When I think back to the ggames of my childhood, nothing puts a warm, fuzzy smile on my face like Warcraft 2. As one of the few PC games I had growing up, I ended up playing the campaign over and over again – or at least starting it over and over again – for what felt like actual years. I loved building up my fort and endlessly poking the peasants and peons until they shouted back at me in annoyance, and man alive, there is nothing sweeter than ordering a tooled-up army across the map and absolutely wrecking the enemy in one fell swoop of doom and destruction.
It is something I wish I could play again now with all my heart. I know there’s version of it on GOG, but I’d also just quite like, you know, a newer, shinier version with a more up to date UI and all that jazz, and one whose map didn’t whizz over to the other side of the screen with a single tap of the arrow key. I’d also like a version that isn’t, somehow, made by Activision Blizzard because… *gestures to all their ongoing harassment lawsuits*. Fortunately, I’ve happened upon a couple of games in recent weeks that have really scratched that old Warcraft 2 itch of mine. I’ve already written about one of them – Diplomacy Is Not An Option – and the other is Age Of Darkness: Final Stand, a game with the most boring name imaginable, but is secretly very good.