A must have for all you RTS gamer out there...
I've never played Starcraft or Warcraft before and I found this game awsome. I love the gameplay because it involves much more fighting, rather than just "turtling" up in a base. The matches are fairly short and very strategic. For example, you could attack with the "hero rush" strategy. Speaking of heroes, In Warcraft III you get can creat powerful units called "heroes", which leads your army to battle. These units will level up as you use them in battle. The best part is that you could resurrect them at the Altar, unlike Starcraft, where you can't let your hero die
I found the user interface very advance, yet looks simple. If you compare it to games like Age of Mythology or Age of Empires, you'll certainly notice that Warcraft III has a lot of advance options like being able to use "attack move" or see unit's hit point by hovering your mouse over a unit, rather than clicking them. Both of these are very useful in battle when you want to take out the weak unit or go into battle without having to right-click to attack a unit (it's done automatically with 'attack move').
The campaign was AWSOME! I've never played any game with a great compelling campaign before! The characters' personalities in the story are so detailed and you can witness how some struggled to not let their anger interfere with their main tasks, and in the end got corrupted. The in-game cut-scene were great, since they add more depth into the story. Some even give you bonus mission. Bonus mission is very cool too. You can do it if you want a get a free item, or just ignore it if you just want to rush. But there is more to the campaign, like dungeons and puzzle solving by stepping and switches and blowingup and building bridge. It's endless.
The world editor Blizzard provided us was very very very useful. You can basically change EVERY aspect of the game! Like Tree Tag and Tower wars! Best part is that you could play the map ONLINE on Battle net. The interface of Battle was great and you can find roughly 63 000 players online everytime. The easy-to-use interface was easy enough, you can find match up in a flash!
Game balance-wise is good too. All the races are very different from each other, and I MEAN DIFFERENT. They each have their own way of building a base and gathering resources. They have their own advantages, and disadvantages. I really thought that was really neat, unlike Age of Empires I, where every civilization was basically the SAME!
As for Graphics, I have to say that this game had a lot of special effects. Though some units are a little low on polygon, you'll come to appreciate the great animation Blizzard has put in to make this game seem lifelike. With several terrain tiles set, you'll never find the levels boring. It doesn't take the best computer to run this game at max'ed out mode.
Sound was really good. When people clash each other, you can make out the sound of every orc or human clashing each other. Also the Music was one of the best parts. Every Race has different music, and they suite them just as well. In the Frozen Throne expansion there is new music for every race. The music has a mix of midi and wave sound mixed blended together. Now when you play as the elves, you FEEL like you are playing the elves!
This game has a lot og product value. Blizzard constantly updates their games periodically. In the recent patches, they've included 3 NEW FREE HEROS!!!! They include new special effects and looks and everything, with full voice over and animation. Also people create really creative and cool maps on the editor and share it online, so you'll probably be playing a lot of cool custom games that will just keep you coming back to this game. The possibilities are endless!
Most people said "be sure to check this game out" , but i say "THIS IS A MUST HAVE FOR ALL YOU RTS PLAYERS!"