Release Date: March 14, 1995
The sequel to the renowned RTS from 1994, developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness once again throws the players into the war-torn world of Azeroth.
The second installment in the popular real-time strategy game series which takes the players to the fantasy land of Azeroth. It has been six long years since the war between orcs and humans, but the “green plague” still perfectly re its utter defeat. Using a heavily-armed armada, the orcs yet again get to the human borders with the intent of visiting vengeance upon humanity.
WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness, as far as gameplay is concerned, does not deviate from the original in any significant way. The differences are minimal, apart from the graphics, of course, which undergone a true revolution – high resolution, perfectly drawn and animated units and background that are pleasant to look at are some eye candy to even a demanding player. The visuals are complemented by a great soundtrack.
There are two campaigns to choose from, both offering 14 missions. Blizzard Entertainment completely resigned from dungeon scenarios, but introduced three types of terrain (glacier, forest, desert) in their stead. Apart from the races known from the original WarCraft (orcs and humans), some new ones made an appearance, namely elves, dwarves, goblins, ogres and trolls. Moreover, orcs have dragons at their disposal, while humans use gryphons. Alas, Blizzard Entertainment did not make an effort to make any actual differences between the two sides but the spells that may be cast by their spell casters. There are more spells in WarCraft II, but it is no advantage since some of them are of no practical use.
Although WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness seems to be nice enough, it is an average product. Poor unit variation, fast-paced gameplay that doesn’t allow for effective use of magic, and just few types of missions makes it give way to other games of its period, such as Command & Conquer. Nonetheless, WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness is likeable due to its great audiovisual layer and multiplayer mode that guarantees lots of excitement.
Platforms:
PC Windows
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Age restrictions: 12+
Similar Games:
11GAMES
The immensely popular series of real-time strategy games set in the high fantasy world of Azeroth, inhabited by humans, orcs, elves, dwarves and undead, among others. The brand was created and developed by Blizzard Entertainment, known for its series of Diablo and StarCraft.
An entry regarding Warcraft 2: Remastered has appeared on Blizzard's internal servers. The title will most likely be announced next week during the Warcraft Direct presentation.
video games
Martin Bukowski
November 6, 2024
Blizzard has finally filled a gap in its Battle.net offering, adding Diablo and the first two installments of the Warcraft series.
video games
Adrian Werner
January 30, 2024
A group of modders who have been working for years on a major revamp of Warcraft 2 have finally finished their work. Developed on the Warcraft 3: Reforged engine, the mod called Chronicles of the Second War: Tides of Darkness is now available.
video games
Michal Harat
January 7, 2024
Warcraft III: Reforged will receive a mod called Chronicles of the Second War. The mod will recreate the second installment, expanding it with new story background and gameplay mechanics.
video games
Jacob Blazewicz
September 28, 2020
GOG.COM offers the first two installments of the cult strategy game WarCraft from Blizzard Entertainment. The games are sold without any major changes to the original editions.
video games
Bart Swiatek
March 28, 2019
System Requirements for Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness Video Game:
PC / Windows
Recommanded System Requirements:
Pentium 133, 32 MB.
List of Game Expansions for Video Game:
Expansion
March 22, 1996
Strategy
The official expansion to Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, the extremely popular RTS developed by the Blizzard Entertainment studios. The storyline of Beyond the Dark Portal is focused on the further development of the conflict between humans and orcs. Despite the destruction of the Dark Portal, a rift capable of condemning humanity to another plague of green-skinned invaders still exists in the world of Azeroth. Faced with such imminent danger, the humans undertake a desperate attempt to cross the rift and take the fight to the enemy’s homeland, what they do not know is that simultaneously, on the other side of the portal, their foes are trying to carry out the exact same strategy. Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal features twenty eight scenarios (fourteen for each of the factions), most of which take place in previously unavailable locations. The players also have several new units at their disposal, namely the heroes, who are much more resilient and powerful then their lesser brethren. The developers have also significantly increased the difficulty level, making the missions a worthy challenge even for the veterans of the RTS genre.
