Warcraft 3 Reforged honest review

[october breeze]

So after a lot of critics I decided to write some small honest review about WC3R, without any blind hatred and parroting other youtubers.

Disclaimer: When I first saw WC3R panel at blizzcon and listened to their stuff I just thought it was going to be a simple remaster, not a damn Warcraft 4. So I did not expect anything astonishing that will blast my socks off.

Preamble: This is NOT a review comparison to WC3. It is a simple review of a simple player that is not really interested in RTS games. I played original long time ago so I preordered WC3R one day before it was released. Completely uninterested in free mount that came with it.

With this, you are technically reviewing a 16 years old game! What's the point my dude?

And if you want to understand the rage, you need to do the COMPARISON. This is a reforged game we are talking about after all.

Most people, are doing the Comparison

[socialmaker]

The game is still a solid 8/10 but the REMASTER and what it has done is a poor 3/10 at MAXIMUM

[Gaidax]

I love that this is what you just keep saying to everyone that gives it a bad score. Because nobody can possibly think a game is worse than what you think it is without them being "blind haters" or "parroting other youtubers."

lol

The game is not 0.5/10, that is legitimately troll shit.

I think it did what it was supposed to do and that's it. It's a nice touch up of outdated game with outdated systems and it was supposed to be that really.

Not sure what people expected.

[czarek]

Warcraft 3 is to me one of the best games ever. I do have reforged and I must say I was a bit surprised when I heard the complaints, I thought it was going to be a straight up remastered WC3 with updated graphics. And that it is :P

No it isnt or u didnt play w3 earlier xD Bnet i cuted out sounds are raped (in my language its just horrible now). Game at start was really bugged and crashes all the time its not beta enymore hello? Custom maps? I decided to return game and take my money back. I know they are VERY SORRY to know im not happy about W3 ref. Jees blizzard are really dicks these days.

[Zephire]

So after a lot of critics I decided to write some small honest review about WC3R, without any blind hatred and parroting other youtubers.

Don't get draged into an argument about feelings, man. Your review is fair, no one can say anything else.

I don't really agree with the Arthas/Uther thing. It's fitting for a vastly more experienced Paladin like Uther to disagree with Arthas more emotional and rushed decission. That doesn't mean Arthas was wrong though. In fact, I'm not sure anyone of them was right because I don't think there was a right answer to Stratholme. This is defenetly coloured by my 20 years of playing Warcraft games and being very into the lore the first 10 years.

Except the above your review mimics my own thoughts. I've yet to play the campain because I want to use my ultra wide curved screen while doing it but currently, in full window mode the name and text of cut sceens is missing which is quite irritating if you're not 100% sure who the person talking is. Waiting for that to be fixed.

[bmjclark]

Honestly, my only complaint with it is that I feel like they kind of dropped their idea of changing things to look more like WoW halfway through the campaign. The human and undead campaigns of RoC had some pretty neat changes to them (updated Quelthalas, updated Stratholme, Banshee Sylvanas as a hero) but after that everything was pretty much an exact copy of legacy as far as I can tell.

[Butser]

Have to say I'm having a blast with the campaign, but thats just nostalgia. This has nothing to do with the Reforged part.

What I noticed the most about reforged is the updated graphics. Those are fine for me. Had some small bugs like sounds playing twice or not hearing when a recruitment was finished. (they fixed that last week).

About the online stuff they mentioned at blizzcon (as far as I remember):
- Clans
Not sure what they wanted with clans, but that's just an easy way to communicatie with a large group? (like communities in D3?) And maybe some sort of Clan rankings?

- Ranking
Ranking is always a fun way to be competitive, as they made this before for other games, it shouldn't be hard to be implemented... so they failed on that part.

The custom games part. I can understand about the disclaimer that everything you make is property of blizzard. Since they don't want another Dota...
I'm suprised people are angry about this. As a company you don't want this to happen again. If you were in their position you would do the same. Atleast I would.

[Kumorii]

This may be honest, but it sure as hell isn't objective.

Reviewing entertainment can never be objective. People tends to deem a review "objective" if it's something they agree with because we tend to see ourselves as more rational than others... Probably because we have more insight in our thought process than others.

