Both Warcraft and Warcraft 2 are prime examples of strategy-action games. There are others I have tried but these two games clearly tower over all other competition. Using a sim-city like overhead view, you start by building structures and then building an army which you use to attack the opponent.

What blew me away when I first tried this game was the introduction. A full-screen video, which was rather bumpy on my 486, but was still mighty impressive and the graphics kept up to that standard. There is such great detail put into every characteristic of each graphic. However, once the game has started there is no time to admire the graphics.

Warcraft 2 follows the exact same game pattern as Warcraft, the only difference is more fighters, more buildings, and more levels. Unlike many game followups, this game maintains the same intensity as the original with just the right amount of changes to make it a different game.

The game is also great over the networks. They can get a little crowded but it is always cool to throw in a computer opponent aswell. Everybody has different strategies playing this game, and that makes netplay very interesting because the computer opponents can be very predictable at times. Unfortunately, my only experience playing this on a network was the first time I had ever played, but I was still able to be a nuisance by creating a thousand archers and then destroying some poor suckers base. This is probably the best game to play over a modem, because you can easily throw in some computer opponents to make it seem like there are 4 or 5 people when there are only two.

There is also an element of luck in this game, but usually the person with the better strategy will always win. This game does not rely on pinpoint accuracy or split-second timing, but requires a plan on how you will create your army, which type of militia to make, and a lot of pointing and clicking. It is a great change from the standard shoot-em up game and doesn't get dull as one might suspect. It does take a great amount of time to build up an army, and it takes forever to finish off your opponent when they are practically dead. The sound is very well made, but it does tend to get annoying after the first few minutes. The music is first rate. Otherwise, this is a brilliant game worthy of being on Steve's top ten.

Steve's Rating for Warcraft 2

Gameplay
Fun
Difficulty
Graphics
Sound
Network

Overall Rating:

Steve's Rank - 3rd