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I always feel a bit nervous covering Blizzard content on this forum but here we go nonetheless. As an update I've actually played Warcraft 1 recently to get some fraps footage for one of our music videos, and it's a lot more complex and well crafted than I remembered. Very challenging too!
It's also worth noting I didn't play multiplayer so I don't have that side of the story but would be really interested to hear what others thought of it.
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Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
Developer: Blizzard
Platform: PC
Release Year: 1995
Stephen's Rating: 5/10
![[image loading]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rls17mZar7A/Tqm8Xrk7dsI/AAAAAAAAATc/tLR6C-HBPes/s1600/Warcraft_-_Orcs_%2526_Humans_Coverart.png)
The original Warcraft game was the grandfather of the enormously successful Warcraft and Starcraft universes. Although the original game was only a glimmer of what the sequels would eventually become, it had a lot merit and broke a lot of new ground.
It's worth mentioning that Warcraft is a apparently a direct translation from Warhammer. Apparently Blizzard were originally contracted to build a real time strategy for the Warhammer universe, but lost the contract. Because they'd already developed most of the game, they changed the name and the theme slightly and Warcraft was born (which then developed into its own universe entirely).
Basic Plot
The game involves the battle between the Alliance (humans) and Orcs. The setting is the human world of Azeroth. Orcish warlocks from the world of Draenor have opened a small portal to Azeroth, and the Orcs have embarked on a campaign to conquer Azeroth for themselves.
Gameplay
Although not the first real time strategy, Warcraft introduced some new concepts which have carried over into almost all RTS games that followed.
Beyond the usual harvesting resources, building troops, building structures, and attacking the enemy, Warcraft also introduced different game modes in the campaign such as rescuing allied units who are trapped in enemy territory, or missions where you couldn't re-build your forces (i.e. had to use what you were given at the start efficiently). This concept allowed for a better storytelling experience inside the setting of an RTS game.
![[image loading]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xpo9OYos9ck/TqnAyuy4IRI/AAAAAAAAATk/pZcrFh0slc4/s1600/Warcraft_Orcs_v_Humans_01.png)
Positives
This game paved the way for hundreds to follow. It introduced the world to a new game universe which culminated in the immortalised World of Warcraft and pushed the boundaries of what an RTS game could be.
Negatives
To me, even at the time, it wasn't a fantastically interesting game. I started to really pay attention when I got into Warcraft 2 not much more than a year later. It was too slow paced and not intuitive to play for my liking.
![[image loading]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Myg1TD4ov5M/TqnA4thpAsI/AAAAAAAAATs/GejgyioGsbg/s320/wc1.jpg)
Memorable Moments
As my best friend has pointed out, the archer unit was very overpowered. According to him the secret to winning any game was to build lots of archers. Because units moved so slowly and the range of the archer was so long, it was impossible to lose. However, I've played this game again recently and that really wasn't the case.
 
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Mass warlocks and summon demons. Had a fun time replaying this game just recently as part of my Warcraft 1-3 replays.
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Hmm.. I would expect something more, maybe compare it to WC3 for the people who played that to get an idea? Describe some of the units? Pretty much anything would do, there's not much to learn from your summary..
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United States24776 Posts
This is so alliance-centric. The orcs were under the control of evil demons when they invaded Azeroth!
XD
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Ok, after reading a lot of your reviews( not really just the scores) I have to ask what's Sc2 score according to you?
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On June 20 2012 05:43 empty.bottle wrote:
Ok, after reading a lot of your reviews( not really just the scores) I have to ask what's Sc2 score according to you?
I have already reviewed it but not released it, and gave it a 10/10. Not because it's my favourite game of all time, but just because of what it is and how much of an impact it has had on the world. It is close to my favourite game of all time, but I think the nostalgia of Ultima VII: Black Gate wins over.
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I wish I had been around for WC, I was just a wee tot at the time xD.
EDIT: Took away the 3 in WC3 because its less pertinent to the thread.
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On June 20 2012 05:23 Stratos wrote:
Hmm.. I would expect something more, maybe compare it to WC3 for the people who played that to get an idea? Describe some of the units? Pretty much anything would do, there's not much to learn from your summary..
The objective of the blog was initially only as a means for me to remember all those games I've played in my life, not take a really close look at them from a critical perspective. I'm sharing it (rather than keeping a private blog) because I've found people enjoy the nostalgia.
I'll take your feedback into consideration though, I think I will move on to a more critical analysis of each game but part of the problem is I initially wrote this review 6 months ago but have just never released it, so I'll have to clear the back-log before I can really move on to that stage.
