Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
WarCraft III: Reforged – Review
Everything old is bound to become popular again, and it has proven to be true for fashion, movies, and games. We have seen numerous remakes and remasters of games during the last few years and some received minor enhancements to run on more modern consoles, while others were revamped completely by building up the game from scratch, respecting the source material. Recently Blizzard already did a great remaster of the first StarCraft game, and now we get to see the ‘Reforged’ version of WarCraft III, which has remastered graphics, new servers, redone cinematics (not all) and all the content of both the base game and The Frozen Throne expansion. We were curious to see how the developers brought back the 2002 experience that was an interlude for the still-popular World of WarCraft.
Story
As expected, the story takes place after the events of the first two games, and most of the Orcs have been placed in internment camps. After defeating the Burning Legion, it seemed their bloodlust faded, and they have now become rather docile. Nonetheless, it seems as if the world will need their expertise in battle, as the Burning Legion has returned. You’ll play through different story arcs while alternating between the Orcs, the Humans, the Night Elves and the Undead, all to accomplish their individual goals. You’ll see different characters find their way in the world, while others get corrupted. Overall you’ll see how the alliance between different races gets formed, in order to drive back the Burning Legion.
The story is told through different cinematics and many in-game dialogues, which all have proper voice acting. The story is interesting, and even though an RTS game will need you to invest a lot of time in it, the story motivates you to push through the many lengthy missions.
Graphics
Graphically a lot has changed in terms of gameplay. Where everything used to be rather blocky and hardly had any details, even though the quality was good for the time, the game is now a lot crisper, character models have been reworked, the maps look a lot more detailed and even the moving character portraits received a complete overhaul. It’s clear the game is still only a remaster and not a complete remake, as not everything looks exquisite by today’s standards, but the game still looks fairly impressive. We did notice that the game currently isn’t completely optimized, as even with a good setup the loading times are quite long.
We hoped to see many of the cinematics being reworked, like they did with the original teaser/intro of WarCraft III, but only one cinematic was somewhat reworked, while all the rest only received the HD upscale treatment. We have to admit, it’s nice to see these great cinematics being upscaled, we simply expected a bit more, especially considering the game’s current price tag.
Sound
As always, Blizzard knows how to design a game, and they still score heavily with the sound design of WarCraft III: Reforged. Despite the game’s audio dating from 2002, everything still sounds clear and crisp, and the music supports everything that is going on in this epic adventurous RTS game. You’ll get a lot of voice acting in the campaign, and of course, all the famous one-liners will still be present in the game.
Gameplay
WarCraft III: Reforged is a classic RTS game in which you’ll have to build up your base, with one of the four available races to choose from, and gain the upper hand on your opponent by wiping out his forces and destroying his base. When opting to play the campaign, you’ll gradually unlock new units and buildings as you clear missions, but those already familiar with the original game can choose to play custom matches and/or online against other players.
The game itself plays like a fairly typical RTS game, as you’ll have to start out by farming for resources. You’ll have to mine gold, and chop trees for lumber, and build some basic structures to have a steady food income. The latter will just be a limit indicator, not an actual resource. From here on out, you can start training units, research better weapons and armor, build new structures and so on. Everything is quite straightforward, and the game will also tell you when you have not met a certain requirement. There is a fixed amount of micro-management, as you can create different unit selections (teams), making it easier to respond in a matter of seconds.
WarCraft III introduced a new mechanic back in 2002, namely hero characters, which can level up, and carry a few (consumable) items. These hero characters were also the inspiration for games such as Dota and League of Legends. While these are units that can still be revived for a certain cost when slain on the battlefield, they do add a bit of variation to the gameplay, especially when properly equipping and training them. This in combination with managing your limited amount of troops can result in some interesting battles.
In this remake, Battle.net has been properly embedded, allowing for decent online play, be it casually or competitive. The game’s servers are stable and allow you to play rather carefree.
Conclusion
WarCraft III: Reforged is a very decent remaster of the 2002 classic and its expansion. The remastered in-game graphics and the inclusion of full Battle.net support makes this a game that is still great to play, be it casually for its story, or competitively online. That being said, the price tag is quite high for those simply wanting to replay this title for nostalgia purposes. Those wanting to experience the game for the first time, to learn more about the lore, or simply because they are looking for a decent RTS experience, will certainly have hours of fun with this definitive version.
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