If the latest news on Blizzard Entertainment’s forthcoming game WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos is what you seek, you need look no further than a new preview posted to Apple’s Web site. Penned by Brad Cook, the new article includes comments from Blizzard North vice president Bill Roper.
The new game builds on the legendary WarCraft franchise by mixing role-playing game elements with the unit-based real time strategy popularized by this genre. The game tells the ongoing story of the war-torn kingdom of Azeroth, where Orcs, Humans, Night-Elves and the Undead all vie for power and control.
While previous WarCraft installments have focused on epic battles between huge masses of units, WarCraft III takes a smaller-scale approach. Roper explained that WarCraft III’s advisers have shifted the focus from building towns and waves of units to a more simplified model that emphasizes leading smaller, more powerful groups into battle, making exploration of the map more important and rewarding. “This all serves to move the strategy of the game from having a foundation built on resource management to one that is based on specific battle tactics and strategies,” he said.
What’s more, WarCraft III also includes a 3D editor which Roper told Cook that anyone can use to make maps, which can be played in the game. Users can adjust artwork and change play balance statistics using the editor and can script any behavior or game event they want using the built-in scripting engine.
Roper told Cook that WarCraft III is the first simultaneous release for Mac OS 9, Mac OS X and Windows all on the same CD. “This would not have been feasible without the significant improvements made between version 10.0 and version 10.1.3,” he said.
Roper heartily recommended running the game on Mac OS X. He noted that the game will run smoothly either in full screen or windowed mode, so if you want to keep other applications running like e-mail, instant messaging or Web browsers, it’ll work just fine.
There’s a lot more, too, including details on multiplayer gaming and more. Read on for details.