One of the greatest and most versatile game sof all time Warcraft III, I know lots of people have fallen into a catatonic state in World of Warcaft but my love for the series started way before the MMORPG. In fact Warcraft III in my mind is far superior to World of Warcraft, this game is a must play for ANY PC gamer.

- Warcraft III and The Frozen Throne -

Publisher: Blizzard

Developer: Blizzard

Release: Jul 2002

Warcraft III and it's expansion pack The Frozen Throne are RTSs (Real Time Strategy) which have you as a commander over an army of troops. Usually playing the role as a various hero from the storyline you complete quests, level up your hero, build up bases and armies, and also defeat your enemies. Obviously the third game of the series it has a large story of many characters of varying races that it expands on.

You play as many different heroes from all of the races at war with each other but the main character in the game is Arthas heir to the throne of Lorderon, kingdom of the humans. Striving to prove himself and become a paladin (a hero who wields the powers of light in the name of justice) he heads to the outskirts of his land where there is rumored to be a deadly plague spreading. On arrival he finds the plague to be much worse than expected to be there are under ravaging the lands and slaughtering the living. Arthas swears to destroy this undead scourge plaguing his lands and follows them down trying to wipe them out of existence. Although this is how the story begins it ends up unfolding into a large battle to save the world from an impending force of unfathomable power.

The story of The Frozen Throne is a continuation of Warcraft III's, which further expands of the story creating an amazing and in-depth plot. Unfortunately any insight into it would spoil the whole story for you so I will refrain from talking about it. Now being a computer game obviously online play is very important and Warcraft III can be played both ways. With an amazing world editor you can make custom maps that can be played competitively online by everyone or at home by yourself, this editor allows you to change the very fundamentals of the game transferring it into anything that you wish as long as you have the skill to create it.

The gameplay is very fun with a good strategy based combat using various units and races to form armies. Through this system you can counter the various combination that you will face from the 4 races you can play in the melee game. These races are the humans, orcs, night elves, and undead and each of these races has its own campaign in the storyline that allows you to progress the story as different heroes of different sides of the conflict.

The heroes of Warcraft III play a big role in both gameplay and story, in the game your hero has a variety of skills as he gains levels allowing you to build them up how you see fit and granting you skills that can win the tide of war. Mixing units and picking other heroes that support them is vital to strategy and conquering your enemies. Graphically Warcraft III and The Frozen Throne look fantastic with many cool units, animations, and astounding cut scenes. Using slightly less detailed skins on small models it allows not only the customization of changing anything in the world editor, but allows your computer to skill run it well even when you could possibly have a hundred or more units on screen.

The music of the game is very similar to the rest of the series a large variety of epic battle themes that are fantastic as well as the many voices of all the characters throughout the game and during the campaigns. The large thing that truly makes Warcraft III amazing and put it far ahead of any other RTS is the online play combined with the world editor, this allows for limitless possibilities with custom maps. I would rate Warcraft III and The Frozen Throne a 9.8 out of 10 for a fantastic game and story with the best replay value of any game I have ever seen. I would suggest anyone who owns a computer to play this game especially if you have the internet the custom maps online are endless fun and endlessly different, if you also hold interest or play World of Warcraft this is a must play to truly understand the story of the entire series.

Also read and/or recommend this awesome review!
Mace's Warcraft III and The Frozen Throne Review

My second review of today is Wii Fit, yes I know it is a stupid fitness game but it could suprise you if you are interested in staying fit or just looking for a good time. If you own a Wii I would check this game out you may be suprised to find that you actually like it.

- Wii Fit -

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo

Release: May 2008

Wii Fit is from one of the rarest genres in video games, the "Exercise/Fitness Game". Although when you think of exercise and fitness you don't think of entertainment, that trend is what Wii Fit tries to break. Produced by Nintendo themselves they really pushed the use of the new Wii balance board and the wiimote.

Although the purpose of the game is to make exercise more entertaining and convenient, the game also has a very hardcore workout if that is what you desire. Although there is no weightlifting obviously there are lots of activities that will push even the seasoned veteran (Personally I work out nearly everyday of the week from running, upper body, core, or lower body) this allows a wide variety of possibilities. Some of the activities are push up contests, jogging, tight rope walking, boxing practice, various yoga techniques, and also a large variety of games and exercises. They are divided into four categories Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobic, and Balance Games these four each have their own uses and entertainment.

Personally I am not big on yoga, I am not all that flexible but even for me it is an amazing stretching process to do before a serious workout. Balance games I find to be more of a fun category, filled with various mini-games that although designed to improve balance are more of a form of entertainment than exercise. Aerobic is for mainly for calorie burning, probably the most common reason to exercise due to the wish of weight loss. A variety of exercises designed to keep you entertained while you keep your heart rate elevated for a good balanced calorie burn.

Strength training is the main focus of the workout in my mind being the bulk of the muscle challenging exercises. Having a large variety of exercises to single out specific muscles or muscle groups you can work out the muscles you think you need more work on than others. The ability to increase reps will make you able to change from beginner to expert difficulty easily. Although all these exercises and activities are the large portion of the game there are other features, including a calendar for scheduling and recording workouts and such.

Another feature I found very good and still use is the basic daily test, this tells you your posture, weight, and your current BMI. This allows you to keep a day-to-day track of your workout progress and allows you to see what is working for you and what isn't, it may just be my personal opinion but if you do this everyday it will increase your chances to stay with your goal. Speaking of goals, when you play Wii Fit it asks you to set BMI/weight goals in which it will tell you your progress everyday and tell you how close or far you are from this BMI/weight goal. The "Wii Balance Board" is what truly brings this entire game together allowing all these exercises and games to be both performed and monitored. Although expensive the balance board is an amazing piece of technology, not only is it a great scale worth its cost but also a unique pressure sensitive device that will be used for many Wii games to come.

After playing Wii Fit for a while you come to the conclusion that it is a tool to keep you interested and give you the drive to continue. Nearly everything you could do without the balance board but it wouldn't be visual and interactive giving you less motivation to continue and hit your goals. I would rate Wii Fit a 8.6 out of 10 for an amazing attempt to make a game that can provide a sufficient workout while still being fun. Although no workout game I would rate that highly this is the best of its genre in my honest opinion, if you wish to get a fitness game this would defiantly be my first suggestion.

Also read and/or recommend this awesome review!
Mace's Wii Fit Review