The Rise of the Blood Elves 2.0 Review
Again spoilers, viewers be warned.
I have played both the 1.0 and 2.0 versions of this campaign and I have to say the 2.0 Enchanted Edition is vastly superior to its older counterpart.
Story 4.5/5
The story of the campaign is on the same level of quality as Curse of the Forsaken if not better. Playing the campaign despite my knowledge of the lore, I was always eager to see what would happen next. Unfortunately some characters didn't have as much involvement as they should, Illidan has little involvement in the story his death is not even acknowledged, which annoys me because his death is partially why Kael'thas acquired so many blood elf followers. Though that could be apart of a new campaign in of itself. Other than that I just have some nitpicks, for instance, characters like Grand Magister Rommath and Archmage Aethas seemed to come out of nowhere at the end of the story, it would be nice if I could have seen what role they played in the campaign. On the bright side the story is very well crafted and takes some nods from the lore, and including characters from the Warcraft Manga, The Sunwell Trilogy. Its good to be a fan. Also most of the characters are very well developed.
Triggers 3.5/5
Unfortunately the A.I seems even more buggy than before, especially when your fighting the Scourge. For example if an enemy burrows a nerubian and then resurfaces, you can just ignore it and the owner of that unit won't send more waves of enemies. The cutscenes look even better than its predecessor with plenty of flashy effects and great camera work. The new types of missions that are included in the campaign is pretty awesome. An example would be when you unite the orc clans to fight Magtheridon and his Fel Orc rebels (also one of my favorite missions in the campaign) , or a stealth mission where Alessandra and her allies have to sneak to Tempest Keep to capture M'uru.
Modifications 4/5
The new models for the Draenai faction is really well done but the models for the Naaru lack the glowing effect of their WoW counterparts but are still very well done. Though some of the characters could use some new models also. Kael especially, though when he turns evil he gets a new model I think he should have had a new model before he turned evil, rather than looking like a typical blood elf Mage. The Fel Orc factions could also use different heroes instead of blademasters or Kargath, a fel orc warlock leading the burning fire clan for example would be a nice change. The highlight though is the model for Dar'Khan, I absolutely love the attention to detail and the creepy mood the look gives off.Still the new models and animations are very appropriate for their characters. I would give this a 5/5 if there were more new models for the characters that would really need it.
Difficulty and Balancing 3.5/5
Good to know that the number of enemy bases that one encounters in the many missions of the campaign has been reduced unlike many missions in Tomoraider's other work. Another up side is how the player is encouraged to destroy enemy bases for sidequests in order to receive benefits like a new item or even an ally to protect you from your other enemies. Despite this, its annoying when the enemy forces attack you at two or three points around your base simultaneously which could be justified if the enemy didn't send a new wave every two-three minutes. One can only divide their attention so much. This often applies when one is trying to destroy an enemy base or kill certain units but can't even sum up a force when dealing with new enemy waves so frequently. Though I love a good challenge. The best way to fix this would be to add a difficulty option or even increase the time between enemy waves.
Textures and Environments 5/5
The attention to detail in the environments is just amazing. Places like Tempest Keep and the Caverns under Silvermoon are very well crafted. There are little to no invisible walls, and most of the maps are very large and expansive. Overall this campaign has some of the best visuals in any warcraft campaign and I highly encourage anyone reading this review to learn from Tomoraider's example.
Side notes:
These are just a few other nitpicks about the campaign. What's with the random orc clan names like Blackaxe or Burning Fire, those clans have never been addressed in the lore, it would seem more appropriate to include clans like the Dragonmaw or Shadowmoon Clan since those orc clans did exist on Draenor during the time frame that the campaign takes place in. Magtheridon is too small and has the stats of a normal Level 10 Pit Lord which takes away from what could be an awesome boss fight. Some heroes have abilities that don't make sense to me like Maelgrim who is one of the Fel Orc heroes, he has the ability sleep which is an ability that is associated with Dreadlords, or Kargath Bladefist's ability to use Carrion Swarm. Though whats really annoying is that one of the last missions of the campaign, where Kalcegos has to protect Anveena, and the quest is to keep them alive, however they are suppose to die in the story and the quest bar repeats Main Quest failed which is annoying.
Overall 20.5/25 Close to Perfection
If the glitches were removed. Add some models, and some character development for the secondary characters, and most of all, fix the A.I, this campaign could be the best campaign on the site, if not close to being the best. Still this campaign is a masterpiece that is full of interesting characters, a well written story, and beautiful visuals. I am eager to see what Tomoraider does next.
Approved
) i always loved the bloodelfs and i played both campaigns "Curse of the Forsaken" and "Rise of the bloodelfs " ( the original) and knew from the biggining that the camapigne have the stuff to be really impresive . so ... i want to play the campaign but if i fixe my f**ing problem with my PC and Wc3 god knows what is with it -.- ehrr anyway it gets a 5/5 rating from me !!
keep it up ! cant wait for more of your campaigns hihi
