Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
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| Warcraft: Orcs & Humans | |
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 The original box art for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans |
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| Developer(s) | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) |  Blizzard Entertainment Interplay Entertainment |
| Designer(s) | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Version | 1.21 (PC) / 1.06 (Mac) |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS, Mac OS |
| Release date | January 15, 1994 1995 |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Intel 80386 CPU, 4MB RAM, VGA graphic card, CD-ROM |
| Input method(s) | Keyboard and mouse |
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game, developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 1994.[1] The real-time strategy genre had been pioneered by Dune II, but Warcraft (along with Westwood Studios' Command & Conquer) is widely credited for the genre's rise in popularity.
The game is set in the Kingdom of Azeroth, part of the fictional Warcraft universe. The events that take place in this game are known in Warcraft lore as the First War or the Great War.
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[edit] Story
The human Mage Medivh, scion of a mortal human and one of the last guardians, comes under the influence of the long dead dark Titan, Sargeras. Mad with lust and power, he offers the world of Azeroth to the bloodthirsty Orcs in exchange for the Titan's powers and unwavering loyalty of the Orcish Horde.
The Orcs begin a very swift invasion of Azeroth but are, at first, beaten back and Medivh himself is slain, putting an end to his quest for power and domination. However, fortunes take a turn for the worst when the Orcs assassinate King Llane, sack Stormwind Keep (the capital of Azeroth), and drive the humans from Azeroth Far far north into the Lordaeron subcontinent (setting the story for Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness).
[edit] Units and structures
As with most real-time strategy computer games at the time, Warcraft featured two opposing factions: the noble Humans and the savage Orcs. The goal of most scenarios is to destroy the enemy.
The working units are Human Peasants and Orc Peons; they harvest lumber, mine gold and build and repair buildings. Buildings enable creating more advanced units or researching technologies for improving weapons, shields or other abilities.
Various units serve different purposes in combat. Footmen (or faster and stronger Knights) are the basic fighting units; they attack from proximity and are used to protect weaker units from being reached by enemies. Archers or Orc Spearmen can attack any unit in their range and are therefore effective in finishing damaged units. Catapults throw missiles that deal heavy damage to nine squares at the same time; as they cannot aim at an empty square, it is difficult for them to hit a moving unit.
Clerics and Conjurers are vulnerable spell casters that can heal damaged units, explore any segment of map, make a unit invisible, cast a rain of fire or summon Scorpions (weak units useful for exploring) or a mighty Water elemental. Their Orc counterparts, Necrolytes and Warlocks, have partly different spells, they can summons Spiders (Scorpions counterpart), turn dead units into Skeletons, make a unit invulnerable and summon a Daemon, the most powerful unit in the game.
In the single Player campaign there are also several "neutral" units that appear in the dungeon maps. these include Brigands, Ogres, Fire elementals, Scorpion, spiders, slime and Skeletons (Not to be confused with the skeletons raised by the orcs. These have higher armor and deal less damage).
Finally, Featured in the single campaigns are a small number of Special characters, that would evolve into heroes in further installments in the series, eventually leading to World of Warcraft. The only of these characters to make a later appearances is Sir Anduin Lothar who is featured in Warcraft II
[edit] Counterparts
Each faction’s units and buildings have a counterpart within the other faction. With the exception of some spells, each unit is basically the same as its counterpart, with only slight variations. For example, Orc Spearmen do slightly more damage than Human Archers while having a slightly reduced range.
The only units which are exclusive and have no counterpart in the game are the Daemons (Summoned by Orcish Warlocks) and the Water Elementals (Summoned by Human Conjurers). Both are the most powerful units for each faction, the Daemons though are slow melee attackers with more HP and damage output, while the Water Elementals are ranged units. While subtle, these units provided something that would be kept in the series and give each race its flavor: The orcs could wreak havoc using invulnerable Daemons enchanted with Unholy Armor, while humans could simply pass by heavy defenses using Invisible Water Elementals.
[edit] References
- ^ Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (Blizzard Entertainment)
[edit] External links
- Official Warcraft: Orcs & Humans site
- Official Lore: The Dark Portal and the Fall of Stormwind.
- Game Manual History on Warcraft's game box
- Warcraft: Orcs & Humans at WoWWiki, a World of Warcraft wiki
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| Diablo series | Diablo · Diablo II (Lord of Destruction) |
| Racing series | RPM Racing · Rock N' Roll Racing |
| StarCraft series | StarCraft (Brood War) · StarCraft: Ghost · StarCraft II |
| Warcraft series | Warcraft · Warcraft II (Beyond the Dark Portal) · Warcraft III (The Frozen Throne) World of Warcraft (The Burning Crusade · Wrath of the Lich King) |
| Other games | Blackthorne · Lost Vikings · Death and Return of Superman · Justice League Task Force |
