StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (PC, 2010)

Fans wouldn’t have accepted anything less. StarCraft was a mammoth success, still praised even today as one of the best RTS games in history. The acclaim was attributed to the game’s perfect balance, polished interface and the innovative inclusion of three separate playable alien races. It still sees plenty of action today, especially in competitive circles, where the best players can make a living by playing in StarCraft tournaments.



StarCraft II has much more variety than its predecessor. Each mission in the single-player campaign is unique, and all have different objectives. One mission might task you with harvesting a certain number of minerals, while another one will require you to destroy enemy cargo trains before they reach their destination.

The different missions also usually require you to change up your playing style to suit the task at hand. Since each new mission introduces a new unit to play with, you’re constantly presented with new gameplay mechanics and concepts. The result is a campaign that never gets stale or repetitive.

StarCraft II also introduces some light role-playing elements. In between missions, you’ll get to chill out in the spaceship commanded by protagonist Jim Raynor, where you can chat up members of Raynor’s ragtag group of rebels.

But if you’re anything like me, the first place you’ll go after each mission is the ship’s armory, where you can spend the money you earn on upgrades. These range from stat enhancements all the way to new abilities, like being able to instantly call down supply depots from orbit.

You won’t make enough money to purchase all the upgrades in a single play-through, so you’ll need to think carefully about what you buy. This system not only offers a real sense of progression, but also requires you to keep thinking strategically even when you’re not in the thick of battle.

None of the game’s three alien races are more powerful than the others, and every unit in the game can be countered with something else. It’s this rock-paper-scissors balance that makes StarCraft II as fun as it is. You need to constantly assess your opponent’s army and rethink your strategy, which makes for a hectic and thoroughly exhilarating experience.

If there’s one aspect in which StarCraft II falters even slightly, it’s the story. I personally enjoyed it, although that doesn’t mean it wasn’t full of clichés (a magic artifact that can solve everyone’s problems!) and heavy-handed dialogue.

I enjoyed the story because of the game’s excellent cinematic scenes, which have fantastic graphics and attention to detail. The sweep of the camera, the tiny, detailed debris flying through the air — it all sells the story despite the hackneyed dialogue.

The detailed graphics help the gameplay, too. The unique unit designs make it easy to differentiate them when you’re staring at the visual chaos of a massive battle.

The single-player game would be worth buying on its own. But as the entire nation of South Korea could tell you, StarCraft’s longevity comes from the multiplayer game.

Blizzard’s online infrastructure, called Battle.net, makes sure that newbies aren’t in over their heads. I am absolute garbage at competitive strategy games, StarCraft II included. But unlike other titles, this game lets me delude myself into thinking I’m decent. It does this through excellent matchmaking, which determines my skill level and pits me against similarly disabled players.

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When StarCraft was originally released in 1998, it was heralded as a benchmark for RTS for its depth, balanced races, and intense gameplay. After the expansion, Brood War, and several patches however the world eagerly awaited a sequel. So in 2007 the phrase "Hell, it's about time." became the tagline for the long awaited return of the Protoss, Zerg, and Terran. While the single player game is still several weeks away, the multiplayer game is already shaping up to not only live up to the bar set by the original, but surpass it.

For the most part, the basic formula translate from StarCraft to StarCraft II. You use workers(SCVs,Drones, and Probes) to harvest minerals and vespene gas so you can construct buildings and units. There are now two different types of minerals. The normal "blue" kind as well as a rich "yellow" mineral field. Workers harvest from these locations at a faster rate and also get more minerals per "trip"(7 instead of the normal 5, mind these numbers can change due to a patch).

Buildings are quite similar to before, though with enough changes to make it fresh and exciting. Most of the Terran buildings can still lift off and fly, however they also have new add-ons than before. You can attach a tech lab to your Barracks to produce the more advanced infantry, or add a Reactor so you can build two Marines at the same time. They also sport the new Sensor Tower which detects movement in a large radius of the map. While it doesn't detect cloaked or burrowed units, you'll know ahead of time if someone is trying to sneak units behind you.

The Protoss, just like the Terran, are a mix of the old and the new. The Nexus can now give a temporary power to buildings called Chrono Boost. This ability makes that that building product units/upgrade 50% faster. Gateways can turn into Warp Gates, which can teleport units anywhere there is a psi crystal.

