Bruce Von Stiers

The current wave of game purchasers has a distinct advantage over earlier gamers. There are now online cheats, chat rooms surrounding the games and books that over tips and strategies for gameplay. One of the publishers that is on top of this genre of books is BradyGames. One of their latest titles is on the new WarCraft game. The title of the book is WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos Official Strategy Guide. It was written by Bart F. Farkas, who has a proven track record of writing this type of book.

The book has 288 pages. It has two main sections, The Races and Maps & Strategy. There is also an Introduction. The Races has four sub sections and Maps & Strategy has the same amount with an extra sub section thrown in to look at the multi-player stuff.

The Introduction extols accolades on the WarCraft game and tells you how the strategy guide is laid out. From there the book moves on to the first section, The Races.

In The Races, we find out some specific information about the different character types that will be used during the course of the game. The four sub sections in The Races are Humans: The Alliance, Undead: The Scourge, Orcs: The Horde and Night Elves: The Sentinels.

Each subsection of The Races begins with a Truisms. This is the author’s thoughts and quick advice on gameplay using that particular race. A Truism for the Humans tells you how to set up a quick defense perimeter while one for the Orcs talks about a spell that can destroy an enemy’s food supply.

Next comes the Structures. The Humans have structures like at Town Hall and a Lumber Mill. Each structure is given a brief description. Then you are given the specific information about the strengths, weaknesses and activities for each structure. You find out that once inside a Orc Burrow, the Peons can attack both land and air enemy units.

After checking out the structures, move on to looking at the individual units for each race. You will find a chart listing the attributes for each type of unit next to its description. A Human Peasant has only 5-6 Damage and hit points of only 220. But you soon learn that a Peasant can be upgraded to a Militia. A Footman is less costly than a Knight but only a base soldier. Tidbits like these are the crux of learning about playing the game. The book is full of these tidbits.

After dealing with the grunts, you get to meet the Heroes for each race. Human Heroes like Archmage and Paladin are described. Then you are given charts that show things like agility, hit points and armor that can be obtained at a particular level in the game. You are also told about the various spells, weapons and armor that each Hero has available to them and what the cost is.

The rest of the book deals with maps, strategies and tips on how to play. You will be shown a map of the chapter, or mission. Then you will be shown the available structures and units to begin the chapter. Learn what the quest will be and the secondary quests that can be accomplished.

Even though you aren’t given blow-by-blow instructions on how to play, the book shows the best way to accomplish the quests. There are tons of screen captures that are in the book as illustrations of what the text is trying to get across to you. Unfortunately, the screen captures are in Black & White, so the effect is somewhat muted.

If you are one of those players who have an account on BattleNet, the book coves some multiplayer strategies. There is a two page chart of the items available online. This chart lists what they are, what they do and what they cost. You find out what structures are available and some tactics to use while in a game.

The book also comes with a full color, front and back, chart of the different elements of the game. Here you will find out things like the Undead can have Freezing Breath at the Boneyard at it will cost 250. You also learn that it only lasts 5 seconds.

If you are going to be playing WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos, then this book is really something that you need to buy. It has just about all of the information that you will need to successfully complete the quests in each chapter and eventually win the game.

WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos Official Strategy Guide can be found at stores like Electronics Boutique and selected book retailers. It can be ordered from BradyGames at www.bradygames.com. The book has a list price of $ 19.99 U.S.