StarCraft II is the long awaited sequel to Activation Blizzards game StarCraft. This game has been in the making now since 1998 so the standards are high for it. Now due to it being so long since the release of the first StarCraft your probably thinking how does this game compare with other Real-time strategy games. Well instead of blizzard conforming and using the newer systems they stuck to their roots and kept the same feel that the first StarCraft had. Now this is good and bad in different ways since the newer people might be turned off by playing a game that is basically just the first StarCraft but with prettier models, but it also allows blizzard to keep the classic players who want to continue playing the original StarCraft but felt that the models and the feel of the game was getting a bit stale.
Now if you have never played the first StarCraft don’t worry about being totally lost during the game not understanding why things are happening because when your installing the game the installer gives you the rundown of everything that happened in the first StarCraft.
Now I am not saying that nothing is new because there are a lot of big changes that come with this game one of those being the fact that it focus mainly on the Terran and more specifically the Jim Raynor and his rebellion against Arcturus Mengsk. One of the other things about this game is that it doesn’t go right from a cinematic into another mission description. Instead between missions you are able to travel around on the Battle cruiser the Hyperion which is used as the mobile command center for Raynor's rebellion. You are able to talk to pretty much any one on the Hyperion which you don’t have to do to progress the game but you learn about interesting facts about the people in the game and it also will give you some insight into why Raynor wants to kill Mengsk, and why everyone is doing what they are. While on the Hyperion you have a lot of different options While in the Armory you have the ability to pre-upgrade units before missions even start along with give units special abilities like being able to attack ground and air units at the same time or giving missile turrets a barrage of missiles that do Area of effect damage instead of single target. There is also a new system in place that gives you the ability to collect research from the two other factions the Zerg and the Protoss. While in the laboratory of the Hyperion they take all of the specimens you collect and attempt to make new units and perks for your units and buildings. There is also the Cantina of the ship where you can listen to southern rock along with hire powerful mercenary units. You can also watch the news on the Television there that is filled with government lies and hidden messages. The other option on the Hyperion is the bridge which is where mission choices happen via the Star Map. Instead of having the game be linear you are able to chose the order that missions go in depending on what units you would rather unlock first from the missions.
Now on to missions. This game is your typical RTS and if you have played RTS's before then you know that means there are missions like kill X or defend Y for a certain amount of time. However most of these missions are changed in a way to make them more interesting. One mission which has your burn down infested buildings is made more difficult by making it so that during the five minute day and night cycle you have different tasks. During the day cycle you burn down the buildings but at night you have to defend your base from and endless horde of infested Terran. There are also a few missions in the game that have you make a choice which will lock out another mission. Without spoiling too much one mission has you chose between a ghost and a specter (ghost with boosted psionic abilities). Depending on which one of these you chose will determine which of the two units you get to train in the rest of the campaign.
Another new thing that we see coming into StarCraft is the achievement system. The achievement system is linked to both the single player and the multiplayer of the game. Some of the single player achievements have to be completed on a specific difficulty making playing through the game more than once necessary to get all of the achievements. Along with single player achievements there are also the multiplayer ones like getting 5 wins in a row as a team or winning X amount of games as Zerg. A lot of these achievements will give you special portraits and decals for your buildings allowing you to customize your character somewhat. Some of the multiplayer achievements have to be done on a team however meaning finding good friends to play with is a necessity.
Now what everyone has been waiting for the multiplayer of the game. Since the age of online gaming video games without a multiplayer have been ignored and pushed away by the majority of people in the world. so how does the StarCraft II multiplayer stack up against the other RTS's of its time? Very well, the online of StarCraft II had to be better than the first StarCraft and they succeeded in making that happen. Now a lot of new players might get the wrong idea about playing the multiplayer due to fear of getting completely destroyed by the best of the best within the first 5 minutes of the match. Well due to blizzards systems that they put into place by separating the game online up into different leagues and having you play 5 placement matches to determine what league you get put it makes it so that a bronze league player won't be going up against a diamond league player. They also put a thing called challenge matches into the game which teaches the newer players about micromanagement along with early rush defense and different counters to different units. By playing through all 9 of these challenge matches you are able to up your game bit by bit. However for anyone who has played any of the Craft games before you will have little to no difficulty adjusting the StarCraft II style of play.
So to conclude is StarCraft worth the money? Yes, this game despite its few flaws is very much worth the price tag. You get your monies worth simply with the Single player alone and the multiplayer just makes it even better.
