Starcraft II

With the new release of the highly anticipated Starcraft II and having a friend who is nothing but a fanatic of the series, I agreed to let him write a review for the game.  That being said, here is the Starcraft review, brought to you by Peter Davidson:

Here we are, twelve years and $100 million later we finally have the sequel to the most successful strategy game of all time. Starcraft changed the face of PC gaming when it came out in ’97. It is still played today, a testament to its longevity. In Korea, the original Starcraft game is a national pastime, with televised tournaments and a website devoted solely to streaming live tournament matches. After long last, we have Blizzard’s Sci-Fi companion to the mighty fantasy War Craft that has become a global Phenom.


This game picks up right where the Brood War expansion left off. For those of you who played the first game names like Arcturus Megnsk, Jim Raynor, and Kerrigan will sound familiar. In Wings of Liberty, Kerrigan has ascended to become the Queen of Blades and general of the Zerg forces, an insectoid race of genetic assimilators. Jim Raynor is now an outlaw of the new Dominion under Megnsk and is leading a single battle cruiser in surgical strikes all over the sector to do what he can to thwart the Dominion. Wings of Liberty is the first in a three part game that will make up the entirety of SC2. With the focus on the Terran, or human, aspect of this section, those of you who favor the Zerg Rush, or the Psi of the Protoss will have to wait in the comprehensive Multiplayer until the campaigns for those races are launched respectively.

The campaign is a non-linear whirlwind of activity. The protagonist Jim Raynor, now must choose between prosecuting the next mission, or going to collect a bounty of artifacts to gain upgrades for his forces. Set on the interactive command bridge of the Battle Cruiser, Hyperion, these decisions determine the lives of many, his soldiers included. The player can interact with characters, hire Mercenary forces, upgrade weapons and armor, and research powerful Zerg and Protoss abilities. This gives the player a large level of customization when it comes to playing style. Those of you who are extremely thorough, achievement chasers have a wealth of new achievements that tax even the most battle hardened commander. But do not let this dissuade you if this is your first real time strategy (RTS), the game features a comprehensive in game tutorial prompted by the command interface aptly named, Adjutant. This new spin on the campaign gives you, as a commander, a wealth of power to choose which path you will take. The Mercenary options allow you to call in drop ship reinforcements with enhanced abilities if the going gets too tough.

As far as Wings of Liberty goes we could not have asked for a better sequel. Gone are the 12 unit limit on selection, gone are the narrow camera frames, gone are the pixilated graphics, gone are all of the small things we gritted our teeth and pushed past to play the original Starcraft. There is no longer a limit on how many units you can select, the camera has a roller ball zoom function which lets you get up close and personal with the action and the graphics are stellar to say the least. Wings of Liberty features a new graphics engine that allows for in game cut scenes that look like cinematics from any other RTS game. Of course the action is interspersed with Bilzzard’s legendary cinematics that look like a motion picture. The game features over 30 minutes of this beautiful footage. The beauty of all of this is that the new engine means that you don’t need the latest Alienware to power this graphics masterpiece. I am playing on a two year old gaming laptop and have very good load times and no glitching. The combat engines have improved and the units move seamlessly over the terrain and interact with each other with violent ease.

As far as multiplayer goes Starcraft’s Battle.Net is back with a new ladder system designed to sort players into matches with gamers who have compatible abilities. This new system prevents veterans from decimating new comers to the game and is effective at sorting (I should know, I got owned by a 12 Korean boy on the old Starcraft in just under 5 minutes). There is of course an option to play against some good old fashioned A.I. in skirmish mode to hone your skills. There is even a new map editor, entitled The Galaxy Editor, which Blizzard made easier to use than the old Star Editor of the original Starcraft.

With an abundance of new units, this new game plays like the classic but with a more customizable feel. All the old units are back spouting their notable Starcraft responses like: “Are you gunna give me orders?!”, or the classic ghost line “Did somebody call for an exterminator." All the classic lines are back with some new ones like “Fear the Reaper, Man.” That combined with the new soundtrack, ranging from old western cantina music to a full horn orchestra for space scenes, makes for an excellent soundtrack out shadowed only by the graphics and cinematics. The in game hints and tips are delivered by the animatronic Adjutant and even Raynor. The two biggest new characters are ex-con Tychus Findlay, the reactivated space marine and Specter Gabriel Tosh, the Jamaican Super Ghost looking to make a dishonest dollar with the help of the Hyperion crew. These two add a whole new level of humor and emotion to the cut scenes and their tactical advice can sway the commander towards stealth or brutal assault.

The game as a whole definitely delivers. It has been very long in the making but the effort shows off. I have no doubt that this game will be successful and I would categorize it as a must have for anyone who enjoys RTS gaming. For those of you who have more of an inclination to other genres, I would still highly recommend this as a first foray into the world of RTS. The seamless controls make for easy transition and there are no “secret buttons;" the controls are basic and comprehensive, you just organize and click, get your units in the proper tactical position and the combat AI will take over. Instead of milling about aimlessly marines plug the gap between bunkers, creating a wall of gauss fire while medics scurry to heal your valiant marines. The controls give this game a very smooth feel that is addicting for someone who has struggled to get RTS units of past games into formation.

The designers at Blizzard have done it again, they have potentially raised the bar for RTS to come.  Starcraft 2 delivers tight, cutting edge graphics with manageable system requirements and a story line that is both engaging and addicting. Anyone, whether a grizzled veteran of the Brood War or someone who wants a break from first person and a chance to take a seat at the station of an interstellar command, will find this game very exciting and stimulating, just don’t get hooked on those StimPacks!

-Peter Davidson