Warcraft

Warcraft is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of five core games: Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, World of Warcraft, and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The first three of these core games are in the real-time strategy genre, where opposing players command virtual armies in battle against each other or a computer-controlled enemy. The fourth and best-selling title of the franchise is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), where players control their character and interact with each other in a virtual world. The most recent title is Hearthstone, a digital collectible card game.

Of these games, no expansion sets were released for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, but Warcraft II was accompanied by the release of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal and Warcraft III was accompanied by the release of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Multiple expansion packages also accompanied World of Warcraft, which include: The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor and Legion.

All games in the series have been set in and around the world of Azeroth, a high fantasy setting. Initially, the start of the series focused on the human nations that make up the Eastern Kingdoms, and the Orcish Horde, which arrived in Azeroth via a dark portal, beginning the great wars. The Orcs came from another world, referred to as Draenor, which then turns into Outland, the world that will be shattered into pieces by demonic magics during the events of Warcraft II. Later on in the series the world of Azeroth was expanded, revealing the new continents of Kalimdor, Northrend and Pandaria, allowing the introduction of the Night Elves, Tauren and other major races into the universe. The world of Azeroth also contains the traditional fantasy setting races of elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, and trolls.

The series also resulted in the publishing of several books relevant to the Warcraft universe setting, covering a broad range of the timelines of the universe. A collectable card game was also published, which offered those who bought booster packs a chance to gain access codes to limited in-game content in World of Warcraft. An upcoming film adaptation is planned. Many comics have also been released alongside the books, further covering parts of the universe's storyline. A short-lived, online subscription only magazine was also available but later ceased publication after just five issues.

The first three games in the Warcraft series, including their expansion packs, were all released on both the PC and Macintosh. All of these games were of the real-time strategy genre. Each game proceeded to carry on the storyline of the previous games, and each introduced new features and content to improve gameplay. Warcraft III was the first game in the series to feature a Collector's Edition, which all subsequent games have released as well. Warcraft II was the first game in the series to feature play over the internet using Battle.net, although this was not included until a later release of the game. Warcraft II was also the first in the series to be re-released as a "Battle Chest", a bundled copy of the game containing both the original and expansion. Warcraft III and World of Warcraft also have both had "Battle Chests" released for them subsequent to their initial release. The "Battle.net" edition of Warcraft II was also the first to introduce the use of CD keys to the series, requiring each user online to have their own copy of the game in order to be able to connect. However, a CD key is not yet required to play via a Local Area Network, although speculation is that future games in the series will do so, as another product in Blizzard Entertainment's portfolio, StarCraft II, is doing so by removing the option for using LANs altogether, requiring the use of Battle.net.

In 1998, an adventure game in the series, Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, was announced as being cancelled, having been previously delayed from a 1997 release.

In 2004, Blizzard Entertainment moved the series away from the real-time strategy genre and released World of Warcraft, an MMORPG. Requiring a subscription fee to be paid to play, it also introduced regular additional content to the series in the form of patches. World of Warcraft quickly gained much popularity worldwide, becoming the world's largest subscription-based MMORPG. They reached a peak 12 million subscribers worldwide. World of Warcraft has had five expansions as of 2014. During the production of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce stated that "If there’s a team that’s passionate about doing another WarCraft RTS, then that’s definitely something we would consider. It’s nothing that we’re working on right now, we have development teams working on Cataclysm, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Diablo III, and when those teams are all off the projects they’re working on, they’ll be intimately involved in the discussions about what’s next."

In 2013, Blizzard announced a new online free-to-play trading card game titled Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, with the beta being available in summer of 2013. In March 2014, Hearthstone was officially released. In addition to the free-to-play basic gameplay Hearthstone also contains fee-based features like extra card packs, a special tournament mode or additional restricted matches against computer opponents.

Diablo

Diablo is an action role-playing hack and slash video game developed by Blizzard North and released by Blizzard Entertainment on December 31, 1996.

Set in the fictional Kingdom of Khanduras, located in the world of Sanctuary, Diablo has the player take control of a lone hero battling to rid the world of Diablo, the Lord of Terror. Beneath the town of Tristram, the player journeys through sixteen randomly generated dungeon levels, ultimately entering Hell itself in order to face Diablo.

An expansion pack, entitled Diablo: Hellfire, was released in 1997 by Sierra Entertainment. In 1998 Blizzard released Diablo for the PlayStation. This version featured direct control of the main character using the PlayStation controller and was developed by Climax Studios. The game's success led to two sequels, Diablo II in 2000, and Diablo III in 2012.

