Warcraft III - The Beautiful Shades of Blood

While it didn't seem quite as good as Warcraft II, its follow-up has grown to be a gem in the collection throughout its many years. WC3 turned those graphics on top of their heads and brought about a beautiful shade of technology and massive, bloody combat between two main factions. Many have seen the wars of the Alliance and the Horde, but the strategy games are in their purest form. The first three games grow faster and faster pace, and became bigger and bigger in scope. The third entry is a game you can beat over and over again as you get better and better at your strategy. What's better, the expansion didn't destroy it! Well, so long as you keep it offline... Yeah, this is a long story. 

Warcraft 3 became a sensation with the fanbase because it became more and more easily customized, and it helped that the story mode was actually quite a good story to follow. Though, as you got better at the game in the multiplayer back in the day, the story became something of a staple of the franchise. Just wait until I cover the first and only entry of its failed franchise. Here, though, inside the game, was when the story really florished, especially when you feel like you are leading the battle yourself. 

Building a town and sending massive ogres and evil death knights toward the Alliance forces is just part of the experience, but you'll be quick to note that the gameplay becomes massively different between all factions and races in the gameplay. Now, you need to choose between orcs and the undead in order to get them, unlike Warcraft II, where the horde is much more lumped together. Now, though, they also have Night Elves to add to the mix, so it feels like there is much more of a neutral party that ends up joining forces with the humans, but don't have the most stable relationship. 

The method of getting gold is still the same for human and orcs with the gold mines, but now the elves send their wisps to stick to the gold mine, and have a bit of a smaller unit intake. Many prefer the Acolytes of the undead for gold mining the fastest, especially when you get multiple ones sufficiently in place while saving for a few builders. 

When it comes to units of different strategies, there is more or less finding the best timed unit that you can give the most damage the biggest variety. Orcs have the strategy of going shamen and choose a melee unit like wolf riders to buff. Not only does Bloodlust amplify their damage, but shamen also have a strong air defense. Choosing a diverse but dense number of units that serve multiple purposes is key, while also choosing the best hero.

That's right, you now have a champion unit in the form of a different array of heroes. Arthas has a hard amount of damage when he becomes the Death Knight, which also acts as a healer to undead units. Arthas as a Paladin had a holy light ability that healed allied units while doing crushing damage to the undead. If that wasn't interesting enough, the orcs have an awesome samurai hero that does ridiculous amounts of damage through critical hits with his sword, but then there's Thrall. Thrall is mostly looked after for his earthquake ability, that does ridiclous amounts of damage to multiple units and buildings.

The great thing about the game is how many ways you can win, and a lot of people have had a great time testing their abilities against each other. Keep the games local, find someone in a LAN server, because if you go fully online, you have the possibility of getting the unwanted version of the game. Sadly, through Blizzard's utter stupidity, they created a Reforged edition of the game, and I have been able to dodge this update myself. It looks like a terrible version, and I never wanted the update and I don't intend on downloading it. 

The graphics of Warcraft 3 may not be the deepest and most complex, but it was peaked when it got the Frozen Throne expansion. This added new hero classes, new units and an all new story following a more RPG type genre. This is where you play as one to four heroes in a new grinder and mission style roleplaying game, much in the vain of World of Warcraft. Thankfully, though, it also has a strategy element to it, as you also have some support from other factions along the way. It was a bold move and pulled off rather well, as I ended up loving the panda hero and his drunken abilities, which are awesome! 

Warcraft makes a great fantasy MMORPG, but my heart will always truly lie with the strategy games, and Warcraft III is among the games I play to this day. I still remember playing the first Warcraft over at a neighbor's house. Once we got a newer computer, Warcraft was among the first games we got for it. It was back in the CD-ROM days, as it was also one of the best when it came to game evolution. Warcraft II will get a PC review as well, but this was a title that really stood out when you wanted a massive number of awesome fighters piling and stabbing each other! For the defense of Virtua!!! 

