WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness

aka: War2, WarCraft 2, WarCraft II: Blood Seas, WarCraft II: Ondas de Terror
Moby ID: 1339
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness is a fantasy themed real-time strategy game and sequel to WarCraft: Orcs & Humans set on the world of Azeroth. With the conquest of the kingdom of Azeroth in the first war, the orcs are now preparing for an invasion of Lordaeron and conquer the remaining human, dwarven and elvisch realms. In an effort to counter this invasion the humans, elves and dwarves formed an alliance in the hope to avert the same fate the kingdom of Azeroth met.

The game comes with many new features such as fighting not only over land but also over sea and air, SVGA 640x480 resolution graphics with many newly-rendered buildings and units, multiplayer-support with up to eight players, as well as a Red Book audio soundtrack, and a scenario editor that allows players to design and create their own scenarios. The editor requires Windows 3.1 or greater, even though WarCraft II is a DOS-based game.

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Credits (DOS version)

143 People (68 developers, 75 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 90% (based on 32 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 179 ratings with 11 reviews)

So charming, you’ll overlook all of its flaws.

The Good
First of all, the chrome is as shiny and brilliant as can be. The graphics were souped up nicely from the original Warcraft’s somewhat blocky sprites to a smooth and spiffy SVGA. The colors are bright and full of contrast. Buildings and units are a joy to look at…and also to listen to. WC 2 set the standard for injecting personality into an RTS, with convincing sound effects (swords clash, bombs boom, etc.), charismatic vocal responses, and a sweeping musical soundtrack. The intro cinematic is also very well done.

The basics of the first WC are expanded upon just enough to make for a great sequel. There are more units and buildings, but not too many. There is one new resource to collect, oil, but no more. It’s just enough new stuff to add naval and air dimensions to the combat. Zeppelins, Flying Machines, Oil Tankers, Subs, Battleships, and more enhance what was already a pretty cool arsenal of fantasy toys.

There are two full campaigns, one for each side (Human-centered Alliance vs. Orc-centered Horde). There is also multiplayer. More on those below.

The manual and box art are wonderful. I don’t even like this kind of fantasy-themed stuff that much, but WC2 certainly got my attention with its loads of style and gameplay.

Finally, I give Blizzard high marks for not following Westwood’s lead in making a buggy, clunky, cheesy, wildly overrated mess like Command & Conquer. The RTS genre is not my favorite even as it stands now. How bad would real-time games generally be if we didn’t have Blizzard around?



The Bad
Like most RTS games (at least 1990s ones), WC2 puts a heavy emphasis on speed over strategy. There are no build queues or unit formations. Shortcut keys and fast mouse-clicking can cover up a multitude of tactical sins and just plain not thinking. It’s not a big problem in this kind of light, mainstream game, but it still seems a little bit like cheating to the more hardcore strategy/wargame player. Also, the pace makes WC2 exciting, but also a bit stressful. If you just want to relax and unwind at your computer for a while, WC2 is not that good of a choice. Then again, it’s less intense than Doom, so maybe it’s a happy medium.

The enemy AI is merely passable. Which is not a problem, unless you happen to be like me. I generally don’t like to play campaigns or online/multiplayer, so I’m stuck with the skirmish mode. I tried hard to get through the campaigns, but I kept losing interest and quitting before I got very far into them. Would it have been that hard for Blizzard to have included a random map generator?

It’s not the most rewarding game in the world. It’s quite fun and passes the time, but I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished that much when I’m done playing it.

The Bottom Line
Clearly the product of much love and affection, I love WC2 against all my better judgment. A guilty pleasure, yes, but a pleasure nonetheless. Unlike Command & Conquer, WC is a genuine classic.

DOS · by PCGamer77 (3158) · 2008

A genre inside of itself

The Good
I like to refer to Warcraft as the rough draft of this game. It has nice playability, and it don't take no genius to play it. You can assault your enemies by land, sea and air with missile or melee weapons. It even comes with a map editor so you can build your own scenarios! Warcraft II is definitely the second best strategy game ever made (the first best being Starcraft).

The Bad
Nothing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this game.

