RF Generation.  The Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.RF Generation.  The Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.

Posted on Sep 16th 2008 at 05:01:40 AM by (Sirgin)
Posted under Review, Classic Gaming, PC, RTS, Real Time Strategy, Blizzard, Warcraft

Except for maybe Wolfenstein 3D, no other game can bring back memories of my childhood like Warcraft II. This 1995 game is sequel to Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and has helped made Blizzard the company that it is today. Because I never played this game in multiplayer when I was young and it somehow feels wrong to do so now, I'll focus on the singleplayer aspect of the game.

The game's story is being told by a narrator with text running over a still image. You can imagine a 7 year old not patient enough to listen to this so I can recall little to none of it, however I'll try to give a brief impression of what is going on:

The game takes place six years after the events in Orcs & Humans, which ended with the fall of Azeroth. After this the Orcs conquer Lordaeron and attempt a second assault at the human race. The Humans form the Alliance with the Elves, Dwarves and Gnomes to whitstand the Orcs' attack, however, the Orcs form the Horde with the Ogres, Goblins and Trolls. Some more detailed events take place but as I see the story of little importance for this game, I'll leave it at that.

Important to Warcraft II's gameplay is that almost all units and all buildings are identical at both sides. For example, an Elven Archer has the same statistics as a Troll Axethrower; they only vary in name and appearance. This also goes for the different buildings on both sides. The only real difference lies within the spells some higher characters can use. This may sound a bit boring but makes both sides very balanced with no particular advantages over the other.

The main building in the game is the Town Hall, where peasants (or peons) can drop off timber and gold. Wood can also be brought to a Lumber Mill when built. A third resource, oil, can be drilled up once an Oil Platform has been built by an Oil Tanker on a designated location. The Shipyard or Refinary act as drop off points for oil. Besides these there are other typical RTS buildings such as Barracks, Blacksmiths, Farms and Towers. Gathering resources or building buildings takes quite a long time at the start of a game, giving you time to explore some of the map while your army gets ready for action.

Enemy AI is predictable yet challenging enough to keep the game from becoming too easy. The game's expanion, "Beyond the Dark Portal", features better AI and has some pretty difficult missions that'll please even the best RTS players.

Despite being fairly simple (in terms of gameplay mechanics) and not having a gigantic technology tree like some modern games in the genre, Warcraft II's gameplay is still fun to play today, although some features now taken for granted in RTS games aren't present. For example there's no production queues so you have to go back to your unit producing building for each individual unit. You can also select only 9 units at a time, which results in alot of clicking when trying to move a large army around. But when you compare Warcraft II to some RTS games of its time, it's easy to see why this was one of the most important (it not the most important) RTS game of its generation.

Warcraft II's graphics are colorful and cartoony giving the game a rather light undertone. The characters and buildings are all 2D sprites with their own specific look, making it easy to tell them apart. Animations are fluid yet primitive but get the job done. During the different campaigns you'll play on different terrains like grasslands, snowlands, swamps, etc... giving the game enough visual variaty.

More impressive than its visuals were the sound effects and soundtrack or Warcraft II. Sound effects are convincing with arrows being fired or axes being swayed. The soundtrack consists of lots of orchestral-type bombastic tunes that suit the game nicely. I often found myself humming some of these after playing the game for a couple of hours.
When clicking on units they happily confirm your orders but what's even more fun is that they start to throw out hilarious comments when repeatedly clicked on. For example, a Footman will say "Don't you have a kingdom to run?" after a couple of clicks.

On the multiplayer department I can say that it's possible to play with up to 8 players. Until the Battle.net edition was released, gamers used IPX Emulators such as Kali to play online. Another nice feature about Warcraft II is that you can use a single disc of the game to play with 8 players in a network. Compare that to the DRM in Spore and you can only frown upon the way gaming has become restricted.

I could go on about what I like about Warcraft II and what makes this such a memorable game for me, but I think I've covered the basics. If you're an RTS fan there's no excuse for not playing this game and if you're not but see the game for cheap, I'd still recommend getting it. 9.0/10


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Comments
 
Why is it called 'little review'? Wink

Kinda a misnomer, isn't it? laugh

Nice review, by the way.
 
@logical123:

As was stated in an earlier review, it's for the same reason I use "Mini" for mine. The average gaming publication online has reviews that span several pages. By calling his "Little" he can avoid expectations of huge reviews until he decides to write one. Otherwise they can be as small as he wishes them to be or as big without having to do multi-part entries.

Nice review Sirgin and slick comparison with the DRM. Smiley I played a lot of this back when it was new and I really wish they'd make a proper game out of the franchise again.
 
I remember renting it way back when. I never played it that much but I still remember the orcs saying "I don't want to"
 
@logical123:Lol, you still don't know?

@c2696:Thanks for answering in my place (again Wink)
I agree with you about a new Warcraft game. Warcraft III was released 6 or 7 years ago, it's about time for part IV. Well, Blizzard is working on Starcraft II, hopefully Warcraft IV will come after that.

 
@c2696: Whoops... I never read the comments after I posted mine. Not I understand. Wink
That still doesn't change the fact that it is a misnomer. And is this game for the mac? Could I run it under virtual machines/parallels? I have the 1st one for DOS/Win 3.1 on a CD. Thanks.
 
Seems like a pretty 'mini' review to me....

Good work!
 
Funny i just started playing this game again 2 days ago. Such an awesome game.
 
@BadEnoughDude:Thanks!

@Tynstar:It's destiny Tongue But a great game huh, even by today's standards.
 
Hey first off I would just like to thank you for posting this review. It is very important to keep Warcraft 2's name alive.

I would now like to take the chance to invite you all to come play Warcraft 2 multiplayer online for free, no cd or cd key is required.

Just visit http://server.war2.ru and download war2combat edition. If there is anyway to get this link on your website it would be great, if not I understand. Just need some help spreading the word that War2 is making a comeback.
 
@TNARICK:No problem, I like the game alot, that's why I wrote the review Smiley

Didn't know the game was making a comeback, cool! Cheesy

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