Sometimes I wish I had some sort of device which logged the amount of hours I spent playing games
I know the grand total would be sickening, I know my wife would tell me i need to get out a hell of a lot more, and i can promise you that at least 80% of that time would be spent playing Warcraft III online via battle.net.
I must of purchased a few hundred games since it came out in 2002 (and the Frozen Throne expansion a year and a half later) but while everything else has come and gone, i'm still playing a couple of games of Warcraft III every night. It's a household tradition and it's still just as fun and fresh to play it today as it was years ago. Even its bigger brother (World of Warcraft) has got dull and is gathering dust but WCIII is still a universal constant in my daily life.
Think about that for a second, I play this game for at least an hour an evening, everyday without fault, for 3 years. Over the years i've purchased 3 copies of the game as the CD becomes scratched over time as i play it so much. I have a second CD-ROM drive in my home-built PC's JUST to keep the Warcraft III CD in. No kidding (i'd post a picture but they don't seem to allow custom pictures in the reader reviews yet - and if you use a NOCD crack you can get your account banned which would be gutting).
The game is seperated into a story driven single player mode, which still uses the RTS mechanics with plenty of in-game cutscenes and dialog, and the online match making game service 'Battle.net' which all you Diablo players will probably already have known about.
I scratched the surface of the single player mode which is nice enough but as soon as i discovered battle.net i was addicted and never got around to playing the rest of the single player game.
The thing is i'm not even alone in thinking this is the greatest RTS game in existance. Logging onto battle.net now i can tell you that 26,000 people are looking for games - that is just staggering!
You pick your race (or random), you pick your favorite game type (mine being either one on one, or if i'm chilling a 4v4 team match) and finally click that 'quick match' button. Within a minute you're in a game. As far as the gameplay mechanics go its perfect, seriously. I'm not normally a big fan of the "Orc/Elf" stuff but the graphics are charming, the races and units are perfectly tuned and the hero's make it rather unique. Heros? let me explain - you get your run of the mill units which are made and die, but you can also create up to three heros who collect EXP and level up as you defeat mobs and enemies - with each level up you get a skill point you can put into that heros skill tree, eventually at lvl.6 you unlock that heros ultimate power attack, be that turning everything around you invincible for a short while or making stars fall from the sky onto your mortal foes!
So whats the point of this review? you're probably feeling a bit nauseous with the gushing praise i'm giving it but basically, it's currently £7.99 on play.com and with all the recent popularity of World of Warcraft i'd strongly (can i bold that?) recommend anybody who's ever enjoyed an RTS game to buy a copy now. Click that little play.com link on the left, it'll probably be the best £8 you'll ever spend unless Sophie Howard asks to borrow a tenner in return for a night of steamy passion, and even then she'd have to wait until i've finished kicking this french guy who's going for an orc bat rush! damn noob! ;)
