PC Gamer - UK 2020-04)

FROSTY RECEPTION

WARCRAFT III:REFORGEDhasn’tputthedeveloperbackontop

characters.Manyofthesefeatures

werewalkedbackatBlizzCon2019,

butunlessyouwerefollowingthe

event,youwouldhaveneverknown.

Theactualchangesendedup

beingquitea bitmoreconservative.

Mostofthemarecosmetic,buteven

thosewerescaledback.Thenew

modelsandbuildingslookgreat,and

visuallythemapshavechangedquite

a bit,butplayersdubbedit a

‘downgrade’despitethem.Cutscenes

andanimationstookthebiggesthit,

beingmuchclosertothe 2002

versionthanexpected.It’sstillmore

ofanupgradethanStarCraft 2

Remastered, butplayersthoughtthey

weregettingsomethingdifferent.

T

helaunchofWarcraft
III:Reforgedseemed
likeit wasgoingtobe
aneasywinfor
Blizzard– it had
alreadyremasteredonebeloved
RTS,andpeoplewereravenousfor
anotherstrategygamesetin
Azeroth.Instead,it’sbeen
hammeredbynegativeuserreviews
andBlizzardisnowoffering
no-questions-askedrefunds.Poor
communication,delayedand
missingfeatures,andchangestothe
end-userlicenceagreement(EULA)
haveovershadowedthelaunch–
andthatwasprettyshakyinits
ownrighttoo.

Backin2018,WarcraftIII:Reforged

waspitchedassomethingbetweena

remasterandremake,withnewart,

graphics,cutscenes,UIandeven

changestothecampaign.Blizzard

showedoffoneofthenewcutscenes

atthetime,whichhada more

dynamiccameraandanimated

THEACTUAL

CHANGESENDEDUP

BEINGQUITEA BIT

MORECONSERVATIVE

“How do I dig myself

out of this hole?”

MONITOR

NEW | OP N ON | D OPMENT