WARCRAFT III: THE FROZEN THRONE

One of the only games I've ever given a perfect score to is WARCRAFT III: REIGN OF CHAOS. And why not? I still play it a few times a week and, while there are some good games out there, I haven't found anything to squash my WARCRAFT bug. And it doesn't look like anything will now with the expansion THE FROZEN THRONE due out in a few months.

But lucky for me I got on the beta test that is currently running so I get to play some of the game now. WARCRAFT III: THE FROZEN THRONE picks up a few months after REIGN OF CHAOS left off, with each of the four races coming to terms with what has recently happened. Arthas, now the undead king of Lordaeron, has haunting visions of the Frozen Throne of Icecrown.

Obviously the biggest addition that THE FROZEN THRONE has to offer is the new storyline, complete with new units and heroes. After having been able to tinker around a bit with each of the new heroes, I'm quite satisfied with them. While the Undead hero leaves a bit to be desired, the new Human, Orc and Night Elf heroes are a perfect fit into the already great arsenal that each race has to offer.

A few other new things that THE FROZEN THRONE incorporates is the ability to be able to hire heroes. While I have only seen one so far in the beta, there are apparently more than a few that you can hire.

WARCRAFT III: THE FROZEN THRONE

© Blizzard

And heroes aren't the only things that are new in the game. Each race comes with a few new units that are equipped and ready to go into battle. The Human Spell Breaker is basically a footman that has the ability to steal positive buffs on enemy opponents (for the non-WARCRAFT player, if an enemy is using a cool spell to help his troops out, you can steal it and use it on your own). But the coolest non-hero unit I've seen so far is the Night Elf Mountain Giant. This big boy can take some hits and can certainly dish out the punishment.

One of the coolest things I've found in THE FROZEN THRONE so far is the player-built shops. Each race has their own little shop they can build (which doesn't cost a ton of money) where you can buy potions to restore life, mana, or you can buy a scroll of town portal in case you've accidentally used the one your hero comes with (has happened to me more than once).

There are a few other new things I've noticed that relate to the gameplay. When you order a peasant, peon, or whatever to build a structure, it will show where the structure is being built. Also, the game now shows where the "creeps" are - neutral units that you fight to gain experience. A circle will be on the minimap indicating where the creeps are, and the size of the circle indicates how difficult the creeps will be to fight.

These are just a few of the features I've been able to discover in my short time of play around with the beta. While there are a few others, I'm not sure how Blizzard would feel about me revealing them to the public if they haven't yet. But I promise a few more updates on how this new expansion is shaping up.