Game developer and publisher Blizzard Entertainment has revealed new details about their forthcoming “role-playing strategy game” Warcraft III.
The company has offered up the final name for the game — Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. They’ve also unveiled the roster of the four races of creatures who will vie for control on the dominion in the game.
Players will get to choose from either Orcs, Humans, Undead and Night Elves as they struggle to control the world of Warcraft III. Each race sports unique units, different magical abilities and varied weapons of war. The game will also feature Demons — a non-playing race that “interacts with the four playable races and advances the game’s storyline.”
Warcraft III team lead Frank Pearce explained that the game’s race makeup is the result of months of design effort to create the best playing experience possible.
“We will now focus our efforts on finalizing each race’s units, the AI and the campaigns,” said Pearce.
Blizzard provided some basic information about each race in the game, and how they differ. From the press release:
Warcraft III is the latest edition of the game series that introduced many gamers to the real time strategy game genre. According to Blizzard, the new Warcraft III puts players in control of smaller groups of units, with an emphasis not only on real time strategy and combat, but also on role-playing adventure.
The game play takes place in a 3D environment populated by non-player characters, wandering monsters, and various places where players can explore like strongholds and temples. Unlike previous Warcraft installments, which depended on sprite-based animation, the game sports a skeletal and skinning animation process. The net result is a fluid 3D experience, according to Blizzard.
The game also features legendary heroes that must complete questions, acquire special items and gain experience while leading powerful forces. Multiplayer play will also be supported through Blizzard’s own free Battle.net online service.
A campaign editor will also be included to enable players to create their own custom 3D maps and scripted missions — it is unclear at this time whether the Mac version of the game will sport this editor.
Blizzard says that Warcraft III is expected to be released in 2001 for Windows PCs; a Mac version is expected in early 2002. The game will retail for about US$50. More information about Warcraft III, including screenshots, is available from Blizzard’s Web site.