Orc Grunts and go fight the enemy, but you can also build Hero's. Each class has different Hero's with which you can gain experience, attain new levels, and learn new skills. Warcraft III even lets you carry around an inventory!

I think the biggest improvement for Warcraft III was Blizzard's graphics. With a decent video card, the graphics are crisp and clear. Now-a-days, 3D is the name of the game, and Blizzard again comes a step closer in this strategy role playing game.