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WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos Collector's Edition

WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos Collector's Edition

List Price: $69.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best of the Genre
Review: I bought Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos the day it came out. Warcraft I and II both defined the RTS game market when they were released. Warcraft III by far has outdone its predecessors in updating a segment of the gaming industry that was beginning to become as boring as Saltine Crackers.

One major problem with Real Time Strategy games is that balance usually lends itself to the creation of a massive army of one type of unit. However, Warcraft III was designed to break that mold. By the clever crafting of designers, no two games are the same onslaught of one type of unit. Also, Blizzard, being the dedicated company that they are, releases patches that alter balance issues as well as fix bugs. In addition to this, Warcraft III includes the addition of hero units who become more adept and can carry an arsenal of items to compliment their skills and the skills of other units.

The single player storyline is absolutely stupendous. The voice-acting, mixed with the utilization of 3D-in-game cutscenes, creates an encompassing atmosphere that makes the player become more engrossed with the story with every mission. Even better is the diverse types of missions (from total conquest to covert rescue operations). To top of each campaign off, Blizzard gives the player a beautiful 3D-rendered movie that caps the events of the campaign and opens the door for the next one.

Not much needs to be said about the multiplayer segment of Warcraft III. Blizzard's Battle.net has always been known to be high quality. Warcraft III is no exception on Battle.net. With the addition of clans and spectators (with a patch available online), multiplayer play on Battle.net is exciting and fast paced, giving gamers all they need to lose hours of their lives playing a game.

I suppose a little should be said about the extra features of the collector's edition. The included DVD is a nice extra, providing a DVD-quality representation of the 3D cutscenes as well as many other Blizzard trailers and trivia. The soundtrack for the game contains examples of the awesome musical score made for Warcraft III, and The Art of Warcraft opens the world behind Warcraft's art, showing the depth and aesthetic beauty of the series. The added prints for each of the races are a nice addition to any hard-core player's collection.

Indeed, Warcraft III is an awesome game that has added to the Real Time Strategy game genre, showing that even this aging game style can adapt. Leave it to Blizzard to do this; they did it with Warcraft I and II as well as with Starcraft. This is a highly recommended buy for any computer gamer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Collector's edition worth the dough
Review: A quick note on the collector's edition, just to get it out of the way: I found it to be worth the money. You get an art book, which to fans of the series, is worth the price difference on its own. You get a DVD, which contains not only the cinemas from the game, but a bunch of Warcraft trivia, that leads to the cinemas and cutscenes from the previous Warcraft games (scarily bad, in comparison). You get a soundtrack, you get a really nice box, and you get some prints of the other versions of the box cover art. I thought it was easily worth the difference in price, and I'd recommend it to anyone without reservation. The art book isn't chintzy in the least - it's defintiely coffee table quality.

The game itself is fantastic - the alterations to the standard RTS formula are almost all wonderful. I've always had a problem with Blizzard's relatively arbitrary unit control and unit number limits, but in WC3, it works. It makes the battles smaller, it makes the games quicker. Not only do you have to get resources, now you have to manage them to maximize their benefit.

The hero units are a fantastic addition to multiplayer, and it allows each person to play the game slightly differently, even if they're trying to "optimize" their strategies.

The single player game is a pretty radical departure from the previous games in the series, and has a linear storyline, told through in-game voiceovers, and in-engine cutscenes that frame the individual missions. There are both major and minor missions, and some that you only discover by uncovering specific areas of the map. The storyline is compelling, and the mission structure is widely varied.

Playing on Battle.net has been easy, and hooking up with friends is made extremely simple by WC3's battle.net interface.

I wholeheartedly recommend the game, and on top of that, I wholeheartedly recommend the collector's edition over the regular one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Orcs are friends, not goons
Review: I have to admit that I've killed many orcs over the years and never felt an ounce of remorse about it--and who could blame me? They smell bad, they drool, have terrible dental hygiene, steal the jobs of hard-working dwarves and gnomes, and of course...they eat people. Or so I was told. (*Mild Spoiler*) You can imagine what a shock it was to learn in Warcraft III that not only are the orcs not enemies; they are allies you need to save humanity's collective bacon. So as you play the game, you'll need to drive that Lord of the Rings propaganda out of your mind and find peace with your inner orc.