10 Saturn Games that Saved the Day!

Allow me to take you back over the past few months. If you could allow me the subjective anecdote into my personal computer life, my desktop decided that it did not much like having a graphics card anymore and shed itself of it. To repair it would cost more than the system itself, so there came an upgrade in the form of a new PC. With my graphics card experiencing a slow death, my choice of games were especially limited when it came to the computer. So, of course, I turned to my classic games and the old pal, Mr. Saturn. With the higher graphics games buzzing funny colors, there came a basic gaming void in my life, so here we come to lean on the system I met when I was 10 years old.

Today, I'm here to tell you that my new computer stopped working as well. In fact, it just flat out broke twice in the two months since I have purchased it, and I just got it back. The thought of it going out again is very possible, but once again, these are the top games that got me through this ridiculous barrier of broken first world problems.

                                                                                                Doom

No, I did not stutter and you are not blind. The Sega Saturn version of Doom is, by far, one of the most overlooked ports of this legendary game. This is for good reason, but I do not care. There's still plenty to love here. There was enough play here to where the first seven or eight levels weren't so bad with Doom 2, which is accessible from the start. The cheats, along with the mild annoyance in controls and framerate make this a pretty great distraction. Using the Super Shotgun in every single level of Doom. That is awesome! It doesn't matter if you can do that in other ports or not, I consider that a win! Bad reputation or not, this version of the game blasts big fat demon guts straight across Hell and back!

                                                                                                    Quake

The Saturn boasts two of the most influential First Person Shooters ever made. One was done not-so-well but still playable, this one was done with a level of quality that is still rather mysterious. By all accounts, Doom should have been the one to knock it out of the park and Quake should have been the misfire of the ages. For some reason, the two were swapped and Quake became one of the better ports. Quake is just a dark, gothic game that revolutionized the gaming industry with its fully rendered 3D mechanics that had never been seen before at the time. It's the same shooting and gibbing enemies, finding keys and getting lost in labyrinths, while also looking bad ass while doing it!

                                                                                        Virtua Fighter Kids

If you were looking for a reasonable explanation as to why, of all versions and iterations of the VF game, would I pick this one, I do not have one. For some reason, this one was just faster paced and simpler to deal with than the other titles in the series. There is a grand scale that Virtua Fighter stands on, because it was definitely a stand out in Sega's arsenal against Tekken. Virtua Fighter never floundered in quality and VFK was no slouch in the lineup. These kids are just adorable and it's a title that never forgets to have fun with its own concept.

                                                                                            House of the Dead

Sometimes, when you're feeling down or need to relieve some stress, there's nothing better than a simple game of shooting up zombies. There's something so deeply satisfying when you're unloading bullets into an already dead person who's still moving. This game may not be as good as its sequel, nor is this port as good as the arcade edition, but that literally means nothing to me. The fact that I can do this in the comfort of my own home while my computer is on the fritz is all that really matters in the long run. 

                                                                                           Sonic Jam

You can't put a price on the classics. Sure, you pay for them in order to bring them home a lot of the time, but you really can't put a price tag on something in order to make it great. That sort of thing is earned. Sonic Jam takes this concept and gives you the option of having all of that greatness in one package with a lot of extra content and easter eggs. You're welcome! The first three Sonic games will never go out of style. They are difficult, fast, and they have some of the most amazing soundtracks that you can bump on your boombox. The Sega Saturn was a wonderful home to this amazing trilogy, and it even had the courtesy to add a 3D Sonic walk-around called "Sonic World". Does it need to be there? Probably not, but we love it all the same.

                                                                                    Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei

Were you expecting different? I certainly hope not. While the RPG, Sagas is considered the better game, it does not have the casual "pick-me-up" quality that this game has. This game does not have the same need for investment of your time, nor does it take a great deal of brain-power to play. It's high-flying adventure and shoot'em up fun that's timeless and easily digested. That's not to say it's easy, this game is definitely not without its challenges, but that really doesn't matter when all you want is something fun and simple to occupy your brain.

