After over a decade of designing, testing and balancing, Blizzard has finally unleashed their sequel to one of the greatest strategy games of all time. StarCraft 2 is here. The game has some massive shoes to fill and a lot of very patient fans to please. So how well, in the modern age of RTS, will StarCraft 2 break back into the genre its predecessor did so much to establish?
First impressions are very important and this is something that Blizzard clearly took note of with their packaging for the game. Whether you go for the standard or collectors’ edition, you’ll be impressed; the standard edition could even pass for a collectors’ version with its outer box and fold out front cover. The collectors’ edition blows even this out of the water with an art book, soundtrack, DVD, USB key (complete with a pre-loaded copy of StarCraft 1 and its expansion) and more.
Moving on to installation and the quality continues to show. You’ll be treated to an epic recap of the story so far in the Koprulu sector, the setting for the StarCraft saga, as the game installs. Once the process is over you’ll be eager to dive into the main campaign and deal out some punishment as the Terran.
The single player campaign stands out from the get go as a truly superb experience. Unlike most RTS campaigns, StarCraft 2 doesn’t limit the non-battle segments of the game to storytelling cut scenes or a simple map interface. Instead, Blizzard has created a fully interactive environment in the form of the Hyperion- your very own battlecruiser.
Here you can chat to your crew, watch the news, manage unit upgrades, hire mercenaries, research Zerg and Protoss technology and even play a very enjoyable scrolling arcade space shooter. All of this adds up to an intensely involving campaign that actually feels like you’re running a faction in an epic war rather than playing a random set of battles strung together by cut scenes.
The campaign battles themselves are excellently crafted. It does take a couple of missions to get off the ground (a problem that seems to persist in the RTS genre) but in fairness to Blizzard this arc is much shorter here- you’ll be into some great missions very quickly after the first two. On one mission you’ll be frantically escorting colonists from a Zerg infested world while in another you’ll be systematically mining a planet while having your forces dodge regular lava flows that periodically flood areas of the map.
The missions are so well designed that you’ll often have fun just playing around in them before taking on objectives. One early mission has you seeking out an artefact defended by the Protoss, one problem: the Zerg are after it too. The general mission objective is to exploit the weakened Protoss defences and grab the artefact while the Zerg keep them busy. However, I found it equally fun to send in a few troops to weaken the Zerg and prolong their struggle with the Protoss, ensuring minimal interference from the Zerg side of the battlefield. This kind of mission flexibility gives the campaign great replay value.
Cementing the compulsion to try each mission again and again is a set of achievements which are spread across difficulty settings and, when completed, unlock portraits for your profile. If there is a downside to the main campaign it’s that it is Terran exclusive and if you want a story centred on the Zerg or the Protoss you’ll have to wait for the expansions.
Alongside the sizable campaign you’ll also find a set of single player challenges. These are designed to help those of us who aren’t proficient with macros and other multiplayer tricks that get us quickly annihilated online. The challenges are a great tool for preparing for online play and it would have been good to see a few more of them included.
As polished and as high quality as the single player campaign is, it’s the multiplayer that really shines and will keep players interested for potentially endless competition. As you head to the multiplayer section of the HUD you’ll be asked if you want to play in the practice league- something that I would consider essential given the number of pro-gamers in the StarCraft community. Beyond this you can join more advanced leagues, play co-operatively against the AI or other players, go one on one or organise your achievements into a neat display. A matchmaking service will help you find games that are balanced to your skill level.
Multiplayer unlocks are incredibly numerous with portraits and decals available for your profile and troops, respectively. Unlocking these may be a challenge, though, as the multiplayer achievements make their single player alternatives look like a walk in the park. Some even require that you win over one thousand games as each of the three races. These goals are clearly set high for the more hardcore player, and while they are fantastic for giving a sense of scale to the online offering it would have been good to have a few more easily attained multiplayer unlocks for the casual gamer.
The online game play itself is, as expected, superb. The three races are all excellently balanced and yet they also remain incredibly diverse, offering very different strategic challenges. The units are all a lot of fun to use, from the very mobile Terran Reapers to the mighty Protoss Colossus.
Augmenting the enjoyable game play are some great graphics; explosions are spectacular and watching a Protoss Nexus go up in a huge blue flash is very satisfying. Zerg forces also have a unique look and tend to be rather grotesque in death- killing an Overlord, for example, results in a rather gooey show of gore and blood as it bursts over your troops.
All of this, from the high quality campaign to the carefully organised multiplayer experience is complimented by an atmospheric soundtrack that varies between epic and relaxing. It’s difficult to find fault with StarCraft 2; from the campaign to the e-Sports centric multiplayer, the game is incredibly detailed in its design. It’s a shame that the campaign only features the Terran but that just means we have more to look forward to when the expansions are released. For now we have more than enough content to keep us entertained into the late hours of the night.
