Developer / Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Genre: RTS
Release Date: July 3, 2002
Official Website: Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne
The single player story in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, is the sequel of Warcraft 3 Reign Of Chaos. You start off as the night elf warden Maiev , who is hell-bent on eliminating Illidan, the allegedly evil brother of Furion Stormrage, the noble Keeper of the Grove who protected the Night Elves from the Burning Legion in Reign Of Chaos version. The story then takes more twists and turns than a soap opera, and jealousy, betrayal, and misconceptions abound.
The Frozen Throne storyline is complex (like many games these days), but solid. Even so, it falls a bit short from the pinnacle achieved in Starcraft where the detailed characters really drew us into the story. In Warcraft however, we only get two types of characters, noble and evil, and hardly any are human. All the main protagonists are brave and willing to die for their cause, and very few have character flaws that extend beyond the usual power hungry or vengeance-oriented cliche. The Frozen Throne is still better than the vast majority of any RTS (real-time strategy) storylines, but it fails to live up to past Blizzard classics.
A single player campaign plays out a bit different as well. Many of the missions concern moving groups of characters from point A to B, and there are only a few that actually force you to build a fully functioning base from the start. These are almost RPG-like in nature, and while some might enjoy this, others will want their RTS to play more like strategy game, with huge battles and full base management. But one bonus is that by starting off with few troops, you work hard to keep them alive, thus increasing your micromanaging skills increases substantially. This naturally pays dividends when carried into the multiplayer arena.
In terms of graphics and sound, The Frozen Throne blends perfectly with the original Warcraft 3 engine. The new units all looked as though they've been there from the beginning and there are no telltale signs of being a quick-add from an expansion pack. The music has changed and is more ambient than the first, while shifting to a colder tone which integrates well with the expansion pack's title.
Up until now, many Warcraft 3 players creates a custom map such as Tower defense, RPG-like scenarios which you can only use one hero (per player) to finish the game, it also includes the renowned custom game Defense of the Ancients (DotA). This specific scenario has been maintained by several authors during development, with the current publicly anonymous developer known as "IceFrog" developing the game since 2005.
Defense of the Ancients pits two teams, the Sentinel and the Scourge. Team Sentinel is at the south-west corner of the map and Scourge is based at the north-east. The maximum capacity of players can join is ten, 5 players for Sentinel and 5 for Scourge. You can also play this game with uneven set of players. The scenario is highly team-oriented; it is difficult for one player to carry the team to victory alone. Nevertheless, some heroes, given enough time, can change the outcome single-handed. Since it became famous worldwide, Blizzard Entertainment’s BlizzCon and the Asian World Cyber Games made a tournament for DotA.
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