Rewind – Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
The first three Warcraft titles were released in consecutive years between 1994-1996. The games were largely the same. Yes, there were some minor improvements, but the overall formula was the same for each of those games. You would have separate Human and Orc campaigns. Each campaign would have about a dozen levels. Most of the levels you would start with near nothing, spend lots of time ramping up your base, amassing an army and having a large battle to crush your opponent. Between each level there would be a short dialogue snippet which would provide minor plot points to explain why you were doing what you were doing.
What a difference time and experience can make. Released in 2002, a full 6 years from the prior release, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos was destined to change everything. This would be the most ambitious game Blizzard had ever created. This game would revolutionize the genre, and propel Blizzard to incredible heights.
One of the major advancements to the game has to do with the different factions. Orcs vs. Humans has expanded to also include playable Undead and Night Elf factions. Probably even more revolutionary is how these factions interact with each other. Gone are the binary team A vs. team B days. All of these factions exhibit a different ethos, have different values, and work for different objectives and goals.
Additionally, the greatest threat that is introduced in this game, requires all of these factions to work together. This adds a tremendous amount of complexity to the development of these different races. Instead of being driven by purely by base motives, this gives a chance to really understand what place these races play in the world. This also sets up incredibly complex relationship webs between factions which like or dislike other factions. Two groups that ordinarily loathe each other may be willing to work together against a faction the despise even more.
The second transformational shift relates to the narrative focus. The whole game is designed to tell a story. This is a radical departure from anything Blizzard had done prior to this. Their games have always been about playing the game, and creating a compelling story arc sometimes can feel like a bit of an afterthought. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos creates and develops numerous characters. Not just random names you hear of a few times – but deep, strong, unique characters. Numerous short dialogue scenes take place between levels and there are now numerous, meaningful dialogue cutscenes within levels themselves.
It is impossible to overstate how huge of a generational leap this game was for Blizzard. Even the Starcraft II games, release many more years later, don’t seem as impressive of a jump. Sure they look prettier, but the formula already existed and came from this game. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a phenomenal game that both tells an incredibly compelling story as well as leaves the door open for so many more stories to be told.