[Arainie]

I've never understood why people think it's cool to rate something 1/10 (or even 2-3) because of factors that aren't directly related to the game or its content. That'd be like me rating sleezy love films with Hugh Grant 1/10 on IMDB based on the fact that I don't like sleezy love films or Hugh Grant in the first place, regardless of the quality of the script, production or acting. If you can't at least attempt to be objective (like the OP tries to be, even if no one can be truly objective), you shouldn't drop a rating in the first place. The internet is really turning in to a worse place every single year.

I think just looking at metacritic's score vs user score tells the whole story. User scores are tainted by vile individuals driven by personal vendettas, and while metacritic scores aren't always right they are far more stable and not influenced by major corporation hatred. I would bet that something like the Blitzchung incident tainted the score of ALL Blizzard games even though it has nothing to do with any game what so ever, something that is so stupid that I'm lost for words.

[Djuntas]

The worst part of the launch is the fact that it got a bad start, and that new custom maps might not become a thing with the new EULA changes. I will play reforged just to play custom maps.

[Doffen]

No it isnt or u didnt play w3 earlier xD Bnet i cuted out sounds are raped (in my language its just horrible now). Game at start was really bugged and crashes all the time its not beta enymore hello? Custom maps? I decided to return game and take my money back. I know they are VERY SORRY to know im not happy about W3 ref. Jees blizzard are really dicks these days.

Yes, WC3 Reforged is a remastered WC3 with better graphics. It's exactly what I mean, but the main point is that I didn't think it was supposed to be something else. Bugs and shit like that got nothing to have the game is supposed to be, thats just.. bugs.

[Kharill]

Ok then.

It's a fucking piece of shit game. It actively breaks both itself and the original Warcraft 3 by forcing users to download that piece of shit reforged client. Not even Bethesda are capable of that. Like they break fucking games but they don't retroactively break the older one.

Among the numerous game breaking bugs (which they managed to fucking bring into the original classic mode too) they flat out lied about the "reforge" and could only be bothered to fucking do the intro cinematic. And had the audacity to use "preserve the spirit" as an excuse.

But the icing on the shit cake? Actually trying to blame the players with the "expectations" statement rather than fucking admit they fucked up. Disgusting.

Game deserves it's 0.5/10 and then some. It spits on the legacy of one of the many games that made Blizzard. The fact fans can do a better job remaking/remastering WC3 than a company with huge resources says a lot. And Blizzard don't care. They haven't in a long time. But of course as long as white knights sit there defending them they'll keep doing shit like this because they can get away with it.

I seriously hope they don't have a Warcraft 2 or Diablo 2 remaster planned. Because Diablo 2 is my favourite Blizzard game of all time and I'd rather their remaster team not fuck it up.

[czarek]

Yes, WC3 Reforged is a remastered WC3 with better graphics. It's exactly what I mean, but the main point is that I didn't think it was supposed to be something else. Bugs and shit like that got nothing to have the game is supposed to be, thats just.. bugs.

No its not just W3 with better graphics its downgraded W3 with better graphics in some way (low fps animation compare to world fps?!) Bnet every fan loved is literally not exist anymore. Crashes and bugs yeah ok maybe just bugs but if i pay for just graphic revamp it should work well from the start

[Ophenia]

I've never understood why people think it's cool to rate something 1/10 (or even 2-3) because of factors that aren't directly related to the game or its content. That'd be like me rating sleezy love films with Hugh Grant 1/10 on IMDB based on the fact that I don't like sleezy love films or Hugh Grant in the first place, regardless of the quality of the script, production or acting. If you can't at least attempt to be objective (like the OP tries to be, even if no one can be truly objective), you shouldn't drop a rating in the first place. The internet is really turning in to a worse place every single year.

But in case of WIII:Reforged, as it's an update to an already-existing game, you have to rate the improvements/changes. You can't say "WIII is great because lore is interesting and characters well-written" for example as it doesn't come from Reforged.

That's like rating all DLCs for a legendary game as 10/10 even though they didn't bring anything interesting to the game and you barely notice them (or, in the case of WIII, "upgrade" allegedly broke the basic game for those who didn't purchase, as far as I've read).

