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- Mar 2, 2014
- Messages
- 127
Hive Journey 2 - Rise of the Bloodelves 2.0; Campaign by tomoraider
This Campaign is an enhanced version of the original. The Main Storyline is the same but the Story evolved.
First Impression:
I knew what to expect when I began the Campaign. A new race, 4 new heroes (with Kael'thas being the 5th) and 12 (playable) Maps.
The First Mission was boring to me and I feared it would be that way the whole campaign. Let me tell you, I was wrong.
Anyways, the red style really goes well with the units, Rangers having fire-arrows are very nice. Also, the entchant-unit got 2 new spells, one silencing an area the other creating a mirror image. Very useful in this scenario and will become necessary for a later one.
As the Second Mission began I understood that this Campaign isn't to be taken lightly, as speed is a big concern even if you are a towering player. Your Towers won't save you if you don't go for the Mission Objective of getting allies. Once you got them it would be nice of you to help them with repelling the Enemy. I focused on exploring all of the map, which was not satisfying in this particular scenario.
The Missions went on and my mood went high, it got better and better. A Campaign that with voice-acting easily could be mistaken for a Warcraft 4 Campaign. But as it is it's really "enchanted".
Music and Sounds:
What can I say? There's a cutscene with the typical epic choir and it fits. There is some voices you never heard (except if they are from WOW) that fit well. Multiple clicks on characters having new voices results in the same as with original characters (the character says some different stuff)
Nothing bad I can say, except that Cutscene Voiceacting would perfect the campaign.
Graphics and Visuals:
That is an easy one. Stunning, heartbreakingly beautiful, see for yourself, it's wonderful [Screenshot Placeholder]. When there are cities they are well thought out, if there is a new unit it looks like a new unit. M'uru is especially interesting.
Gameplay and Skills:
This Campaign got it all, escort missions, dungeons, side quests, storydriven maps (Especially the last one), and your usual Destroy-Ememy-Camp missions. It's the reason why it feels so professional.
The Heroes all feel unique and tend to help each other out. You got Tank-Heroes, AoE-Heroes, Control-Heroes. All you need, really. Their Skills also are unique and some are new. Kael'thas can now summon Meteors to fall upon the Enemy.
All the Bloodelven units got arcane affinity, 80% protection against any spelldamage. Really makes much sense and feels right. Wish there were "all Human/Orc/Undead" abilities as well on other games.
You get new units almost every Mission up to Chapter 10. The skills are awesome and if you are good with hotkeys you will find many ways to play that race. If you're like me and tend to A-Click and see what happens there are also units for you, like the Bloodelf Rider, which is fast and deadly in groups and in my opinion the best Unit to win the last scenario (Chapter 11, Chapter 12 doesn't involve fighting)
Speaking of which, the game doesn't tell you and it screwed me before I found out: The No-Cost population is at 1-100. Really think the game should state it somehow. Something along the lines of "The Bloodelves are eager to save the couple therefore they do not ask for more gold as their numbers get bigger".
It all feels natural with some surprises along the way. If you like to have fun, this Campaign is for you, no doubt about it. Though some might consider it too easy I guess, but in the same way the original campaigns where easy. There is a reasonable challange however, given that you play the campaign without knowing what will happen.
Cutscenes:
Awesome. Next.
Bugs:
You will encounter almost no Bugs whatsoever. But there are some annoying ones. On Chapter 11 it can happen that the draenai (yes they exist too, but you don't find out much about them, just that they have new units you never saw before but can't control) don't start to build their base. They also just defend themselves never coming out to attack the enemy. If you protect them well they stay Idle the whole time. If they don't build their base simply reload to short before you finish the sidequest. Usually it works then. (I suggest you quicksave occasionaly on key-spots [F6])
In the scenario where you must clean the coast for Sylvanas, sometimes not all the enemy camps will attack you even when they're supposed to. Feel Happy or Trigger them to start attacking you by sending an expendable unit to their base.
Other than that pretty bug-free (Also read the "known issues" at the map-thread (link in the title))
Overall an experience I'm glad i made. This Campaign shot a Fire-Arrow straight into my heart and I'll remember it for that. I was sad when it ended but was informed by the game that there is a sequel. I was so glad.
This concludes my second Review. Next up is the Sequel (By the way, you got a typo in the very last line "Sequal") "Curse of the Forsaken".
Krolan
The Twisted
Update due to the rightfully suggestion of Hell Master to input a rating.
