Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne

Warcraft, like the other Blizzard Diablo and Starcraft sagas, is a cult game. The third chapter of this imaginary medieval RTS game - Reign of Chaos released about a year ago - kept fans waiting for several years, since the one before dated back to 1996. Now this is not going to please hardcore Warcrafters, but I found that new episode disappointing.

I was probably expecting too much after such a long wait. True, the change to 3D was a great success and it is still brilliantly playable, but Warcraft III is actually no more than a very conventional RTS. Blizzard's developers always said the game would include a good bit of role-playing but the project was maybe too ambitious and the adventure side of it turned out to be just heroes who gain experience and magical artifacts as the game progresses. They do have an important part to play, but you can't choose them or customize them like you can in a real adventure game. So the release of the big expansion set The Frozen Throne some months after the game itself is a good occasion for a long cool look at Blizzard's flagship.

Now in Warcraft III, each army is led by heroes who become more and more powerful as the game progresses.