IMAGE: WARCRAFT III: REFORGED MARCH 2020 PCWorld 35

How ‘Warcraft III’ became a great

‘Lord of the Rings’ game

It doesn’t get discussed as much as ‘Defense of the Ancients,’ but ‘Warcraft III’ had a surprising
symbiosis with ‘The Lord of the Rings’—one that’s worth revisiting. BY HAYDEN DINGMAN

W

arcraft III: Reforged has
been released. We may
never get a Warcraft IV,
but at least III and its
expansion The Frozen Throne are finally
getting some love: A refined user interface,
more detailed units and buildings, native 4K
support, and so on. It’s been a while since I’ve
played either campaign, and I’m looking
forward to revisiting it. Arthas’s downfall is still
one of Blizzard’s best story lines, and I’m
excited to see it fully redone.

Blizzard’s authored story is the smallest

portion of my love for Warcraft III though. I

played it for years, and what kept me coming

back is an element that was incredibly

important at the time, but rarely discussed

now: Warcraft III was one of the best Lord of

the Rings games. Maybe the best.

And it happened by accident.

YOU BOW TO NO ONE

Warcraft III shipped in 2002 with a robust set

of mapmaking tools. To younger folks that