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Platform: PC Genre: RTS Publisher: Havas Developer: Blizzard ETA: June 2002
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Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Multiplayer Beta Hands-on Preview
Taking part in a Beta is like test-driving a prototype car that, although is functional, is missing a door, the windshield hasn’t been installed, and most of the dashboard is a tangle of wires. Plus, not all the seats have been installed and the right front wheel feels like it’s going to fall off. None of this means the car is undriveable or that it will remain that way, it’s just there to give you, the driver/player an idea of what the final version will look like.
As a Beta, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (RoC) gives a good idea what to expect of the Gold version, at least in terms of multiplayer as the single player campaign(s) aren’t included.
Besides the obvious fresh coat of textured paint and a 3D engine, RoC brings some new aspects to the Warcraft universe. There is quite the list of new features and the first you’ll notice are the two new races: Undead and Night Elves. (And of course, the Humans and Orcs also appear.) As you progress further you’ll discover lots of spells, the versatility of the Legendary Hero units, upkeep problems, Creeps, sub-groups, neutral buildings, and the night/day cycle (which affects fog of war and viewing distance).
The Night Elves and Undead, for all the hype surrounding them, aren’t all that different from the Orcs and Humans – the tech trees are very similar as are the management issues with resources, battle units, and upgrades. This allows players to easily adjust to the new races without having to learn everything all over again.
However, the Night Elves do offer more strategic possibilities since they’ve been designed with mobility in mind. All the important buildings, actually big trees, can be uprooted and moved. Not only that, they can attack enemies and eat trees to regain hit points. It makes for interesting hit and fade tactics. You can hit an enemy then virtually vanish into the night.
The Undead are essentially Zergs (from Starcraft) in new clothes. They’re fast and players using them tend to employ the swarm tactic. (At least they did 95% of the time when I was playing against them.)
(If you want more details on the new races, go to Blizzard’s official site because there are so many units to examine that this preview would drop into character sketches if I spent more time on them.)
Keeping in tradition with sequels, RoC is more complicated and a few more elements have been mixed into the micromanagement batter. This is no more apparent that with the Legendary Hero units.
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Each race has three hero units available – the first one is practically free but the next two cost a tidy sum. Heroes can be produced in any order but you can only choose one at a time after you’ve upgraded your HQ. There are many rewards associated with the Heroes and most times can turn the tide of battle very quickly. In a nod to RPG’s, the Hero units can gain experience points, confer combat and defensive bonuses, and cast spells (or perform special abilities). They can also instantly transport back to any friendly HQ (with any nearby friendly units) at the push of a button. If your base looks largely undefended |
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most opponents will go in for the kill only to have a Hero drop in accompanied by 8 other units to squash them. The element of surprise actually works in these cases. (If your hero dies in battle, all is not lost as long as you’ve built an Altar that can revive them.) But to use the Heroes effectively you have to know two things: Creeps and sub-groups.
Creeps are various neutral monsters that appear on the map, most likely found sitting in front of gold mines or neutral buildings (like shops and mercenary camps). If you want your Hero unit to gain experience and become more powerful, it’s essential to send him out (with a few other combat units) to slay them before you hunker down and wage war on your opponent(s). (And you'll get XP for killing bad guys too.) Not only does Creep combat allow XP increases, your Hero unit can pick up items the Creeps “surrender” after they’ve been hacked to death. Each Hero can carry six items. Some items are one use only then vanish from your inventory, like the Tome of Experience, but others remain in the inventory until they drop it or die. (For example, there are a number of rings to wear.)
Handling sub-groups effectively is also key when using your Heroes. Selecting a group of units, then hitting TAB is a handy way to switch to groups within groups, so you can issue separate commands without deselecting the group. As good as this feature is (in theory) most battles will be over before you can even think about using it. (Unless you’re wiping out an enemy base, building by building.)
