Blizzard Entertainment. Price: $45 US. Requirements: System 
7.1 or higher, 68030/25MHz or higher, 8MB RAM, 40MB 
free on hard drive. Power Macintosh native. Contact Blizzard 
at (800) 953-SNOW.

War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing—except to serve as 
the underlying premise for WarCraft: Orcs and Humans, the fabulously entertaining and addictive new game from Blizzard Entertainment. To categorize WarCraft as a true blue war game would be erroneous. Strategic Conquest  meets Might and Magic III  would certainly be a superior byline. Released for the PC in November of 1994, WarCraft has soaked up several awards in the PC domain and will most certainly offer a fresh perspective in war gaming for Macintosh aficionados. 

In a perfect world, the Orcish and Human clans would stand arm in arm in a big circle while singing ‘I’d like to buy the World a Coke’ instead of taking to arms in a senseless bloodfest. But sure as Rush Limbaugh has had one Twinkie too many, these two races simply cannot make peace. WarCraft is really a tale of two cultures; two drastically differing ideologies, if you will. The Orcish Hordes feel that the clan mystics foretold their domination over the Humans hundreds of years ago, and subjugating the humans is, in fact, their destiny. To the Orcs, enslaving or crushing anyone that gets in their way is like mom and apple pie. On the other side of the coin lay the Humans. Politically correct, morally upright and annoyingly polite, these folks are the indigenous people to the WarCraft landscape and are essentially defending their land of Azeroth.

Your mission, should you accept it, is to lead one of these two sides through 12 successively difficult missions to either save the Human domain or gloriously conquer and pillage without remorse. As resources are gleaned from the surroundings you must build up your hamlet to sustain a mean and diverse fighting force. In order to accomplish this many different structures must be erected within the confines of the town’s road system. Other than the factories of war, one must not forget the need to nourish the troops by ensuring that plenty of farms are able to produce adequate food supplies. Each side has its own soldiers and workmen that are rough equivalents to those of the enemies. There are Peons (or Peasants) to mine gold, harvest lumber, and build the various structures necessary for assembling an army. Beyond these ‘little men,’ there are armed forces and weaponry, including Foot Soldiers, Archers, and Catapults. To round out the arsenal, there are a group of cloaked Clerics and Conjurers at your disposal that can do everything from summoning the demons of hell to healing an injured Footman. Thus by creating a fighting force/community from the ground up your strategic and tactical prowess will be challenged by a foe that has been developing an army in much the same manner.

The interface of WarCraft is highly intuitive and an average computer gamer should be able to get a handle on the controls with a minimum of tinkering with the game. This will be a welcome boon for the many whom fervently resist the notion of actually reading a manual. The WarCraft manual is well written and informative and pleasantly readable. Somewhat remarkably, it is written specifically for the Macintosh—something we don’t see frequently enough with ports. Issuing instructions to a soldier is as simple as point and click, and all the actions are displayed in a colorful pictorial fashion at the side of the screen. Keyboard equivalents are available and it did not take long to establish a comfortable control set with a blend of keyboard and mouse commands. Controlling more than one unit at a time (up to four units can be controlled at once) is achieved with classic Mac OS finesse. Merely click and drag a box around the units you wish to group or shift-click just like you were moving files in the finder. Again, Blizzard should be commended for bothering to make these changes for the Mac version of WarCraft. Moreover, although the graphics aren’t pick-your-jaw-up-off-the-floor gut wrenching, they do seem to be superior to the PC version and provide a compelling visual experience. Watching a couple of knights hack away at a Necrolyte with their maces can be surprisingly entertaining. Of course, that really only applies when you are winning. Although WarCraft can be run on an 68030 based-Mac, we recommend at least an 68040—or a Power Macintosh, to take advantage of native acceleration. Although the sound in WarCraft isn’t spectacular, there are some stereo effects that a good pair of speakers can bring to life.

After successfully kicking butt in either the Human or Orc campaign there is the option of seeing if the grass really is greener on the other side of the apocalyptic wasteland. Surprisingly, there is an element of enjoyment in playing both sides, and the subtle and not so subtle differences in the opposing forces will fuel a change in tactics if nothing else. One of the disappointing features of WarCraft lies in the artificial intelligence. Any experienced strategist/tactician will be able to defeat the entire game within a couple (albeit highly enjoyable) days. That’s where Blizzard comes to the rescue by including modem and network play between Macs and PCs. Blizzard has incorporated a unique ‘spawning’ technology that allows a two player game with only one copy of the game, but prevents illegal single player games with a key-disk system. The human head-to-head element makes WarCraft an infinitely replayable and enjoyable experience. As is expected from Blizzard, connecting is a breeze whether Mac to Mac or Mac to PC over modem. However, it should be noted that using a modem (even at 14.4k) slows game play down noticeably.

The only sore spot with WarCraft lies in the micro-management of the individual units. If you've managed to build a large force and are trying to attack en masse, you'll have to be pretty darned quick on the old mouse button to stay ahead. The four unit limit to group management becomes a liability, and menial tasks become the center of attention. This is really not a factor when playing against another human, because the playing field is essentially level. But when facing the computer it is an entirely different situation. The computer always seems to be able to manage to take care of the little things that help in battle, such as having the clerics heal the front line troops. For an actual human to do this efficiently while managing their army is nearly impossible. Mind you, this is more of a minor annoyance then a serious flaw.