As for a comparison with WC3?
It's hard to compare because there was that intermediate step of Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness. I really enjoyed Warcraft 2 and had quite a few entertaining multiplayer adventures. To me, Warcraft 2 was a lot like the original but with a smoother interface which made it more accessible to the average player. And of course there were air and sea units... The thing that drove me nuts about both the original game and WC2 was that an Alliance footman is the same thing as an Orc grunt only one has +1 armor and one has +1 attack. All of the units are the same between factions, only with a different unit model.
Warcraft 3 took such a different approach. As with Warcraft 1 I only played single player so I can't *really* make a lot of comments beyond the campaign, but it felt like they added a mechanic which encouraged the player to make use of a smaller number of units in a really efficient way - with heroes and the upkeep system in particular. I found that quite hard to handle after being exposed to StarCraft, but I really did enjoy the mechanics nonetheless. I also really like that, as well as StarCraft, each race didn't have a "mirror" unit to the other/s as was the case with WC1 and WC2. That in itself makes each race have its own personality and play style - which is really important in a RTS to me. How dull would it be without the ability to say "I love Protoss, I love the way their units support X style of gameplay".
From a really basic perspective, Warcraft 3 seemed to close in the scope of the combat from massive armies doing battle to skirmishes and small scale battles - which I think ultimately led toward mods/games like DoTA which take that same mechanic and make it the primary goal of the game (make the best use of just one unit, and let the rest of the army/macro being automated).
Again, thanks for your feedback. I'll look at incorporating it as I go but it's going to be a long journey  I've prepapred over 130 game reviews so far and I have a list of 150 yet to write...
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On a related note, does anyone have experience working with DOSBox (in Windows 7)? A while back, I tried to get WC1/2 working for days, and never could manage it. I loved Tides of Darkness.
Also, I wish Blizzard would let me enter my WC2 cd keys and download a client whenever, but alas.
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On June 20 2012 07:45 Iranon wrote:
On a related note, does anyone have experience working with DOSBox (in Windows 7)? A while back, I tried to get WC1/2 working for days, and never could manage it. I loved Tides of Darkness.
Also, I wish Blizzard would let me enter my WC2 cd keys and download a client whenever, but alas.
I have it working on Dosbox under Windows 7! I ran it only a few weeks ago and it worked fine. I did have to play with the Dosbox configuration file, in particular the screen resolution (I set it to one that was compatible) and also upped the CPU cycles that Dosbox uses.
Some useful references: http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Performance
And I think this is where I got my original information: http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Dosbox.conf
(apologies, I don't have access to my own PC right now but I can provide you with the contents of my config file later if you still have issues - PM me)
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On June 20 2012 06:51 DRTnOOber wrote:Show nested quote +On June 20 2012 05:43 empty.bottle wrote:
Ok, after reading a lot of your reviews( not really just the scores) I have to ask what's Sc2 score according to you? I have already reviewed it but not released it, and gave it a 10/10. Not because it's my favourite game of all time, but just because of what it is and how much of an impact it has had on the world. It is close to my favourite game of all time, but I think the nostalgia of Ultima VII: Black Gate wins over.
Oh that explains a lot of things...
I guessed right.
I don't think you should review games based on "impact", specially when they don't have any impact in the RTS genre.
Unlike WoW, Sc2 won't change how RTS games are made, and the game is far from perfect.
Reviewing eSports isn't the same as reviewing games.
Please don't take this the wrong way, maybe you just review games for fun, if you do then don't mind me.
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On June 20 2012 14:07 empty.bottle wrote:Show nested quote +On June 20 2012 06:51 DRTnOOber wrote:On June 20 2012 05:43 empty.bottle wrote:
Ok, after reading a lot of your reviews( not really just the scores) I have to ask what's Sc2 score according to you? I have already reviewed it but not released it, and gave it a 10/10. Not because it's my favourite game of all time, but just because of what it is and how much of an impact it has had on the world. It is close to my favourite game of all time, but I think the nostalgia of Ultima VII: Black Gate wins over. Oh that explains a lot of things... I guessed right. I don't think you should review games based on "impact", specially when they don't have any impact in the RTS genre. Unlike WoW, Sc2 won't change how RTS games are made, and the game is far from perfect. Reviewing eSports isn't the same as reviewing games. Please don't take this the wrong way, maybe you just review games for fun, if you do then don't mind me.
Absolutely, I review games for fun. In fact, they're not reviews, they're basically "memory joggers". And my rating out of 10 is entirely subjective. Any suggestions how I can make that clearer in my posts?
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EPT
