I have a friend who kept wanting to accuse it of being a Myth II rip-off (or at least being highly influenced by Myth), as well. It's a tenuous argument at best. Yeah, there's an undead race, but Myth wasn't exactly super-original on that point. Trying to say that the ghouls look like ghols is just inane. There are mortar dwarves...I'll give you that. I'd be willing to wager that unit was inspired by Myth. But the gameplay is so vastly different from Myth that it's really an entirely different genre of game.
Listen, Blizzard consistently puts out great games--even more consistently than Bungie, lately. (Oni? Bah. Yeah, right!) They are committed to the Mac, their game stability is nearly flawless, and their style (writing, story, and art quality) is top-notch. Not to mention that the games are addictively fun.
I think people react badly sometimes to Warcraft III because all the hype and the reputation of the original games sets an impossible standard in the minds of biased gamers. (Kind of like the new Star Wars movies: yeah, they feature cheesy action, bad dialogue, corny aliens, etc., but guess what? So did the originals! If people didn't have these fond memories, they'd realize that all the Star Wars movies are really terrible films that are, nevertheless, a joy to watch.)
Warcraft III preserves the addictive style of the originals, while adding some cool new twists like the "hero" system and making a few surgical removals--like charging Upkeep to stop mass troops rushes. Overall, I'd say the game is Blizzard's best accomplishment yet.
Just my thoughts...
