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"WarCraft III"

As you probably know, this baby has gone gold, and will be hitting the shelves in the not too distant future. Having played the Beta for this absolutely magnificent game, I can only recommend ALL of you to buy this title.

Obviously, it has similarities to previous versions of the game, but it has evolved incredibly. You might be disappointed at the RPS aspect which has been toned down over the last year, but the "heroes" are still an excellent feature, and an absolute must in multiplayer games.

This game will rock the RTS world, expect battle.net to seeth with people begging for a game on this one.

Excellent title - buy it!

IB

The first game I played on the PC was command & conquer, and it was the very first strategy game I had ever played. The genre was totally new to me, and I loved the way you had to think before you took on the enemy and decide how you where going to defeat them.

I agree that while games like tekken, SOF2, medal of honour ect... are fun, they don't provide the same challenges as in strategy games. There's no skill in mowing down waves of bad guy's who can't shoot properly, no matter how advanced the A.I is supposed to be.

Of course I'm not just a strategy fan, but it's the kind of games I love to play, and I can spend hours just trying to find out ways to defeat foes, while trying to keep my own losses down to a minimum. Basically games where you have to think before you act.

Indeed. Have to admit to being a devout lover of strategy games.

I mean, button bashing someone to death on Tekken is one thing, but outmanouvering someone on the battlefield and leaving them crushed is so much more satisfying.

With Tekken you can get lucky, but with a strategy game, you win because you're better.

I got the demo off this months PCGamer mag, and it is a good demo. It's got six training levels, which teach you to attack the enemy using strategies such as ambushing the enemy. There is also an opportunity to lay siege to a castle using siege weapons, much better than the first game, which I agree, lacked in the siege area.

There's also a huge battle after the training missions have been completed, and it is bloody hard. Basically you have a group of British soldiers (with knights, crossbowmen, archers ect..) who after to defend themselves against an army twice their size. It's hard, but then it's a challenge, and that's what makes it so fun to play.

That's another game I'm looking forward to anyway. I'll have a look at the game you mentioned, and give it a try if I can, I'm sure I had a demo somewhere. On the whole though, it looks like a good year for strategy games.

I didn't know a demo was available, I'll have to download it tonight. I certainly love the tactical and strategic elements of this type of game. Especially playing hard mode on Shogun, it becomes a real tactical play-off, and the AI does well to implement as much of Sun-Tzu's Art of War as possible.

top stuff.

On of the things I'm looking forward to in medieval is the increased strategum of castles. I thought they were an underutilised element in the original, and look forward to more entertaining sieges.

Oh, if you like this type of game, you could do worse than try out Age of Wonders, it's like a more basic version of Shogun crossed with Lord of the Rings. Sequel is out soon, and look fantastic, demo available for download somewhere or other...

I agree with you there IB, they are great games and it was a bit silly of me comparing the two when they are totally different to each other, apart from strategy games of course.

Thinking about it now, I'd say they where both as good as each other. They both kept me playing for hours when I first got them thanks to the tough strategies they put up to deal with. And that after all is what strategy games should be about, giving players a challenge to complete in their own way, that’s the whole reason I became a fan of the genre in the first place, and it's also why I love games like shogun and starcraft.

By the way, I've played a demo of medieval: total war and it's great. Tons more units on screen, some nice new siege weapons, improved castle attacks, and bigger battles, I can see the game becoming another big strategy title to own this year and I can't wait for the full game to be released.

well cipro, a comparison between StarCraft and Shogun is unfair in any case, since StarCraft is essentially real time strategy, while much of the startegy in shogun is turn based. Two completely different genres of gaming that overlap only on battle scenes.

Shogun has the superior graphics in that respect and certainly has a diplomatic edge, but for sheer RTS unit handling and strategy, SC wins hands down.

I do like Shogun though, as I have both the original and expansion, and am looking forward to the medieval version to be released in the not-too-distant future...

I have to disagree with you IB that Starcraft is better than shogun, Though that's my opinion.

Still, being the big RTS fan that I am, I am looking forward to Warcraft 3, and now it's gone gold we can soon see if it's going to be the No.1 RTS game of the year.

Warcraft I and II were fantastic... ah reminds me of my childhood on my 75Mhz PC

No idea, just my strange sense of humour. When you twist certain words around into other sounds it sometimes creates really funny results.

why?