They just dont make em like they used to.
Well this is one of the games im equating those scores to. This game had 4 balanced and full races, a lengthy and rewarding campaign, the best online servers in history (battlenet actually hosted the game, no peer to peer bs and that also meant no hacks and reduced lag), and at its time one of the largest and certainly one of the most competitive communities in video game history. When this game was popular, rts's had a fan base like todays producers can only dream about.
Im already sounding like a fanboi for this game, and i guess i kinda was, but nothing else really compares. If i had to make one complaint; its that the game can require such high speed reactions and decisions and when 2 players or more had both full armies on the screen and both were blasting away, lag could start interfering. Every so often i had commands that would just not get followed for some reason, and in the thick of it, that could spell fatality. You may never have an issue with this as i was averaging about 200 apm.
This game has depth. Alot of depth, the single player contained well thought out campaigns for all 4 races. This game was one of the last games to cater toward the elite gamer. You cant just have the muscle memory twitch of the fps players, and raw speed will only get you so far, you need skill, smarts and tactics in addition to those reflexes and speed. The way i see it, this game was made to cater to the 'hardcore' gamer and thats what kept it going, games today in virtually every genre are made for 'everyone' to play, and they provide such little content or depth to the strategies that most people buy new video games all the time instead of hanging onto the old stuff.
An example of this is just how long this game was out and crazy successful. The game had patches and updates for YEARS after its release. Including totally new heroes and usual injections of cool maps and bug fixes on a title that was anything but new. I cant think of another game that demostrated this level of support for a game years and years later on such a scale. Even years later they had official daily tournaments with large turnouts.
The graphics were a bit cartoony for me at first, but the storyline made up for that with me, which starts off simplistic and simple and expands into something very cool. and once again, the gameplay cant be beat. There is also an auto-downloader with this game that no one else has ever matched. Dont have a map, or mod? Just join the game and you're download begins. Theres are hundreds of side games people have made and its super accessible like no other rts (and very few other genre's) ever do, especially anymore.
I can go on and on about how this game was the pinnacle of rts, but ill digress. If your looking for something to keep you interested, and can challenge you as far as your willing to go and beyond, give this game a shot.
I think at one point this game was a national sport in Korea, so dont try and play on their servers, you will die in a spectacular fireworks display lol. These folks might have 10k people show up to watch WC3 tourneys, and i know at least one match had over 1 million people watch it (online).
Just dont compare this with farkin WOW. They are made for totally opposite people imo, and the staff that made this game are not on the WOW team (infact they arent even with blizzard anymore so dont get too excited with starcraft 2 either lol).
All in all, if you think your good at gaming, try this one. It really will put you in your place and teach you what skill really is. The best player i have ever met in real life (and im one of those pathetic old men that plays nothing but video games, as do most of the cats i hang out with) gets his arse handed to him by the big boys, and hes nothing short of godlike. Theres just so many layers to this game it makes me cry to see everything that has come since.
Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne will always be one of my favorite games of all time, and i believe it to also be one of the best made, best produced games of all time as well. RIP WC3.