Gameplay

Diablo is an action role-playing hack and slash video game. The player moves and interacts with the environment primarily by way of a mouse. Other actions, such as casting a spell, are performed in response to keyboard inputs. The player can acquire items, learn spells, defeat enemies, and interact with NPCs throughout the entire game.

The dungeon levels are randomly generated, although they follow parameters according to their type; for instance the catacombs tend to have long corridors and closed rooms, while the caves are more non-linear. The players are assigned a random number of quests from several tiers; these quests are optional but help to level up the character and/or reveal more of the backstory. The final two quests, however, are mandatory in order to finish the game.

Music

The music of Diablo was composed by Matt Uelmen. The soundtrack consisted of six tracks, it was released after 15 years, in 2011. It is called the "Diablo 15th Anniversary Music" CD.

Awards

Diablo was awarded GameSpot's Game of the Year Award for 1996. As of January 7, 2013, Diablo has GameSpot's #1 spot of all PC games, with a score of 9.6 out of 10. In 2005 GameSpot chose the game as one of "The Greatest Games of All Time".

StarCraft

StarCraft is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series centers on a galactic struggle for dominance between four species—the adaptable and mobile Terrans, the ever-evolving insectoid Zerg, the powerfully enigmatic Protoss, and the "god-like" Xel'Naga creator race—in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy known as the Koprulu Sector at the beginning of the 26th century. The series debuted with the video game StarCraft in 1998. Since then it has grown to include a number of other games as well as eight novelizations, two Amazing Stories articles, a board game, and other licensed merchandise such as collectible statues and toys.

Blizzard Entertainment began planning StarCraft in 1995, with a development team led by Metzen and Phinney. The game debuted at E3 1996, and uses a modified Warcraft II game engine. StarCraft also marked the creation of Blizzard Entertainment's film department; the game introduced high quality cinematics integral to the storyline of the series. Most of the original development team for StarCraft returned to work on the game's official expansion pack, Brood War; the game's development began shortly after StarCraft was released. In 2001, StarCraft: Ghost began development under Nihilistic Software. Unlike the previous real-time strategy games in the series, Ghost was to be a stealth-action game. After three years of development, work on the game was postponed in 2004. Development of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty began in 2003; the game was later announced on May 19, 2007 and was released on July 27, 2010. The StarCraft II franchise continued with the StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm expansion, which was released on March 12, 2013. The third StarCraft II installment is titled StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, released on November 10, 2015.

The original game and its official expansion have been praised as one of the benchmark real-time strategy games of its time. The series has gathered a solid following around the world, particularly in South Korea, where professional players and teams participate in matches, earn sponsorships, and compete in televised matches. As of May 31, 2007, StarCraft and Brood War have sold almost 10 million copies combined. In addition, the series was awarded a star on the Walk of Game in 2006, and holds four Guinness World Records in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition of 2008.

Starcraft

StarCraft, released for Windows on March 31, 1998, is the first video game in the StarCraft series. A science fiction real-time strategy game, StarCraft is set in a distant sector of the Milky Way galaxy. A Mac OS version of the game was released by Blizzard Entertainment in March 1999. A Nintendo 64 port including StarCraft, Brood War and a new secret mission "Resurrection IV"was released in the United States on June 13, 2000. The game's story revolves around the appearance of two alien races in Terran space, and each race's attempts to survive and adapt over the others. The player assumes three roles through the course of the three campaigns: a Confederate colonial governor who becomes a revolutionary commander, a Zerg cerebrate pushing forward the species' doctrine of assimilation, and a Protoss fleet executor tasked with defending the Protoss from the Zerg. StarCraft soon gained critical acclaim, winning numerous awards, including being labelled "the best real-time strategy game ever made" and being ranked the seventh best game of all time by IGN in both 2003 and 2005, and the eleventh best game in 2007.

The Lost Vikings

The Lost Vikings is a puzzle-platform video game developed by Silicon & Synapse (now Blizzard Entertainment) and published by Interplay. It was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992, then subsequently released for the Amiga, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS, and Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis systems the next year; the Mega Drive/Genesis version contains five stages not present in any other version of the game. Blizzard re-released the game for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. In 2014 the game was added to Battle.net as a free download emulated through DOSBox.

In The Lost Vikings, the player controls three separate vikings with different abilities. Together the three must try to complete levels. The game features infinite opportunities of retries in case the player loses one of the Vikings. A sequel, The Lost Vikings 2, was released in 1997.

Plot

In the game, the three Vikings get kidnapped by Tomator, emperor of the alien Croutonian empire, for an inter-galactic zoo and become lost in various periods of time. After escaping through the airlock of the spaceship, they must traverse various bizarre locations to find their way home.

