The Wicked Never Rest, of Course
Blizzard Entertainment’s first Warcraft III expansion pack, Frozen Throne, picks up where the Reign of Chaos storyline left off. We won’t spoil the end of the previous game for those who haven’t finished it yet, but we will reveal that a twist or two occurred as the forces of darkness were repelled from Azeroth.
The Lich King Ner’zhul’s soul sits frozen within the Icecrown glacier, a disembodied lord who searches for ways to free himself. A renegade Night Elf named Illidan and the treacherous Death Knight Arthas head toward the Icecrown glacier in the hope of granting Ner’zhul his wish; your goal is to stop that from happening.
Improving on GreatnessThe development team at Blizzard sat down shortly after the release of Reign of Chaos and analyzed what they saw happening in the multiplayer matches on Battle.net. Their observations led to a series of tweaks to the gameplay, such as the ability to queue upgrades and new building construction, better artificial intelligence for the computer-controlled characters, and more.
Each race gains new heroes and battle units as well as the ability to build shops from which you can buy race-specific items. New neutral buildings sell various items, including neutral heroes you can recruit to your cause, and new creeps offer all kinds of treasure and experience points.
On the multiplayer front, you have a variety of new maps to choose from when conducting Warcraft III wars online; Battle.net supports clans that can include up to 100 players, in addition to automated tournaments that run on a regular basis. And if you enjoy building your own maps and trading them with friends, you’ll discover a variety of improvements in the World Editor, including the ability to create custom campaigns that feature cutscenes and voice-overs.
So don’t think of The Frozen Throne as simply an expansion pack. Consider it another chapter in a sprawling fantasy saga that will keep its fans very happy until the next one arrives.
If you liked this game, check out:
 | Age of Empires II: Gold Edition |
| Myth III: The Wolf Age |
| Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds |
Great White North. Journey into a frozen wasteland and help save Azeroth from the forces of darkness.
System Requirements:
| Retail version of Warcraft III: The Reign of Chaos required |
| Mac OS X version 10.1.3 or higher recommended) |
| 400MHz PowerPC G3 processor or higher (600MHz recommended) |
| 128MB of RAM (256MB recommended) |
| 16MB of VRAM or more (32MB ATI Radeon or NVidia GeForce video card recommended) |
| 550MB of free hard disk space |
Blood Mage: This hero is actually a blood elf, an offshoot of the high elves who explore dark magic. Unfortunately, this action brings them closer to the Burning Legion and strains relations with the humans.
Shadow Hunter: This hero is a troll whose mastery of voodoo magic allows it to both heal friendly units and place curses on enemies.
Warden: This hero is a member of the night elves’ special police force in Kalimdor. They possess a variety of supernatural powers, including the ability to teleport.
Crypt Lord: This hero hails from a subterranean spider kingdom that came under the control of the Lich King. Its specialty is the ability to summon insect followers.