Warcraft III is a terrific real-time strategy game that goes farther in blurring elements of role-playing and strategy than any game that's come before it. The inclusion of heroes as role-playing characters is terrific and provides extra incentive to explore the entire map because you never know what items or quests are hidden in remote corners. It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you find those hidden magic boots or that ring of protection. Warcraft III also marks the best story to date for a Real-Time Strategy game. In the third campaign of the single-player, I tell you that I was an orc...for about an hour. It's also worth mentioning that the tale cleverly unfolds in a way to allow you to play each of the factions (Human, Undead, Orc, and Night Elf) in a compelling progression.

Anyone who has played RTS games before will be familiar with the interface and gameplay of Warcraft III. All of the usual unit types are there--it's just that in Warcraft III they seem more polished than in other games. Whether it's the endearing signature responses when you click on them or the way the units intelligently form up, move, path find, and attack, every aspect of every unit has obviously been thoroughly tested and balanced. Not once when I gave an order did a unit wander off from the pack to explore some random corner of the screen and cause me mouse-crushing, game-cursing rage (see how well I found my inner orc?). It may not sound like much, but those of you who have played many real-time strategy games know that this is not a given. When I ordered a unit to march to a certain place and kill, they did just that.

I realize that the game is over a year old now, but it's worth noting how technically sound this game is. I did not have a hiccup in this game. Never in my single-player campaign did the game crash to desktop, freeze, stutter, spit or delay. The load times were very reasonable and there were also no graphical problems changing resolution or color depth. The graphics themselves are probably the weakest element of the game; all of the units certainly look very blocky and dated. But of course, for a real-time strategy game, who really gives a crap? You don't need state of the art graphics for an RTS. I certainly didn't find that it affected my experience.

I only played the multiplayer a couple of times and I got stomped like the kid in my elementary school who used to wear cardigans that looked like they'd been swiped from Mr. Rogers' closet. It was that bad. This game has been out long enough that even if you seek out a so-called newbie game, you're dealing with people who obviously eat, slept and breathe Warcraft. But there was no problem finding a game and I didn't have any problems with lag or people bailing out of games. It just so happens that I stink.

On the whole, this is a beast of a game: fun to play, compelling, balanced and technically sound...and I think it's time we thought about an orc for president.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The game is great and the extras are a great deal!
Review: I haven't seen everyhting included in the collector's edition, but I know that you get a cd will all of the music, a dvd with all the ingame movies, cards of all the different races, and a coffee table book. If you aren't really in to Warcraft (though I am) you probably shouldn't buy the collector's edition, but still buy the game. If you do really like warcraft, you get all these things for not too much extra money. But anyway, my friend was chosen to play the test version of the game, and I have played it at his house. I have only played multiplayer mode, which I didn't really enjoy that much in the previous games, but it was incredible. The graphics are incredible, and even the scenery is really great to look at. There are four races in the game, and then a neutral race called creeps, who you have to be wary of. In this game, you have to focus on building small armies of well equipt heroes instead of massive armies. I liked the hero aspect(which was taken from Diablo,) and I would definitely recommend this game to anyone buying a game this summer.
If you are a fan of the other Warcrafts, you will definitely love this game!!!
If you aren't a fan of the previous Warcraft games, you will still love this game!!!!!!!1

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Greatest Strategy Game Ever
Review: .... Blizzard Entertainment is the most dedicated company I have even seen before. With hits like WarCraft I & II, Diablo I & II, and StarCraft, how could anyone doubt the incredible game that WarCraft III will be? With four detailed playable races (Humans, Orcs, Night Elves, and Undead) there is something for everyone. Blizzard also included a fifth race called The Burning Legion to play the villains in the game. Allowing players to control hero units that gain levels, learn abilities, and can equip items adds some role playing elements to the old school game play.

Other features include:
-Brilliant three dimensional graphics
-Neutral Buildings, accessible offer a variety of wondrous magic items and fearsome mercenary units
-Neutral Units inhabit the world of Azeroth and impede the unwary but yield precious treasure when defeated in combat
-Full Multiplayer support, including Internet play over Battle.net®.
-New Multiplayer Features including shared unit control and resource trading between players.
-Improved Battle.net Features including improved ladder and clan support.
-Advanced World Editor Design Tools allow players to create their own maps and customize many aspects of the game.

