Reader Reviews 7 reviews. Average Rating: 8.14 Read the reviews • Write a review Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment    Genre: Strategy & War Mac OS X: Not Supported    Mac OS Classic: Mac OS 7.6 CPU: 601    RAM: 16 MB    Hard Disk: 80 MB    4x CD-ROM    Graphics: 640x480 @ 256 Colors

WarCraft II: Battle.net Edition July 3, 2000 | Jason Sims

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Welcome back to the land of Azeroth. Warcraft II — one of the most popular and successful computer games of all time — is here again with a new and improved version, Battle.net Edition.

The original WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness was released in early 1996, followed shortly thereafter by the WarCraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal expansion pack. Although the game didn't make it to the Macintosh for a long time after the PC release, the Mac version included some nice extras like TCP/IP multiplayer (allowing up to 8 players to play a game over the Internet) and simulated 3D sound (made possible by SoundSprocket).

Since most people have probably played this game before, let's jump right to what's new in the Battle.net Edition. Obviously the most important new feature is the ability to play multiplayer games over the Internet via Battle.net. This is much better than the Internet (TCP/IP) multiplayer option in the original Macintosh version of WarCraft II in that it allows you to use the Battle.net chat room interface to organize games with other players. You also have a much bigger selection of opponents now that the Windows version of WarCraft II supports Internet multiplayer.

In the multiplayer area, Blizzard has taken several pages from the book of StarCraft. Games are a lot more interesting now that you can actually organize players onto teams. Although it was possible to establish "allies" in the original WarCraft II, alliances could be broken at any time without the other party being notified, and thus of little use. Team-based play includes a new game type: "Top vs. Bottom," which places teammates next to each other on the map, allowing players to begin cooperating immediately. Another nice feature of team-based games is "shared vision," which allows you to see what your allies can see. This makes team play a lot more effective. Of course, Battle.net tracks your statistics and ranking as well. More than 100 new and updated multiplayer maps are also included.

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