                                                                                Warcraft II: The Dark Saga

I have iterated how lucky we are to have a Sega Saturn port of one of the greatest RTS games. While World of Warcraft still flings expansions at the public to stay afloat, WC2 needed just one and it was set. With ridiculous amounts of levels and obstacles, this game still stands firm on its own two feet and will gobble up hours of your time if you allow it to. Set up your defenses in your own town and build your armies to conquer the map before your opponents do the same. Strategize your units and deploy them accordingly, what could be more simple? 

                                                                                            Die Hard Trilogy

Really, you have a game that is basically three arcade experiences all in one. Why wouldn't you play it? Die Hard Trilogy seriously has the most mindless replayability at its core and there's no reason not to. Even if you're not that good at it and can't make it through the full game, you can always just try to beat your high score. If that element in gaming is too old fashioned for you then, by all means, try and beat them. Shoot through tons of criminals or drive through bombs, it's your show, after all! Just remember to quote the movies while you do it. Make sure to say the quote really loud to where your parents can hear.

                                                                                             Resident Evil

Somehow, I ended up with the Steam version, Gamecube version and Sega Saturn version of this game. Guess which one I play the most. People can complain all they want about the Saturn's graphics, but there's more to life than sharper detail. Killing zombies and bioweapons is still a jolly good bit of fun in this version. I didn't beat this game this time around but I got pretty far thanks to some gaming binge sessions. This is probably the game I played the most, but there is another game that just made me feel better all around. 

                                                                                    X-men vs Street Fighter

You really can't put a price tag on such an amazing game. The nostalgia for both the video games for SF and the comic books/TV show for X-men comes together so beautifully in this title. It's really no wonder why people consider it one of the greatest fighting games. I played pretty much the entire roster, played some 2-player and went through some of the arcade rounds. If you want to know how to spend time with friends, look no further. 

Get yourself X-men vs Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Virtua Fighter 2 and have a ball. All of these games I've mentioned really did give me something I kind of forgot the magic of for a moment there. Get someone close to you, it doesn't matter who and spend some time with them. That's definitely one thing I did with these titles and it surprised a lot of people how much fun they had. The fun factor is what really matters. Remember to share some fun with game time and don't forget to serve your guests some water.

The Horde - Facepalm the Game!

 

If there was one constant throughout the fifth generation and any other time, it's that Full Motion Video ruins nearly everything it touches. The problem is, very few actors worth their salt would go near this video game medium because it was always frowned upon by A-list actors. With a track record like this, you would be hard pressed to blame them. Anytime some Joe Schmo got in front of that full motion camera, they would unleash the ham of an overpaid, underqualified, hack Shakespearian actor.

The Horde falls into this trap in many more ways than one. Not only does it give us acting akin to a high school production but it also gives us a nonsensical plot that adds literally nothing to the gameplay. It also gave us Kirk Cameron, which deducts even more points. Sitting through these video segments will cause you to wince in pain, at best.

You are a total wuss who was given the job of defending against the Horde. You have no experience fighting, you are, as mentioned, a total wuss and you can barely lift your sword. This drives up the BS controls and encourages you to play something else, because this gimmick weighs thin very fast.

You have to fight the Horde in order to get paid to pay town taxes. Yes, that is correct. Not only are you handed a job that you suck at but you need to perform it to pay some jackass who tries to act villainous. Problem is, that would require talent. 

The more you fight the Horde, the more difficult these fights are. You also set up traps because to rely on your sword is like trusting your mum to not embarrass you in literally every way ever (Mommy issues? Me? Nooooo). By now, you've either gotten into the game or you've devolved into making cheap Yo Mama jokes out of boredom. Guess where I stand on the matter.

Yes, the game can be considered cute and it's not devoid of charm, it's just hard to give it credit. The FMV segments suck the life out of the title from the get go and the monetary system itself makes no sense no matter how you look at it. It's there to build tension with a deadline but with no real logical story reason for it, it seems tacked on and thick with annoyances. You see? I started this paragraph in order to give this game some pros. Now look where it got me!

This is another playthrough to see if this game still deserves to be on the Top 20 Worst. The answer is yes, if you couldn't tell. Some have stated that they like this game. By all means, take it and keep it. I found it disengaging and annoying in its cheap gimmicks and annoying combat syste.. I would love to share the loving sentiment but an orc ate it... or whatever those things are. Hell, I don't know, I wasn't paying that much attention. Virtua snooze.

