Review: The Warcraft Battle Chest is a Classic for a Reason

Warcraft is what put Blizzard Entertainment on the map. Yes, there is Diablo, and there was Starcraft, but Warcraft is what almost everyone knows the studio for. Since the Warcraft series transitioned into an MMORPG through World of Warcraft, it’s humble beginnings as an RTS, and RPG, has gone otherwise forgotten. Unless, of course, you’re really deep into the lore of World of Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment has brought all three entries to PC through the Warcraft Remastered Battle Chest, which is arguably the best way to play these games.

As the first entry in the series, the original Warcraft is pretty simple. It’s your bog-standard RTS with base building mechanics that requires you to build up your army to defeat the invading horde of Orcs, or Humans that bar your path. You pick one of two factions and play through their scenario, which isn’t anything riveting, as Blizzard Entertainment more or less expanded upon the narrative elements of these RTS games in Warcraft II. Once again, the conflict is centered around the Orcs and Humans, with the types of units you can train expanded upon. They’re solid, but not all that engaging in terms of story.

While the first two Warcraft games didn’t leave a particularly strong impression on me, it was Warcraft III that pulled me in, hook, line, and sinker. On that note, I would say the Warcraft Battle Chest is worth the price just for access to Warcraft III and The Frozen Throne expansion. The original release of Warcraft III Reforged was far from contentious, with it being disliked to such a staggering degree it was one of the lowest rated games on Metacritic. Thankfully, the game has been updated to allow for players to toggle off any HD effects, character models, and environments. While it doesn’t solve all of the problems that many familiar with the classic version of the game may have (such as multiplayer adjustments, and so forth), it’s a great way to access a classic.

Dipping my toes back into Warcraft III reminded me just how influential the game was. Blending the RTS with an RPG made me more invested in tackling optional quests and obtaining items to make my heroes more powerful. Outside of the general base building and upgrading units through incremental upgrades, tackling camps of enemies on the map help level up your hero units, making them more powerful as you carry them through the narrative. In this case, Arthas Menethil, the doomed Prince of Lordaeron and soon-to-be Lich King. His story, along with the others tied to him, still remain compelling. Certain changes, however, are less than welcome; specifically The Culling of Stratholme.

This mission has been gamified to such an extent that it removes the intention of the original in making the genocide of an entire village more “engaging” through new mechanics, which misses the entire point of the mission itself. It’s changes like this that do end up making Warcraft III Reforged a worse version of the original. But the bones of Warcraft III itself are still there, and it’s no surprise that this title specifically would go on to inspire Defense of the Ancients, or DotA, (which was a multiplayer mod I actually played) and League of Legends.

The narrative Blizzard Entertainment managed to craft in the early 2000’s is still great, and for those looking to start World of Warcraft, playing Warcraft III almost feels essential. I won’t lie that a lot of my fondness for the series is filtered through a lens of nostalgia. I love Warcraft because of memories of being hunkered down in the basement of a LAN party, building up my Night Elves to send my saber-riding huntresses into the fray against the horde of my friend’s Orc army. And now that I’m deeply into World of Warcraft, I look back on the series with a greater sense of fondness, now able to parse through lore that I otherwise never really got a chance to sift through as I was a bit too young to really play those first two entries when they came out.

It’s impossible to deny the impact the Warcraft series has had on the industry at large. Warcraft propelled Blizzard Entertainment into what success it would later experience in World of Warcraft, showcasing what the studio was capable of early on. It reminded me an era where Blizzard’s name was spoken with the same reverence as Square in terms of the cinematics and storytelling a studio was capable.

But even with this to consider, the Warcraft Battle Chest isn’t perfect. The new sprites for Warcraft and Warcraft II are something to be desired, and despite the influence Warcraft III had on video games, sometimes certain missions are kind of a drag, or have lost their original impact through certain gameplay changes. The new, revamped visuals aren’t all that great, but since the option to revert them in the case of Warcraft III is there, I can’t be too pressed about it either.

However, the Warcraft Remastered Battle Chest is the best way to access all three of these titles. And I still think, that even in 2024, it’s more than worth giving them a try. It’s one of the best RTS series of all time, and even now they manage to hold up as some of the best. But definitely temper your expectations, because while the box might say remaster, these are more or less actually just ports with a few glossy (or muddy) coats of paint on them.

The Warcraft Remastered Battle Chest, which includes Warcraft, Warcraft II, and Warcraft III, is available on PC.