Warcraft II: The Dark Saga

Source: Wikipedia, Warcraft II , available under the CC-BY-SA License.

Warcraft II is a fantasy-themed real-time strategy (RTS) game published by Blizzard Entertainment and first released for MS-DOS in 1995 and for Mac OS in 1996

Players must collect resources, and produce buildings and units in order to defeat an opponent in combat on the ground, in the air and in some maps at sea. The more advanced combat units are produced at the same buildings as the basic units but also need the assistance of other buildings, or must be produced at buildings that have prerequisite buildings. The majority of the main screen shows the part of the territory on which the gamer is currently operating, and the minimap can select another location to appear in the larger display. The fog of war completely hides all territory which the gamer's has not explored, and shows only terrain but hides opponents' units and buildings if none of the gamer's units are present.

GameSpot was pleased that the ports of the consoles Sony PlayStation and SEGA Saturn, combining Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness and Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, are practically identical. Video Game Critic and different reviewers in GameSpot for the PS and Saturn suggested that gamers with PCs should not buy the console versions, but recommended the game to those who use only consoles. Absolute PlayStation and Electronic Gaming Monthly omitted comparisons with the PC and praised the console versions.

Absolute PlayStation and Electronic Gaming Monthly commented that the console versions have no multiplayer capability, but were impressed with the number of campaign and skirmish maps.The two GameSpot reviews noted that, while most campaign missions follow the "resource, build, destroy" pattern, some have other objectives.

Absolute PlayStation and Electronic Gaming Monthly regarded the console buttons easy to use. However, Video Game Critic found that, despite Blizzard's streamlining of the UI, the PS buttons are still a clumsy substitute for a mouse.GameSpot's review for the PS noted that the gamer can to auto-upgrade buildings, auto-build units, and select more troops at once than in the PC version.

Absolute PlayStation praised the graphics and sound, while Electronic Gaming Monthly regarded the graphics as serviceable but praised the sound. However, Video Game Critic complained that the units were indistinct and load times very long on the PS.