Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Replay: 9.5
Multiplayer: Yes, Online

Blizzard is a big time strategy game company. They have continued to pump out strategy games that are simply quite impressive. Unlike companies like Electronic Arts, Blizzard actually puts work into making their games both look and play good, and actually put work into making good expansions. The Warcraft series of strategy games is no exception. They have been quality games. Can Blizzard pull it off again with another good strategy games?

Blizzard hasn't let us down yet. All real time strategy fans will want to pick this game up. It comes packing four unique races, a ton of buildings and units, a fun and engaging single player campaign, and an extremely addicting online multiplayer. This game has a perfect balance of strategy for veterans and simplicity/fun for newcomers to the strategy genre. It's deep for those hardcore strategists but has a quick and easy learning curve for anyone who doesn't want to get too involved but just wants to pick up and play.

This game plays just about the same as any other strategy game. Basically, there are four races. The Humans and Orcs are both returning from previous Warcraft games, but the Night Elves and the Undead are new to the series and add a whole new dimension to the gameplay. Each race has it's advantages and disadvantages. Essentially, each race has units that can counter units from any other race, but the trick is to try to guess what units the other race is building. There are plenty of unit types and a good selection of different buildings and also a healthy dose of researchable spells and upgrades for each race.

One of the many new additions to the series are the heroes. Each race has three unique heroes. The first one is free after building the appropriate building, but each one after that costs a good sum of gold (gold and timber are the two building materials in this game). The choices of heroes is a chess match in itself. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages and different heroes are either good or bad against the various heroes from the other races. For instance, a strong magic hero would be good against weak ranged units but if the enemy massed strong melee units then the magic may be outmatched. These heroes are very important in this game.

The most critical thing in this game is called "creeping". Basically, there are creeps across the map, computer controlled enemies. Your heroes need to be levelled up in order to gain new magic/abilities and killing these creeps and becoming stronger is very important if you plan on being successful with this game. A strong hero with good abilities can easily turn the tide of battle.

I am going to do this review a little bit different. I will go through race by race with a quick review of their strong points of each just for good measure.

Humans: Return gamers who have already played the Warcraft series will find themselves right at home with the humans. They are an all around solid race. They are a good race for beginners but they aren't the strongest race. One of the better units, the priestess, has the ability to turn enemies into sheep. If the enemy doesn't have dispell magic to turn the units back, then the humans will have easy pickings with the enemy as they can't attack while being sheep. They have solid attacking heroes who can do a good bit of damage.

Orcs: Orcs are the strongest melee units hands down. No other race can stand up to their melee abilities. Their heroes are also focused on the melee aspect. They don't have the strongest anti air so with the orcs it is advised to try to end things quickly with their power. If things drag on too long and the other races get the powerful magic and air units then the orcs won't be able to do as well.

Night Elves: The Night Elves are my personal favorite. In my humble opinion, they have the strongest heroes with the best abilities. The Demon Hunter is incredibly strong and his special ability "Metamorphosis" turns him into a creature no one can match 1 on 1. The Priestess of the Moon has an ability called "Starfall" which damages all enemies around her. Truly not to be messed with. The night elves also have buildings which can be uprooted and can defend themselves, which is very cool. They are a very deep race and it takes a good player to handle them, but they can be the most dangerous force on the battlefield.

Undead: As the name suggests, the Undead do not have any living soldiers. Their forces are demonic and powerful. They wield powerful sorcery. They have a good crop of heroes. But their best unit is the summoner. Unless going up against an enemy who has units who can dispell magic, the summoners are a force to be reckoned with. On top of being able to attack from a distance, they have the ability to raise skeleton warriors from fallen soldiers. With enough summoners and a big enough battle, the skeleton warriors can be a truly dominant force. Luckily, there is a time limit on their existence.

Alright, now moving on to the graphics. This game has incredible special effects. The magic attacks and abilities are true eye candy, not to mention effective. The attacks are well modelled. Characters actually hit the enemy when attacked rather than in some games where archers can fire an arrow, miss the target, but still give them damage.
The characters themselves are modelled well for a strategy game. As with all strategy games, the characters don't exactly look all that impressive when zoomed up close enough, but from the standard view all the characters look detailed and smooth. Very little amounts of jagged edges and smooth animations help this game to look very solid.

The environments in this game are also well modeled. The maps are the perfect size and are populated by many different objects. The colors used set a good atmosphere for the game. The undead are dark and dreary while the night elves are greenish to match their forest environment. Humans are naturally bright and happy. The use of colors adds a lot to the graphics in this game.

Sound wise this game is very solid. The grunts and cries of soldiers in battle all sound good. Characters will cry out when they have been struck down. There are a lot of good noises for attacks. Each character has a unique noise for their attacks. These sounds range from the clang of blades to the cracks of musket fire to the different sounds of magic attacks.

The characters all have good voiceovers. The Orcs sound big and stupid, as they should, the Undead have raspy, dark, evil voices, etc. The heroes and each character has it's own unique voice and each has a few lines. These lines range from acknowledging commands to funny jokes. They will let you know when they are under attack, etc. There is also a good amount of dialogue that adds to the single player campaign.

The musical score in this game is impressive indeed. The music sets the tone for the game perfectly. I must say Blizzard has done a very good job with picking out and implementing the music into their games. The music really sets a good atmosphere for the game, and combined with the atmosphere set by the use of colors in the graphics, it truly turns this game into something great.

There is a TON of replay to be found here. From a fun single player campaign spanning all four races to skirmishes offline against the computers to online battles, this game has it all. Online play is of course the best. What really defines this game's single player is the customization. There are a ton of custom maps and games that really make playing this game over and over fun and it is never redundant.

This game is an easy buy for anyone who likes strategy games. It is definately worth the money. The amount of replay offered by this game will keep all sorts of gamers coming back to play it again and again. Kudos to Blizzard for another great game.