“Heroes arise to challenge fate and lead their brethren to battle.”

Thus begins the introduction to the real-time strategy game, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. An elaborate cutscene sets the tone and draws players into the realm of returning evil and the struggle for two races to move forward, to forsake a homeland and pursue a final stand in a far-away land.

While this is a nice premise, there are initial inconsistencies that make the opening a little confusing. The Orcs, lifelong enemies of the Humans, are tasked to rescue their own from Human imprisonment as they begin the exodus. The Humans, while trying to solve the riddle of the decay of the land they hold dear, are constantly fighting Orcs. That doesn’t sound like two races struggling to come to terms with the reality of darkness returning, and finding a common ground to make a stand.

Then there is the abrupt change of character in the Human element of the game, but that will be addressed in a moment.

The game begins with a wonderful cutscene showing Human and Orc engaged in battle – part of the uneasy peace, supposedly. Then meteors containing the minions of the returning evil rocket from the sky, and the characters of the cutscene are slaughtered. The Prophet appears to Thrall, son of Durotan, an Orc warchief, and tells him to take his people to Kalimdor. Thrall, trusting the Prophet, obeys.

Then in the court of King Terenas, the Prophet appears with the same warning. The king, unceremoniously, throws him out. He sends his two best paladins, his son the prince (Prince Arthas) and Uther the Lightbringer, to deal with a perceived Orc uprising. After the introduction of Jaina Proudmoore (a delightful character) Arthas learns of contaminated grain that turns the people of the land into the undead. At the doorstep of the perceived central evil-doer, he strips Uther and his knights of their place in the realm and dismisses them from service, while vowing to rid the land of this dreaded nightmare. This after being saved mere moments before at the end of the previous chapter at another town by the same force. This is a 180-degree turn for the character. Rather than be true to a perceived code of the paladins, he radically shifts into the pretender to the throne mode, usurps power not yet his and forces matters. Nice one moment, nasty the next – and completely out of the character to that point in the game.

However out of character that may be, it does set up the action to follow.

As with most RTS's, there is some town management that needs to occur. You have to build and upgrade facilities, gather resources and research new technologies, which will elevate your combat levels. Warcraft III has knocked the whole resource system down to three basic elements – food, gold and lumber. The workers are quite intuitive about where to go to gather what is needed, and players don’t have to waste time in micromanagement.

While there are some elements of the RTS experience that are pretty generic to other games, Warcraft III manages to provide its share of challenge and surprises. The quests are somewhat linear, with each chapter of the tale detailing the main quests that must be overcome in order to advance. Still, there are enough side quests jumping up to send the experienced gamer in numerous directions. The animation is a little on the stilted side; the main characters (the heroes) move quickly but look like they are wading through mud, but the landscapes are lush and well designed.

And this game is not without its nods and winks to the gamer. Take Chapter 2 of the Human side of the game, for example. The name of the chapter is Blackrock and Roll (rock and roll), which is an obvious aside for the game player.

The vocal characterizations are well done, and heroes level up as they progress through the game. While a goodly part of the initial single-player campaign is devoted to the Humans, Jaina Proudmoore aside it is the Orcs that really steal the opening show.

The controls will require about 30 minutes of learning from the novice, though the veteran of the genre will understand the fundamentals much quicker.

Warcraft III is a game that will draw you into the intricacies of the storyline, powered by exquisite cutscenes. It has many strong elements, and though the contradictions of the story are slightly discouraging, the game still has enough elements to entreat, enchant and entertain players looking for a solid RTS experience.

This game is rated Teen for blood and violence.

Gameplay: 8.5
There are a lot of cutscenes, and they do interrupt the play of the game. Each chapter is quest driven, which leads to linear type of game. You have to decide quickly what course of action to take, and pursue it vigorously. Some quests are timed, and you may have to have multiple forces on the move in order to accomplish the main tasks. Fortunately, the game is set up so that you can jump around the mapboard with a simple click of the mouse.

Graphics: 8
While some of the animation may seem a little stilted, the overall look of this game is lush and wonderfully detailed. The camera can zoom in and rotate out, though it doesn’t zoom out far enough at times.

Sound: 7.8
The vocal characterizations are well done, and the music does a nice job. The effects are what one would expect from this style of game.

Difficulty: Medium
This game boasts two difficulty settings – normal and hard. The controls, unless you have experience with RTS games, will take 30-40 minutes to get comfortable with. However, once you learn the hot keys, this game is quite enjoyable to play.

Concept: 8.5
The storyline is somewhat linear, with side quests that spice it up. The races are well portrayed and the player interface has been streamlined making this a game in which players can execute orders quickly and efficiently.

Multiplayer: 7
The game does support multiplayer action, but nothing out of the ordinary occurs here. The four different races, and technologies they possess do make for interesting “king-of-the-hill” games though.

Overall: 8.8
The game does have a very nice turn in the storyline (as in two disparaging races fleeing for a last-stand realm), and seeing the game from two sides is nice. Of course, it takes on added dimensions when you reach Kalimdor. It would have been nice for a little more consistency early on, but the races are well done, and the effects unique to each make for entertaining game play. If there is one race that is a little more staid than the others, it is it the humans. And not all races come into play at the game’s outset. You will have to work through scenarios in order to get to the point where the options open up. The game is a little linear when it comes to the only way to advance (as in the main quests), but for the adept, there are enough side quests to make the trek intriguing.