 

WarCraft: Orcs and Humans is an excellent game that will cause many an hour of lost productivity. To extract the full value of the gaming purchase, it is best to have another human opponent available for the awesome head-to-head play this game has to offer. Blizzard Entertainment deserves very high marks for delivering this acclaimed game to Mac users—and for making WarCraft a true Macintosh experience. Let’s hope they continue to produce Mac games far into the future.

                                                                                                          Bartf@eWorld.com

 

Not yet rated. Contact StarPlay Productions, Inc. 
at (800) 203-2503.

The genre of arcade games is positively booming on 
the Macintosh this holiday season. No doubt fueled 
by the processing muscle of the PowerPC chip, a 
slew of companies have jumped on the bandwagon 
to produce a host of such titles for the Christmas 
shopping extravaganza. Arcade games seem to be 
especially popular this time of year, since their 
target audience encompasses a broad age group and includes individuals with a wide range of interests. One such competitor for the consumer’s Yuletide gift-giving dollar is StarPlay Productions, who enters the market with their new futuristic Cyber-Fighter “shoot-em-up,” ShadowWraith. 

StarPlay is primarily known for their successful pinball simulations, such as Eight Ball Deluxe, Crystal Caliburn and Loony Labyrinth. The company has garnered a number of computer industry awards, and has developed a strong following in their niche market. This project represents a departure form StarPlay’s previous product line, but it continues to take advantage of the two fundamental strengths of the previous releases: exceptional graphics and highest quality sound.

ShadowWraith is loosely based on the story of a pioneering computer genius who is developing a new form of artificial intelligence, which incorporates a personality and emotion. Copying one of the most overused cliches of science-fiction stories, the scientist succumbs to a narcissistic urge and models the new life form on himself. As he nears the completion of his life’s work, he and his family are assassinated. His death triggers the final switch which activates his “silicon twin,” who is determined to exact revenge on all those responsible for the crime. Admittedly, not much of this introductory plot is visible in the demo copy made available to us. However, what is readily evident is that ShadowWraith appears to be a well thought out and executed product with great overall promise.

The actual game play revolves around navigating the player’s Cyber-Fighter through a maze like network with 33 levels. There are a number of tasks to be accomplished on each level prior to moving on. The primary objective is the collection of a number of keys which allow access to subsequent areas of the maze. As with all good things in life, these keys themselves are not free. The player will engage in frenzied combat with a series of “viruses,” some of which resemble the player’s own Cyber-Fighter. Along the way, there are numerous opportunities to upgrade the ship with better weapons and shields.

ShadowWraith takes the essential elements of a good shoot-em-up like Ambrosia’s Maelstrom, and combines it with the challenge of a maze. The first two levels which were available for this preview were not exceedingly complex, however, they did create an environment in which the players’ intellect was not completely ignored in favor of an oversized trigger finger. This is especially true while deciding the appropriate sequence to acquire all four keys. Futher more it is evidenced in certain maze areas where the player can maneuver the viruses into a corner, so that their own ricochetting bullets are the means of their destruction.

One of the things that is most striking about ShadowWraith is the exceptional 44 KHz sound. Although the variety and quality is already satisfactory, the final CD version promises a full two hour musical score. The music is a mix of edgy techno pop, voice samples and staccato base, which shows far greater originality than is typical for games of this type. Certain events in the game are punctuated by digitized voice segments, although the overworked Marlene Dietrich impersonation will appeal primarily to a male audience. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the overall affect, and for a change, I did not feel compelled to turn off all the background audio. 

ShadowWraith’s full screen, overhead view graphics are gorgeous. The game delivers 60 frames per second animation in an environment rich in detail. All objects are animated with equal fidelity. I enjoyed the little nuance of the player’s Cyber-Fighter recoiling when the gun is fired. Explosions which do not penetrate the cyber-fighter’s shields still knock the player’s ship around, distort the display area and cause a momentary loss of control the player’s craft. 

Although the keyboard controls look overwhelming at first, customization allows the player to relocate functions to a different set of command keys. The benefit of such comprehensive controls is that the player is not able to rotate the craft while moving forward or back, but it is also possible to vector the fighter sideways, much like a helicopter. My only wish is that the game would include support for a joystick or gamepad.

ShadowWraith will face some tough competition from arcade games like HAVOC and Descent. Unfortunately, while the latter two offer the option of playing against a human opponent, StarPlay’s latest release is a solo adventure. The company will need to market the program aggressively in order to overcome the increasingly sophisticated arcade shareware offerings cropping up on the online services.

 
The sneak peek of their new title indicates that StarPlay’s intention to expand their product line is based on a solid decision to continue their focus on their established customer base. The combination of superb music, top notch graphics and the need to use the cerebral cortex in addition to motor skills, seem to indicate that the company has a potential winner on their hands. Those with a penchant for addicting multi- level, super fast, ultra cool arcade games should definitely include ShadowWraith on the wish list to Santa. Get ready to experience why revenge is best served on the Net!