Going On A Fantastic Voyage.(fantasy computer games)(Brief Article)

Does your significant other disappear between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.? Have the words "orc" and "necromancer" suddenly entered her vocabulary? Then it's official. She's crossed over to the dark side. Fantasy games--with their never-ending battles between good and evil-- aren't just for Dungeons &Dragons dorks anymore. With more complex plots and impeccable graphics, three recent PC releases have raised the bar on fantasy gaming. Save the world once, and even a novice player will be hooked.

With more than 4.5 million initial orders, Blizzard's WarCraft III was this year's most anticipated fantasy title. You'll lead hundreds of warriors into battle, but don't get too attached to your soldiers--to win, you must think of them as mere cannon fodder. The game, which unfolds in real time without any pauses to make critical decisions, is like SimCity filtered through Tolkien's outsize imagination. You build barracks and stables to train your armies, while you make workers and peasants gather critical resources to drive your wartime economy. Yes, armchair warriors will love WarCraft III, but its target audience should be office micromanagers.

If Microsoft's Dungeon Siege were a movie, it would be a Ridley Scott production, filled with drama and intense ...