The Bottom Line
If you've never heard of this game, you must be SSSSSSLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW. PC gamer rated it the fourth best game ever. You can't lose with this game. By that of course, I mean you can't lose by BUYING it, not that you'll win every single scenario. (sorry to disappoint you on that one)

DOS · by Sam Tinianow (113) · 2001

The only RTS I ever really enjoyed playing

The Good
I remember playing the Command and Conquer demo and thinking what a bother it was. Shortly afterwards I tried the Warcraft 2 demo and was pleasantly surprised at how much different it was (in a good way.) The SVGA graphics were fantastic and very smooth. The interface was great, especially for its time. The buildings and units were instantly identifiable. However, it wasn't until I got a hold of the full version that everything came together into one incredible gaming experience.

I think my favorite part about the game was that it did not try to overcomplicate matters like later RTSs. There were relatively few units and buildings, but you knew just how they were supposed to be used. And is there really a need for balancing 15 different resources? The comic responces of annoyed units did not hurt matters either.

The Bad
The AI wasn't all that great. It was extremely common to see enemy peons/pesants making unescorted beelines to your fortified mines once their resources ran out. It was also very easy to lead the AI's units into ambushes. The computer was pretty good at doing humanly impossible things like having 10 wizards start shooting fireballs simultaneously though.

Some people might not like the cartoonish graphics, but I didn't mind at all.

The Bottom Line
The game that did for the RTS genre what Doom did for first-person shooters. If you consider yourself any kind of an RTS gamer, you have no excuse for not having this masterpiece in your collection.

DOS · by Kalirion (565) · 2000

[ View all 11 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Still up ? GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) Jul 31, 2008
Permission ? GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) Feb 26, 2008

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Book

In the mission objectives screen, the text written in the book on the background is actually English with letters substituted with similar sounding (or, in some cases, not) Cyrillic ones. For example, "орцисч чордес" is definitely "orcish hordes".

Credits

At the end of the credits section of the game there is a note:

No pixels were harmed during the making of this game.

Cheats

You can type in "gilttering prizes" instead of the cheat "glittering prizes" and still have it work. Joke? Glitch? Coincidence? We will never know...

Development

  • Blizzard originally wanted to include more than two races with the game. However, memory constrictions forced them to stay with two. As a compromise, they included Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Ogres, Goblins, and Gnomes as part of the two official races, Orcs and Humans.
  • At one point in development, Blizzard planed to have Catapults and Balistas manned. This means that you would need a unit to move and fire the catapult. If this unit was killed, the enemy could then capture your catapult. For whatever reason, this idea was taken out of the final version, however evidence of its existence can still be seen in the cutscene of a footman stealing an Orcish Catapult.

Gags

  • If you repetitively click on any of the critters in the game, they'll eventually explode.
  • As is typical of all of Blizzard's RTS games, repeatedly clicking on any unit will trigger humorous dialogue.

Graphics

All of the buildings and units for Warcraft II were originally created from 3d models. Then, after the frames of animation were set, these were given to artists to draw over, giving the game an animated look rather than a 3-D look.

Lumber bug

In games that began with only one peon (no townhall), you could click on a tree and then build your townhall. This would result in 100 extra lumber even though the tree was never completely chopped down. This was known as the "lumber bug" and came in very handy in low resource multiplayer games. However, this only worked in the DOS version of the game and was fixed in the BattleNet version.

Reception

  • A common nickname for Warcraft II is "Warcrack", a reference to how addictive -- like crack cocaine -- this game can be.
  • Rumor has it that Civilization designer Sid Meier remained skeptical of multiplayer gaming until he saw how much fun his daughter had beating him at Warcraft II.

References

If you select a sheep four times (keep clicking it with the left mouse button), the sheep will say: bo-ram-u (that's what it sounds like). This is the sheep password from the 1995 movie Babe.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • June 1996 (Issue #143) – Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #28 in the “150 Best Games of All Time” list
    • June 1998 (Issue #278) - Introduced into the Hall of Fame
  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – #3 Top Game of All Time
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 12/1999 - #9 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
  • PC Gamer
    • April 2000 - #4 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
    • April 2005 - #5 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
  • Power Play
    • Issue 02/1997 – Best Game in 1996

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, Chentzilla, KSlayer, Maw, PCGamer77, Roedie, Toadstool; Trixter and Warlock

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Accatone.

Macintosh added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Warlock, Andrew Hartnett, Jeanne, Maw, Patrick Bregger, MrFlibble, FatherJack, Flapco, GenesisBR.

Game added April 13, 2000. Last modified March 22, 2024.