Keepers is a weekly segment in which I discuss games I’ve played that I’ve seen fit to keep after playing. I generally sell a game that I’ve finished, so the only reason I keep one is because I plan to replay the game some day. Classifying a game as a “keeper” is generally a badge of merit.
Starcraft 2 is coming out soon, and I’ll be picking up a copy on day one. To prepare, I’d decided to go back and replay the single-player campaign in the original Starcraft. Again. But wait – what about Warcraft? No – not the MMO, I mean the other game that everyone has forgotten about – the RTS. Warcraft III.
It really is a great game – I’m replaying it now. I’ve finished the human and undead campaigns, and I’m in the midst of the orc campaign. I’ll admit that it’s not quite as good as Starcraft – few games are – but it’s a lot of fun despite its age. I love necromancers and meat wagons. I love Kodo beasts. I love planting mines. I love uprooting Elven structures. I only wish they’d included ships like in Warcraft 2.
WarCraft III is the game that gave birth to the Olde Fartz, a group of gamers in their thirties (and beyond) who don’t have the money (or desire) to upgrade their gaming rigs every six months just so they can play the latest and and greatest games. We started off playing WC3 and graduated to Neverwinter Nights and City of Heroes, with a bit of Half-Life 2 Deathmatch thrown in for those days when you just have to run around throwing toilets at people. Someday I expect we’ll bring WC3 back into our rotation, just to slow things down a bit and give our twitch reflex a break.