Where do I begin?

Probably I should state upfront that I am a Blizzard fan. Let’s say that the games that Blizzard created are a part of my youth. Warcraft/Diablo/Starcraft… you name it.

Starcraft II – Wings of Liberty came out on the 27th of July. It was a long awaited – 12 years – sequel of the brilliant, for its time, Starcraft. While the game has all 3 races that we’re used to, the single player campaign is only present for the human race. As far as I understand the Zerg and the Protoss campaigns will be launched separately, and you’ll have the “privilege” to buy them, if you want.

The human campaign has 26 missions (actually 29, because at some point, supposedly, you have the option to do either A or B and this results in you playing a mission or another. You can always go back and play the other mission). I found the campaign missions to be surprisingly easy on normal level – not once have I had to load a saved game because of the game flow. I did have to reload the saved games several times though because it crashed.

This leads me to another interesting point: How can you work on a game for such a long time and still have it crash? How can you release so many patches right after the game has come out? (around 3 weeks since the release and we already have 3 patches out). That says a lot about the quality and the producer’s desire to monetize the game

The cinematics  in the game as at the high Blizzard standard. The in-game graphics are beautiful – your mileage may vary depending on the graphics card you have.

As far as playability, the game is at least as playable as the original. Lots of new units for all races which will hopefully change a bit the dynamics of the game. The number of units you can control simultaneously is no longer limited to 12. As an overall experience the game isn’t very far from the original. Which is good on a certain level, and a bit disappointing on another level.

One thing that sucks is that you have to be connected to the internet (battle.net) all the time to be able to access the game and play with your character. No more playing in LAN. WTF? I think that Blizzard really screwed up the Battle.net part, but hey… they do integrate with Facebook… and they give you shiny achievements badges for all kinds of crap that you do… that should make us feel a lot better, not.

Overall the game is worth at least some attention at this point if you’re into games in general, and real time strategies in particular. I guess only time and the hardcore fans in Korea will make Starcraft II into another legendary game or just put in on the shelf of disappointing sequels.

Enjoy the game for now See you on Battle.net!