Last we have the Zerg, which is the least changed of all the races in terms of both buildings and units. The largest difference is the new Roach Nest, Baneling Nest, and the improved Nydus Canal. Instead of having a new Nydus Canal each time you want to add an additional point, you can simply build an exit tunnel anywhere you have vision on the map.

Units, not surprising, are the most changed however. While some popular units didn't make the transition(Corsairs, Lurkers, Dark Archons, and others), several new units add a whole new layer of strategy to the game. With several units able to simply move over different levels of terrain such as Reapers(Terran Guerrilla fighters)and Colossi(A War of Worlds-ish Protoss unit), you have to constantly look out for people sneaking in your base and destroying your workers. While Zerg lack a unit that can move across terrain, they do have Roaches which can move while burrowed. However each races staples return such as Zerglings, Hydralisks, Battlecruisers, Carriers, Zealots, and much more.

StarCraft II is just that, a sequel that holds true to the original game and doesn't try to fix something that isn't broken while still having enough changes to make it new. With several new mechanics, units, a graphic overhaul that looks good even on the lowest settings, and a better user interface it's hard to say anything bad about StarCraft II. I highly recommend it for any RTS fan, as it does to the genre exactly what it's predecessor did 12 years ago.

This strategy Game has some of the best special effects and graphics that I have ever seen, out side of a theater. The plot was a little hard to understand but with continued practice,...it becomes more obvious. I am still learning as I go and have made many mistakes on the varied scenarios. The price I paid was about $34 bucks on E-Bay which was middle of the pack from what I saw others paying. In stores it runs $60 bucks plus tax.
I bought a book that ended up helping a great deal, as I am one of the "OLDER" generation and not quite as savvy about computers as these lil' whippers are now days. It was extremely helpful.
The book is put out by Bradygames and has the same name as the game,..."StarCraft". The Book was about 23 bucks but also has great detailed graphic pictures, which teaches you how to become an expert player. If your going to play this GAME you must know the rules and all the short cuts too. If you want to rule the game, you must know the perimeters and push the limits of aggression versus defense.
My rating of the Game on a 1-10 ratio,..10 being the best game ever,..."Is,...a 9.5"
...............The "JACKHAMMERED"
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tarcraft 2 is a great game. I got it the day it came out and haven't touched another game since. Like the original Starcraft, it's an almost perfectly balanced RTS with three unique races. The Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss each have many new units and tricks up their sleeves, and as with the original, the game takes mere hours to learn but a lifetime to master. Each and every last unit has its perfect situation where it can be used to turn the tide of a game. The production values are phenomenal all around. The sounds and voice acting are fantastic, the attention to detail is amazing, and if you've got a computer that can handle them, the visuals on max settings are absolutely gorgeous. And it doesn't just look and sound good; it plays good, too. A bunch of little technical issues from the original have been fixed: you can issue commands to multiple hotkeyed groups at light speed without some commands being lost, your own units will actually move out of the way when you're trying to construct a building, rally points are more efficient and separate ones can be set for worker units, etc. It's all the fun of the original, but it's now sleeker, sexier and handles better. It is faster paced than the original, and the multi-player automatic match-making system is Blizzard's best yet. As a bonus, it (like Starcraft and Warcraft III before it) ships with a map editor that lets you customize nearly any aspect of the game; skilled map-makers will be making new maps, missions and mini-games for years to come.

Definitely is one of the best games I've ever played. The campaign by itself is worth it, but the main game play is the multi-player. Although it can be quite competitive when playing with strangers, it's a lot of fun when playing with friends.

The races are very balanced and updates are made frequently. I'm not sure how I feel about Blizzard releasing other "expansions" if they don't somehow add to the multiplayer but that is for another review.

You might think the game is repetitive (and at times, it can be -- if you choose to stick to the same play style) but like the game of chess, there are just so many strategies and possibilities. (Playing all of the races is highly recommended) I've spent countless hours on this game and yet I've only gotten used to one race so there is still a lot for me to do.

The graphics are pretty good considering that there are so many things happening at once. With a game like this, FPS and smooth game play is essential. (Although, they're essential for most games anyway)

I'm not sure why they didn't just offer a free trial to anyone that wanted one. (You need to get a free trial pass from a friend) I guess it's because the security against multiple IPs just generating new free trials wasn't worth the hassle...

At any rate, this game is high recommended. There are great youtube channels that make the game into a spectator's sport: huskystarcraft, PsyStarcraft, HDstarcraft are some of my favorites. If you're having doubts, you should try watching some of their videos since each commentator is very entertaining.