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Had King Midas existed in modern times, he would have formed Blizzard. It seems every product Blizzard touches turns to gold. The original Warcraft, for example, was considered by many to be the lowly underdog when it entered the real-time strategy genre against the phenomenal Command & Conquer. To many, Command & Conquer got a severe slapping.

Blizzard continued to roll with Warcraft II, a game that received critical acclaim the world over, as did StarCraft, a game that has been so successful it has even become a household name across Eastern Asia.

So when Blizzard announced at last year's ECTS that it was working on a follow-up to Warcraft that would be 3D, hero-based, and a radical change of direction for the series, everyone sat up and paid attention.

That was before Blizzard decided to overhaul the game, shifting the focus from ambitious role-playing strategy to conventional real-time strategy. Judging from last year's announcement, gamers were expecting to guide a handful of units around sprawling maps, hacking people to pieces and casting spells like they were going out fashion. That isn't so anymore.

The good news, on the other hand, is this: from what Blizzard showed at this year's ECTS, Warcraft III is bigger, better, slicker, and even more incredible than anyone had dared hope.

First of all, in the true spirit of if it ain't broke, don't fix it, there are towns, resources, and tech trees in the game, just as in the previous versions. The resources are severely limited, though, and are focused pretty much on gold, which buys other units, buildings, and so on.

With resources in short supply, you had better spend that money wisely, and in Warcraft III that means heroes. You can still build grunts and peons and the like, but nowhere near as many as in the older games. In addition, heroes are far more powerful adversaries than a humble grunt. Send a bunch of grunts at a hero, and the chances are they won't come home. Blizzard has gone to great lengths to make sure that the gameplay stays focused on building heroes, increasing their abilities (spells and the like), and then keeping those heroes alive. Gone are the days of building a vast army of cheap units and overwhelming your opponents. In Warcraft III you need to learn to care for your heroes and build a much smaller army.

As your heroes gain experience, typically through fighting and successfully casting spells, they increase in levels, just like characters in role-playing games. That in turn gives them access to more and more powerful spells and abilities. It's important to make the distinction between the two. An Archmage, for example, can cast a spell to transport himself and units around him to another location, while an Orc Chieftain can perform a War Stomp, slamming his foot on the ground and stunning everything around him.

There are five races in the game--Orcs, Humans, Demons, Undead, and one secret race--and each has many different hero types available to it, as well as the different types of buildings you would expect from the normal Warcraft games. In addition, each type of hero has different abilities and spells available to it, and each race has different special items available, all of which affect the gameplay and strategies players can employ.