What is Warcraft: Orcs & Humans?

Warcraft has long been a best seller on the PC and at last it’s available on the Mac. Normally, I don’t put a lot of faith in the taste of the PC crowd, but in this instance they are right on the money. Warcraft is simply one of the most addicting computer games I’ve ever come across.

In this adventure game, set in the mythical land of Azeroth, you must simultaneously build a war machine with which to destroy the enemy while also maintaining a thriving economy, You can play as either a human commander or an Ore chieftain. Depending upon your choice, you’ll play in one of two settings—the War in Azeroth or the Destiny of the Orcish Hordes.

Gameplay is pretty much identical, regardless of which race you choose. (Actually, you can also choose human fighting against human, or Orc against Orc, using the custom game option. But where’s the fun in that?) You can also play the game head-to-head over a network, serial-to-serial link or modem-to-modem. Mac gamers can also play against DOS gamers—now there’s a war between the clans. However, only two people can play over a network.

The only real difference between the two opposing camps (Orcs and humans, that is—not Mac and DOS players), is their appearance and how the “units” (humans or Orcs) reply to your commands. The humans favor sayings such as “Yes, my liege?”, “Your will, sire?”, and the ever-popular, “The children of the underworld are no match for our cold steel!” Orcs, on the other hand, seem to be big Tool Time fans; they favor a wide variety of grunts including “Uuuuggg,” “Ooowwwggg” and my favorite, “Uuuraaaggg”. Thankfully, they do converse in an intelligible manner when circumstances demand it. Since I get more of a kick out of commanding Orcs than I do humans. I’ll refer to their terminology from here on.

There are 12 different scenarios for either race. You start off as a slasher with a fairly simple task. You need to increase the size of your small village from one farm, one peon and three grunts into a slightly larger village of six farms and a barracks. You don’t have to increase the number of Orcs to accomplish your mission, but it’s nearly impossible if you don’t.

The peons do the work of mining the gold and cutting lumber as well as constructing the buildings. The grunts protect the peons. Once the barracks are built you have the option to use your resources to train whatever new Orcs you see fit. As you progress through the levels, you’ll have different types of Orcs at your disposal, each with different abilities. The first additions to your army will be the spear carriers. Later, you’ll train raiders and necrolytes for mounted attacks and the ability to heal the wounded, respectively.

When gold mines are far from the village, you need more peons to mine them at an acceptable speed. But if you’re in an attack-prone area, you also need more grunts to protect the peons. To explore for new gold mines you need to send out a party of grunts. Send out too many and the humans may attack your defenseless camp. This is where the game becomes addicting.

Train more peons or grunts? Build a lumber mill or another barracks? Protect your village or explore for gold? Decisions, decisions, decisions! Once you’ve set up a few tasks for the peasants and a sufficient perimeter guard you can make the game run in the background. If you’ve got enough memory in your Mac, you can then do word processing, balance your checkbook or even check your e-mail while your villagers go about their appointed tasks. This isn’t an advertised feature, and my computer seemed to crash a bit more than usual while doing it, but hey, I had to get some work done somehow.

Jones, J. Daniel. (September 1996). Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. MacAddict. (pg. 68).

Download Warcraft: Orcs & Humans for Mac

Architecture

68K + PPC (FAT)

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.1

Compatibility notes

Minimum Requirements

• MC68030 processor
• 8 MB RAM
• 40 MB hard disk available
• 8-bit color display
• 2X CD-ROM drive
• System 7.1

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II