There are hundreds more features besides this,.... For the rest of you, what are you waiting for!?! Buy this game now!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome Strat
Review: If you want to play the best strategy game of 2002 and well, last few thousand years, play chess. If you want to play the next best, with spectacular 3D graphics, good sound effects, and play-balance, play WarCraft III : Reign of Chaos. I've been watching the project since it was announced, and it has never dropped my attention. After playing the Beta, I was amazed at how well Blizzard handled their first 3D game, and how well they incorporated heros into it. I was in awe of the strategy, and the balance, and counter balance I've seen in battles.
And never have I seen such beautiful cinematics since Diablo 2 and the movie Final Fantasy, The Spirits Within. The cg's are well-worth a DVD copy that comes wiht the collector's edition, and the extra financial support to Blizzard. I only hope that StarCraft 2 and the rest can compete with it, but I know they will, seeing the work from a company that really knows how to make games. Forget all the rest, this game will keep you hooked with an amazing storyline in the campaign, amazing battles that will be talked about with your buddies after, and an editor that allows you to create your own story, and your own mini-games, and even your own cinematics.
Thank you Blizzard, for giving this summer a purpose!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Blizzard has done it again!!!
Review: Since the early 1990's, Blizzard has been a household name for all RTS fans. Blizzard quickly became one of the leaders in the video game field with the original Warcraft and Warcraft II. Later, they astounded the gaming world with the Diablo series. In 1998, people ran to the video game stores yet again to buy StarCraft. After all these major successes, it's hard to believe that Blizzard still has anything left to give, but let me assure you, they most certainly do.

Warcraft III is easily one of the best RTS games I've ever played, and I've played pretty much all of them. Never before have I seen a game with this level of polish and fine tuning. It's immediately obvious when you put the CD in how much time went into this game, not just creating it, but tweaking every last detail until it couldn't be made any better. Another area in which this game shines above most others is difficulty. It's not easy. Unlike games such as Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, you aren't going to beat this in a day. You're not going to spend a month playing it and then finally give up either. It's not too easy, and it's not too hard. It's just the right length, and just the right difficulty.

Although the game is exceptional on it's own, I personally would reccomend buying the collector's edition. The artbook by itself is enough to warrant the extra [money](at least in my opinion). It's roughly 200 pages of drawings and pictures including conceptual drawings from Warcraft I, II, and III. It's really interesting to see the artist's original ideas. Some of them changed drastically before production, and some of them never made it into the games at all.

The Bonus DVD is also a very nice thing to have. Be honest now: how many times have you played through a game, saved at a certain point, and replayed the next part over and over just to see one really cool cutscene? I have to admit I have. The Bonus DVD contains all of the prerendered cutscenes, along with the Cinematic Trailer, which, if you're like me, will save you some time.

Also included in the Collector's Edition are the four 8x10" prints of all four races, the CD Soundtrack, and the Collector's Edition manual, which is signed by the complete Warcraft III development team.

All in all, Warcraft III is one of the best RTS games ever made. It's just that simple. The campaign mode will keep you busy for at least a week or so (twice that long if you go on to hard mode), and after that, playing on Battle.net will keep you occupied for months to come. I definately recommend buying this game. It's the best I've seen in quite a while.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Very dissappointed
Review: The presentation was good. I bought this Collection to get a behind scences on the making of Warcraft etc. I was dissapointed that the DVD wasn't more than the game. No running commentary, no behind scences. I will be selling it as soon as I can.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: this game is great
Review: This is a really great game.I do not have this game but I play it all the
time.I love playing this game on battle net.I also like playing it with my
friends on local area net work.I liked this game the minute I played it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome game
Review: I bought Warcraft 3 because I am a fan of the Warcraft series. I was blown away by the amazing graphics and the overall playability of the game. Once you have beaten the game in campaign mode you can go online and play via Battle.Net, or as many people do, via your home network.

Warcraft 3 is different from WC2 and Starcraft because you are introduced to special characters (Heroes) who level up during the game and have special abilities. Heroes are a key feature of the game that makes it different (and better) than other games of this type.

Another interesting thing in this game is that you have motivation to beat your opponents without use of overwhelming force. The more units you have the higher "tax" you pay on gold and wood that your units bring in. This makes you try to find more creative ways to beat your opponents.

Overall this is an awesome game.


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