Character abilities

All three Vikings (Erik, Baleog and Olaf) have three health points which they can lose by getting hurt by enemies or by falling from great heights, and the ability to carry and use items, mainly keys, bombs, and food (which restore health points). Each of the Vikings has a unique set of abilities:

Erik can run faster than the other two, can jump, and can bash through some walls (and enemies) with his helmet.

Baleog can kill enemies with his sword, or from a distance with his bow (and a "life-time supply of arrows"). The bow can also be used to hit switches from a distance.

Olaf can block enemies and their projectiles with his shield, and use his shield as a hang glider. Olaf's shield can also be used as a stepping stone for Erik to enable him to reach higher ground, which would not be possible without the shield.

Reception

Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the Genesis version a 6.8 out of 10, remarking that "The music doesn't have the kick of the [Super NES] version (or the truly colorful graphics)", but that it is generally a well done conversion of "a really good puzzle game".

Mega placed the game at #22 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time.

Heroes Of The Storm

Gameplay

Heroes of the Storm revolves around online 5-versus-5 matches, operated through Blizzard's online gaming service Battle.net. Players can choose from three game modes, which include playing with/against computer-controlled heroes or other players. When players first start the game, they may play 6 heroes provided by the free hero rotation, a methodically selected list that changes weekly, but by using gold coins, the in-game source of wealth, or through microtransactions, they can gain permanent access to a hero. Four additional heroes are available to players who have reached level 15. As of February 2016, there are currently 47 heroes in the game divided into 4 separate roles. Of the currently released maps, 8 of the 10 have the standard 3 main lanes where players can fight, while the others have only two main lanes, but a separate objective-based area. Killing computer-controlled enemy/neutral units and the opposing side's heroes grants experience points, which are shared with the entire team. When a certain experience point threshold is reached for a team, each hero on that team levels up, acquiring slightly amplified powers and gaining a talent point upon reaching levels 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, and 20. Talent points allow players to customize and empower their hero's abilities and generally result in large increase in use, especially for levels 10, 15, and 20. This leveling system emphasizes the importance of teamwork and planning, since a player's action can affect the whole team. Players can also mount different animals, such as horses, lizards, or unicorns, to increase their movement speed, automatically dismounting when dealing/receiving damage or using an ability. Minions at neutral camps can be defeated to gain experience points, and mercenaries that fight for the player. Each map has a different side-objective that will help either team and deal significant damage to the other.

Game modes

In non-draft modes, players choose their heroes in a party before entering the game or knowing what map they are playing. In draft modes, teams cannot play the same heroes as the opposing team. However, they can base their decision around the map that is announced during the draft period.

Tutorials - The tutorials are composed of three scripted 'levels' that are aimed at new players with the intent of teaching them movement, use of abilities and other basic controls. The player controls Jim Raynor, who is teleported from the StarCraft universe into the Nexus, receiving instructions from Uther Lightbringer from the Warcraft series.

Training - A reduced XP mode that a player can only play versus five AI opponents set at an easy difficulty.

Versus A.I. - Players face off against five AI opponents. Before beginning, the player can choose to have human controlled or AI allies. Like in StarCraft II, the AI difficulty can be chosen prior to initiating a match.

Quick Match - This mode sets two teams of five human controlled characters against each other on one of the eight maps in Player Versus Player style combat. These teams are selected based on the player's past performance (a somewhat hidden statistic not available in-game) to create a level playing field, as well as the roles of heroes chosen. For example, if a player queues without other party members as a Support, they are extremely unlikely to be matched with four other Support teammates.

Hero League - Draft mode. As players compete in these matches they will be awarded ranked points which will progress their League Rank within their community and begin to place them in more challenging match ups. Hero League is unlocked on level 30 and the player must own at least 10 Heroes to participate. Each rank represents 2% of players in the league. A recent patch altered this league so the maximum party size is 2 players. Larger groups can queue in the Quick Match (3-4 players) or Team League (5).

Team League - Draft mode. Players who choose to play competitively as a team can use the Team Ranked Match to be matched with other five man teams in their region. The League Rank gained by these teams are assigned separate to the ranks gained within Hero League. Team League is unlocked on level 40 and also requires ownership of a minimum of 10 Heroes. Each rank represents 2% of players in the league.

Custom Games - Often used for tournament play, players can create a lobby and make a predetermined matchup of up to five players versus five players, with the ability to choose the map, whether or not it's a draft mode, and add AI controlled characters and up to six observers.

Since the launch of the game, both Hero and Team league have been in a test phase called preseason. The start of the first official season is yet to be announced.

Matchmaking

As players win or lose their fights while playing Heroes of the Storm a hidden formula, called Matchmaking Rating (MMR), is applied so that the players will always be matched with other players of equal skill. MMR uses the Elo formula with proprietary adjustments.