The game is more like an RPG, or actually like what the old timers used to call an adventure game with much better graphics. You have to do way too much walking around for this to be a strategy game. I like to build up my impregnable cities against the hordes in my strategy games.

You do not get to pick a species and work through the campaign, and build up better and better cities of your own design as in previous editions. Rather, you get pulled along in a linear fashion by the story line and SOMETIMES you get to build traditional cities. Other battles seem more tactical based than strategy. Mostly you don't even get to pick your side, you work through the plotlines using the species set for you and occassionally you get to switch. Now, don't get me wrong this is done well, but it is not the kind of game I wanted nor expected based on the previous editions.

Do an internet search for material on the game and you will find that they almost exclusively talk about the networked version of the game. This means to me that you have to go through your own game scenarios to get to the kind of game many people look for from this title. Again, nothing wrong with that if it is what you like to do, but I do not. Related to this is the "custom" game, but these are also geared more to networked or swapped scenarios.

I played Dune II, Warcraft I and II, and liked them very much, but did not like Warcraft III because of the above reasons. If you are NOT looking for a traditional strategy game like the previous editions you may like this game like the other reviewers. Another thing, the cinematics were pretty nice, but choppy on my computer-- which may be the computer's fault.