Warcraft III: Addiction at Its Best

A huge Real Time Strategy (RTS) fan, I have been addicted to the Age of Empires series for ages. Having played all three versions of the game

and the numerous expansion packs at all levels, had me looking around for something equally interesting and addictive. Some googling helped me narrow the search to Command and Conquer and Warcraft. The screenshots and the reviews over the internet led me to try Warcraft III.

The basics:

Warcraft III is set in the fictional world of Azeroth. The game can be played in both single payer and multiplayer mode. For the single player, the game play revolves around four races: the humans, the orcs, the night elves and the undead. Each race has a separate campaign with multiple chapters. The storyline is told entirely through cinematics and cutscenes both of which are breathtaking. The bottom-line of the plot is the victory of the living over the demons. The demon lord Archimonde has been planning the invasion of the living lands and has set up an elaborate plan to weaken his enemies by spreading a plague. Tough all the four races are enemies during normal times; they team up to fight the dark lord and defeat his burning legion.

The important characters of the game are:

1. Thrall:

The leader of the Orcs who is also known as "warlord". He is able to keep himself free of the demonic corruption.

2. Arthas Menethil:

Initially the leader of the human expedition who fights against the demonic plague. Eventually, he is corrupted by the very sword which he uses for defeating the undead.

3. Tyrande Whisperwind:

Priestess of Elune and leader of the Night Elves.

4. The Lich King (aka Ner'zhul):

The commander of the undead until he is betrayed and deserted by Archimonde. The lord of Arathas.

5. Archimonde:

Commander of the Burning Legion. His summoning is the final object of the undead campaign, and his death the final object of the game.

The game play is highly addictive and the player is glued to his seat until the game is finished due to the tight storyline and the brilliant graphics. Surprisingly the graphics load easily and do not take up much system resources.

Useful cheats:

There are three basic constraints: gold, wood and food. The gold is the most abundantly used resource and hence if you have enough gold, the campaigns can be won easily. Food does not need to be produced but is used to restrict the maximum number of units the player may control at one time. The second constraint is the speed at which buildings are built and units are produced.The three most important cheats which can counter these restraints are:

1. greedisgood

Gives of wood and gold. E.g. greedisgood 1000 gives 1000 wood and 1000 gold

2. keysersoze

Gives gold. E.g.keysersoze 1000 gives 1000 gold.

3. warpten

Increases the speed at which buildings are built and units produced.

Warcraft III happens to be one of the most anticipated computer game releases ever, with 4.5 million units shipped to retail stores and over one million units sold within a month winning "game of the year" award from many publications.

A gripping storyline and excelent graphics makes sure the player is glued to his seat and warcraft III one of the best RTS games ever released.