Final Verdict: 5/5
This Campaign is an enhanced version of the original. The Main Storyline is the same but the Story evolved.
First Impression:
I knew what to expect when I began the Campaign. A new race, 4 new heroes (with Kael'thas being the 5th) and 12 (playable) Maps.
The First Mission was boring to me and I feared it would be that way the whole campaign. Let me tell you, I was wrong.
Anyways, the red style really goes well with the units, Rangers having fire-arrows are very nice. Also, the entchant-unit got 2 new spells, one silencing an area the other creating a mirror image. Very useful in this scenario and will become necessary for a later one.
As the Second Mission began I understood that this Campaign isn't to be taken lightly, as speed is a big concern even if you are a towering player. Your Towers won't save you if you don't go for the Mission Objective of getting allies. Once you got them it would be nice of you to help them with repelling the Enemy. I focused on exploring all of the map, which was not satisfying in this particular scenario.
The Missions went on and my mood went high, it got better and better. A Campaign that with voice-acting easily could be mistaken for a Warcraft 4 Campaign. But as it is it's really "enchanted".
Music and Sounds:
What can I say? There's a cutscene with the typical epic choir and it fits. There is some voices you never heard (except if they are from WOW) that fit well. Multiple clicks on characters having new voices results in the same as with original characters (the character says some different stuff)
Nothing bad I can say, except that Cutscene Voiceacting would perfect the campaign.
Graphics and Visuals:
That is an easy one. Stunning, heartbreakingly beautiful, see for yourself, it's wonderful [Screenshot Placeholder]. When there are cities they are well thought out, if there is a new unit it looks like a new unit. M'uru is especially interesting.
Gameplay and Skills:
This Campaign got it all, escort missions, dungeons, side quests, storydriven maps (Especially the last one), and your usual Destroy-Ememy-Camp missions. It's the reason why it feels so professional.
The Heroes all feel unique and tend to help each other out. You got Tank-Heroes, AoE-Heroes, Control-Heroes. All you need, really. Their Skills also are unique and some are new. Kael'thas can now summon Meteors to fall upon the Enemy.
All the Bloodelven units got arcane affinity, 80% protection against any spelldamage. Really makes much sense and feels right. Wish there were "all Human/Orc/Undead" abilities as well on other games.
You get new units almost every Mission up to Chapter 10. The skills are awesome and if you are good with hotkeys you will find many ways to play that race. If you're like me and tend to A-Click and see what happens there are also units for you, like the Bloodelf Rider, which is fast and deadly in groups and in my opinion the best Unit to win the last scenario (Chapter 11, Chapter 12 doesn't involve fighting)
Speaking of which, the game doesn't tell you and it screwed me before I found out: The No-Cost population is at 1-100. Really think the game should state it somehow. Something along the lines of "The Bloodelves are eager to save the couple therefore they do not ask for more gold as their numbers get bigger".
It all feels natural with some surprises along the way. If you like to have fun, this Campaign is for you, no doubt about it. Though some might consider it too easy I guess, but in the same way the original campaigns where easy. There is a reasonable challange however, given that you play the campaign without knowing what will happen.
Cutscenes:
Awesome. Next.
Bugs:
You will encounter almost no Bugs whatsoever. But there are some annoying ones. On Chapter 11 it can happen that the draenai (yes they exist too, but you don't find out much about them, just that they have new units you never saw before but can't control) don't start to build their base. They also just defend themselves never coming out to attack the enemy. If you protect them well they stay Idle the whole time. If they don't build their base simply reload to short before you finish the sidequest. Usually it works then. (I suggest you quicksave occasionaly on key-spots [F6])
In the scenario where you must clean the coast for Sylvanas, sometimes not all the enemy camps will attack you even when they're supposed to. Feel Happy or Trigger them to start attacking you by sending an expendable unit to their base.
Other than that pretty bug-free (Also read the "known issues" at the map-thread (link in the title))
Overall an experience I'm glad i made. This Campaign shot a Fire-Arrow straight into my heart and I'll remember it for that. I was sad when it ended but was informed by the game that there is a sequel. I was so glad.
This concludes my second Review. Next up is the Sequel (By the way, you got a typo in the very last line "Sequal") "Curse of the Forsaken".
Krolan
The Twisted
Update due to the rightfully suggestion of Hell Master to input a rating.
Final Verdict: 5/5
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