Most confrontations are confusing melees – limbs, projectiles, spell effects flying everywhere. Sometimes you’ll just grope around and get lucky… I’m still talking about RoC! The action is fast, but that’s not all bad because the graphics are first rate so watching your forces get slaughtered (in my case at any rate) never gets old.
Some of the confusion can be squarely laid on the shoulders of players that rely on building massive forces then letting them run rampant. Blizzard has employed an upkeep variable – yet something else to keep in mind – to encourage smaller forces.
There are three levels of upkeep: none, low, and high. Depending on which upkeep level you’re operating under, you’ll incur resource penalties. In other words, instead of pulling down 10 units of gold per trip in no upkeep you’ll only get 7 units under low upkeep. The upkeep level is determined by your Food usage. (The higher the Food usage, the higher the penalty on gold and lumber gathering.) This encourages players to construct buildings and defenses before building a huge army. Of course, hiring some mercenary muscle can help in the early going to slow down enemy incursions.
I can’t say enough good things about the team play, although finding a 3 vs. 3 or 2 vs. 2 games can take time. Finding one-on-one matches takes about a second but if you want the more involving aspects of RoC you’ll hold on the three to five minutes to join a 4 player game. Matchups are currently anonymous but there are plans for clans, tournaments, and custom match-ups. (A world editor is slated to be included with RoC so you can bet there will be a lot of custom maps.) Lag, always an issue for on-line play, wasn’t bad and I never lost my connection. But in the Battle.net chat room, more than a couple of people complained of being suddenly dropped. (Hey, guess what! This happens to some people with all on-line games!)
System requirements are a touchy subject around my house – my PC just barely meets the minimum requirements. Playing with almost everything turned down or off, I still thought the graphics were top notch. Cranking the detail up resulted in a lot of herky-jerky movement but that’s owed to my PC. And changing the viewing angle can squeeze out a bit more speed as well. (You can zoom in and out on the action but it doesn’t really have any tactical significance.) If you’re looking forward to RoC, upgrade now!
While the Beta is extremely playable there is a list of issues that should be resolved – but I’ll only mention one because it really annoyed me. (Of course, this gripe could be pointless, this is after all the Beta.) It’s easy to lose track of units that are near horizontal tree lines. Most frequently I’d lose track of the unit after building a structure near the tree line. The builder would stand in front of the structure – the front always being blocked by the trees. There’s no transparency so you can’t see a unit behind a tree! (Are they shooting for realism.)
What has received careful attention is the audio component, which is nothing short of fantastic. Music manages to be haunting no matter what race you use. And all those hilarious one-liners return! For those that didn’t play the First and Second Warcraft games, clicking multiple times on one unit will elicit a variety of different acknowledgements. I found myself producing units just so I could hear the one-liners.
My final word of warning is this: if you don’t use keyboard short cuts, you’re going to get your ass kicked. If you turn your nose up at the keyboard, you will have to become One With the Mouse. You’ll just have to react, relying more on instinct and mousing accuracy. With all the variables to keep track of, it’s nice that the list of keyboard short cuts isn’t long – they’re to the point. The overall interface and layout fits the mold of current RTS titles like Age of Empires and Red Alert – selecting all of one type of unit on the screen, portrait information, mini-map, etc. There’s nothing shocking or new but at least if you’re familiar with the genre you won’t be staggered by a steep learning curve.
Some players will get RoC just for the multiplayer. These players won’t be disappointed with what they get. Although it has more micromanagement than previous installments, the races aren’t (essentially) that different, and the action is a little confusing at times; the graphics and audio are slick, the Legendary Hero units are a great addition with the myriads of options they open, the interface solid, and team play (with unit sharing!) is a lot of fun. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos has much going for it – the result of a painstaking development process. The multiplayer is solid so far and with a few adjustments it will kick ass. I suppose the biggest complement I can pay to RoC, is that I’ll still be playing the Beta even after I hand in this preview.
Now the long wait for the single-player campaigns…
- Omni |
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