Warcraft 2 (Saturn) - When Blizzard didn't Suck!

 

Warcraft is known mostly for World of Warcraft now days, and even that is starting to whither away into a much more condensed audience (dispite Activision's underhanded efforts). There was a time, dear readers, when Warcraft was known for more than an MMORPG. There was a time when Blizzard was young and actually had to program entire games in order to stay afloat. Warcraft was created in the vain of Warhammer, and was a Real Time Strategy game where humans fight orcs in a fantasy map setting. The game was a gigantic hit, obviously, and brought about its own fanbase and its own lore that seemed to have no roof to how much people ate it up. 

Warcraft II was a natural progression of this idea. Not only did it up the graphics, but it also upped the ante when it came to gameplay and internet accessibility. Well, we're not going to go into the multiplayer because the Sega Saturn didn't cover that, but we will be going into a lot of the different changes between the first and second game. 

First and foremost, the number of different units has taken steroids with how many there are and how much they affect the gameplay. From the human knights to the orc's ogres, they ramp up the gameplay to a new level to make you strive to keep your buildings up. They upgraded all of the magic, making it a real component to the game's mechanics and they add in one of my favorites, the Death Knights. Paladins are good, Ogre Mages are great, Death Knights are AWESOME! 

Warcraft II was ported to both Sega Saturn and Playstation in its upgraded form, meaning it had the expansion pack built in. To say this was a gift would be an understatement because with both the orc and human campaigns, that means tons of extra gameplay! This was the only Warcraft game to be ported to consoles and somehow we were lucky enough to get a Saturn port. How fortunate. Now, was it a perfect port? No, it definitely didn't outshine the PC original. It was worth playing the Sega Saturn port, for sure, but it also came with its own little niggles. 

As stated before in my other reviews, a controller will never replace the mouse. A controller with a D-pad is harder to control and trying to catch some of these quick little sprites with your controller cursor can be rough. That's just unavoidable. There's also that strange interface where the square pops up beside the unit you click on. It takes some getting used to, to say the least. You need to do a few practice levels to get started, and with how easy the first few levels are, there's plenty of opportunity to do so. 

The graphics also take a downgrade, but it's not as bad as it could be. The framerates are still fine unless you go crazy with the units on the screen, because there can be a lot. In fact, there can be even more than before, but we'll get into that later. Sadly, there's also a loss of voice clips. One thing people love is the ability to click on units relentlessly to get some comedic voice prompts from them. Here, their comedic lines are cut down extensively. What a shame.

Then, we can get into a few shortcomings from the game itself. I know it may be a hot take, but there really shouldn't have been water combat/mechanics. The ship building and the transporting ground units shouldn't have been so prominent in the gameplay because it slows down the pace so terribly bad. It's adding a middle man where they shouldn't have added a middle man. It really should have been just ground units and MAYBE the air units. It's a good thing they learned their lesson about the water combat in Warcraft III, because it was a definite improvement on that front. The air units, though, they didn't go anywhere. 

Aside from the noncombatant air units, there are the dragons and the griffons. Watch out when these things come into the battle. Their damage is meant to take down buildings and multiple units at a time. With these guys on the screen, plus a full ground troop battle, it can make the screen frames chug at a tiresome rate. The good news is that these airtroops take out the middle man of creating water craft and it sinks them within seconds! Of course, results may vary depending on the circumstances, don't take my word for it. 

This is a great way to enjoy the arguably greatest RTS game ever made, on they greatest system ever made. Warcraft III was great in its own right (until Blizzard screwed it up, of course) but Warcraft II has the best balance of both strategy and unit mass creation. You can play this game in both campaign and custom campaign for hours upon hours of fun. It has its flaws but what game doesn't? Do not count this port out, do not forget when Blizzard didn't suck and Activision wasn't siphoning our cash into their micro transaction Scrooge McDuck vault. This is Warcraft in its purest form and it is definitely something you can grind your axe on.