[Doffen]

No its not just W3 with better graphics its downgraded W3 with better graphics in some way (low fps animation compare to world fps?!) Bnet every fan loved is literally not exist anymore. Crashes and bugs yeah ok maybe just bugs but if i pay for just graphic revamp it should work well from the start

Certainly some aspects with it that are bad like the maps and intergrating old WC3 into all of it, sure. It's not flawless. But what I wanted was to do the WC3 campaign with better graphics. And that it is. I am not sure how you can say its downgraded? Does it feel different for you to play? I have not played so much yet, so can't say if it feels worse down the line, but so far I have not seen it as worse. Will it ever catch the old feeling of playing WC3? Hell no, but so I didn't expect either.

[czarek]

Certainly some aspects with it that are bad like the maps and intergrating old WC3 into all of it, sure. It's not flawless. But what I wanted was to do the WC3 campaign with better graphics. And that it is. I am not sure how you can say its downgraded? Does it feel different for you to play? I have not played so much yet, so can't say if it feels worse down the line, but so far I have not seen it as worse. Will it ever catch the old feeling of playing WC3? Hell no, but so I didn't expect either.

It depends what you want to and used to play. I used to play AT and customs with friends gather on own channel chat n play. Yeah it isnt exist enymore sadly. And we cant go for old W3 because this isnt exist either. Thats why its downgrade. 30 fps model compare to 60 fps world made strange feeling isnt it ?

[Doffen]

It depends what you want to and used to play. I used to play AT and customs with friends gather on own channel chat n play. Yeah it isnt exist enymore sadly. And we cant go for old W3 because this isnt exist either. Thats why its downgrade. 30 fps model compare to 60 fps world made strange feeling isnt it ?

Totally agree about that merging the old with the new one, I can't think why they would have to do that. I didn't see the fps issues myself, but if that's an issue you and others see than it's kinda shite for sure.

I was all about the campaign, and I still am

[Caerule]

I went into the game looking to delve into nostalgia and play the game with updated graphics. I got what I wanted.

It's a missed opportunity that they didn't update the lore and the ingame cutscenes. That'd have put me over the top for liking this game. But I understand the Vanilla crowd making them tempted towards #nochanges. Especially when doing that is cheaper and easier.

I see a lot of problems people have with the game related to multiplayer, bugs, licensing, custom maps, battle.net integration. Those are important issues for many fans of the game.

But if like me, all you really seek is to relive or experience the old game in modern graphics, then the game is just fine.


Not that I'd say no to them doing a Definite Edition of this in the future. As the reviewer of this thread says, there's outdated stuff in the game, that could definitely be brought up to modern standards. Heck, do that, and the lore and cinematic updates, and I'll definitely be on board. Heck, start giving it expansion packs that let you play battles from World of Warcraft times. Revive the RTS genre.

[OriginalName]

I love your smug fuckery of an intro where you imply everyone else is just parroting someone else's opinion or is dishonest in reporting their opinion on the game.

I could write a review too, let's start at 10 and work our way up or down.

Did not remaster all art assets -1
Did not remaster most sound assets -1
Did not deliver on its custom map promise of plug & play -1
Bugs in a +20 year old game -1
Reworked users agreement disfavouring the consumer -1
Made wc3 unplayable at launch -1
Ingame model updates locked behind paywalls or preorders -1
Hostility towards consumers at launch -1
Removed a lot of depth to easter egg hunting in the game -1
Outright broke some easter eggs in game -1

Like this list can go on and on but you can't go below 0, so final verdict 0/10.

[Zuben]

I tried the beta and was immediately turned off by the, as the reviewer said it, archaic system. I remember enjoying WC3 back in the day a lot, but now it felt bad to play. The graphical improvements weren't that noticeable from the usual RTS perspective, and even upon closer inspection they felt lacking the original's style. Style that HotS nailed. I thought I would be interested to play through the campaign mode at least, but without the advertised new cutscenes I don't feel like I should bother.

All in all Reforged and AoE2: Definitive Edition demonstrate well what makes Remasters work or not: The original has to hold up regardless. AoE2 is still pleasant to play, where as WC3 is not, at least as far as I'm concerned. If the original doesn't hold up, then you should just go with full-blown Remake; make the game like it originally came out today. Worked wonderfully for RE2, and FF7 is looking pretty good too.