Warcraft 2 was one of my favourite games of the last decade. For me and for a lot more people it meant the beginning of a new real time strategy era in terms of fantasy games. While it's obvious, that the first Warcraft started the hype, it was Warcraft 2 that attracted the all kinds of people (including casual and hardcore gamers). It had a great multiplayer mode that kept us playing nightlong, it didn't let go, even when the school started, my friends and me came together, made new maps, new alliances and ignored pretty much everything else.
Warcraft 2 was one of my favourite games of the last decade. For me and for a lot more people it meant the beginning of a new real time strategy era in terms of fantasy games. While it's obvious, that the first Warcraft started the hype, it was Warcraft 2 that attracted the all kinds of people (including casual and hardcore gamers). It had a great multiplayer mode that kept us playing nightlong, it didn't let go, even when the school started, my friends and me came together, made new maps, new alliances and ignored pretty much everything else.
Later Blizzard made a really good decision and published the battle.net edition allowing people around to experience why it was so good to play warcraft 2 multi. The
feeling, when you've just beaten one of you most hated foes was really good, and started something called addiction. Somehow Blizzard has become THE developer that knows exactly how to make addictive games; the best example is of course World of Warcraft.
With 8 million subscribers, Blizzard has achieved what 99% of developers only dream about. To make such an addictive game they had to get the good stuff from the originals games. They knew that they had several communities: Diablo, starcraft, warcraft. They decided to choose the world and the mythology of warcraft, which turned out to be the best choice (though I'm sure that the other titles would've been such a success) If you see the graphics of Warcraft 2, it's still impressive, not to mention the great music, and the my personal favourite screens that appeared before and after the battle. It was funny when you found the "cheater" text on the results screen. In terms of gameplay Warcraft 2 delivered a benchmark. Even after these years it's more fun to play it than some brand new strategies. It was the diversity, the great units, the wonderful story (the expansion "The Dark Portal" was a nice addition to the game), and the most important thing: balance. It's hard to find a game today that's as balanced as Warcraft 2 was.
