Bye, Productivity! Project Revolution Beta Takes Over.

Back in 2002, if I was asked what life meant, I would describe it one word: Starcraft. Asides from school, most of my time was dedicated to it – comp stomps, then Fastest Map Possible with some friends, and Zero Clutter. I still boot it up sometimes in the summer, just to relive some memories. But with this week being exam week and my finishing exams on Monday, I was left with a little free time. A friend of mine got Rock Band, which is an amazing game – and then it hit me, I hadn’t checked on my secret addiction – Project Revolution in a long time.

Okay, from that picture, we can put two and two together – Project Revolution has something to do with Starcraft in three dimensions. Actually, that’s exactly what it’s dedicated to: updating Starcraft with a third dimension to provide us (ex) gamers with an engrossing game – complete with original sounds. Project Revolution actually runs in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and is actually just another mod pack – well, not exactly. It’s much more complicated, as it’s even got its own menu screen (a depressed-looking marine, sitting with gunfire and shells exploding above him – a perfect sight to describe the overlooked sadness in Starcraft). At the moment, it’s also in beta, and so far only the Terran race has been claimed to be up to par.

How do you get it? You’re going to need to obtain four items legitimately: Starcraft, Starcraft: Brood War, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. They’ll all need to be installed on your computer, which I readily did so on the same day I found out about the news. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne will also need to be updated to version 1.21 – which will automatically be done once you try connecting to Battle.Net. One thing I overlooked myself – it needs to be rebooted. Also, there’s really no Vista support, as the whole Project was aimed at Windows XP – however, I was able to run the bulk of it on my Vista machine, with just a lack of Campaign mode, as it took me to the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Night Elf campaign.

Beautiful, ain’t it? It worked perfectly, with me pwning those n00b computers as usual. Project Revolution also offers some aspects that normal Starcraft didn’t, besides the third dimension functionality – which didn’t work that well as I can’t really shift the perspective nor the direction I’m looking from too well. However, it does add an allied mode, where you can play with another computer – something I thought the original Starcraft lacked.

It claims that Terran is the only campaign ready, but I was unable to access it. So, I just ended up playing some Custom Games – some 2v2, some 1v1, and some Zerg. Yep – the Zerg race is playable too. Unfortunately, the Protoss one isn’t – the probes can’t collect any minerals, and thus the economy can’t start properly. However, that’s really just a little step back, as it offers so much with two races perfected that I can’t blame it. And it’s free.

It was hard to grade how it works in just five paragraphs, but I think I did an adequate job. As it’s only in beta, I’m not going to be too nitpicky about how it works, and just play the game. There are some missing avatars, some missing sounds, but the whole game works – and that’s what matters. Thank you Snowflake Entertainment for your hard work, and please know that I appreciate what you’ve done for the community. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to play some more Starcraft in 3D.

Project Revolution forum thread:

http://www.wc3campaigns.net/revolution/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11222