Warcraft III Battle Chest review:4 stars (Very good game, but not quite great) - I had a lot of fun with this game, much more than I thought I would. Warcraft 3 is a good old-fashion real-time strategy (RTS) game, with a somewhat outdated resource collection model and base-building formula. It also aspires to be a roleplaying game (RPG), thought it is only partially successful. Overall, if you like RTS games, this one is worth a try. However, I found it not to be as good as some of the more recent games, like Rise of Nations and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War.

Gameplay: Warcraft 3 is remarkably like Warcraft 2 in a lot of ways, which is both good and bad. On the good side, it's fairly easy to learn and quite fun for a while. You choose one of four races to play (which are all distinct); gather gold, lumber, and food; build structures and units; explore the map; and conquer your enemies. It's a very typical 1990s-style RTS game. However, Warcraft 3 adds hero units to the mix, which greatly impact gameplay. These units can gain levels as in a RPG-style game and have special abilities. You really cannot win a game without them. Each race has a choice of 4 heroes to choose from (with The Frozen Throne expansion loaded) and there are neutral heroes that can be recruited. The hero model works quite well with the single-player campaign, since it weaves them into a broad story. However, it makes skirmish games a little awkward, since you are required to both build bases and find creeps (random monsters) for your hero to fight in order to gain levels.

The single-player campaign is both quite long and well done. Actually, it seemed a little too long once I played through the original campaign and the Frozen Throne expansion. The story is the typical good vs. evil theme, which gets really hard to follow by the mid-point. However, the missions are generally well done, with a good mix of RPG-style adventuring and a heavy-dose of base-building and conquest. The missions are designed to allow you the chance to play all four races, and I didn't get the sense that they were just practice for multiplayer online games. That is, for solo gamers like myself, Warcraft 3 has a substantial amount of single-player content.

Warcraft 3 is good, but does have some issues. Some of the single-player missions are quite hard and will require much reloading of saved games in order to complete. Still, the AI can be a little lame. There were countless times that my base would be invaded, and my units would not automatically move to fight the enemy. However, AI enemies do fight smart, often first attacking your units that can do the most damage to them. Rather surprisingly, the game does not have a pause feature so that you can look around the battlefield and give orders while pausing. And unlike recent RTS games, Warcraft 3 limits you to very small armies. You'll be lucky to have 20 fighting units at any given time. Additionally, the game just seems behind the times in other ways. The camera doesn't really zoom, graphics are cartoonish, and the micromanagement can be burdensome at times.

As with every other Blizzard product I've played, the game was perfectly stable and well polished, and I came across no bugs or typos. In addition to a single-player campaign that will last around 70+ hours for the average player, there are a large number of skirmish maps included, multiplayer capacity, and a map editor. The Battle Chest itself includes a lot of reading materials, such as instruction manuals and hints/tips guides. As usual, Blizzard has supported the game well with patches and new official maps that are downloadable at their website.

Graphics: The typical Warcraft visuals. A bit cartoonish, but with a lot of vivid colors and diverse environments. Spell effects look convincing, and there are day & night cycles that give the world a living feel. The game is actually cute in many ways and is probably supposed to be that way. The graphics will not win any awards, but they do serve their purpose. As with Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 has some of the best cutscenes I have ever seen in a video game.

Sound: There is a lot of great voice acting in the game. Some of it is very funny. The music is also well done and appropriate to the mood of the game.

Overall, I recommend Warcraft 3 (plus the expansion) to anyone interested in RTS or fantasy games. It's a well-made strategy game with lots of challenges, a epic (though rambling) story, and an RPG element in the form of heroes (which, again, can be a plus or a minus). If you can get past all of the micromanagement that the game requires and some other outdated elements, Warcraft 3 should provide many hours of entertainment.2 stars (Horrible) - This is one of the worst games I've ever played. The RPG element is almost non-existant. The RTS element is incredibly dumbed down -- just build a few soldiers, a few archers, a few spellcasters, and a few artillery, and attack, and that sums out every campaign mission and online game you'll ever play. The story is ridiculous, it's a copy of Starcraft/Brood War almost to the letter -- you start as good guy, good guy turns bad, you play as formerly good bad guy, then you beat the bad guy who commands the formerly good bad guy. Every creature you face talks trash to you right before you kill it, along the lines of "you fool, you DARE challenge me!" Every single time. Just about every cutscene involves some idiot getting tricked into joining the bad guys, like in Brood War except even dumber.

If Blizzard hadn't built up so much goodwill with Warcraft 2, Starcraft and Diablo, this game would have been in the bargain bin after two weeks. 0/10 and may god have mercy on your soul. 5 stars (Online Play is Great) - Online Play is great as well as the campaign. Get friends to buy it too and play lan games.

Play the custom maps, good fun to be had.
Warcraft III Battle Chest Features:
Computer Role Playing Games (Game, rpgs, rpg, crpg, crpgs)
Havas
Computer Games
Adventure
Collections (Collections)
Bundle (Bundles)
Strategy (Strategic)
Fantasy
Macintosh (Machintosh)
Mac
Apple
Computer Role Playing Games (Game, crpg, crpgs, rpg, rpgs)
CD
ESRB Rating: Teen
Genre: Strategy
Mission: Enter the epic war between the races of Azeroth and the demonic Burning Legion
Platform: Mac OS 9.0 or higher, OS 10.1.3 or higher; Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Includes Warcraft III: The Reign of Chaos, Warcraft III Expansion: The Frozen Throne and official strategy guides for both games

Warcraft III Battle Chest is the CD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 34.99USD.