Starcraft 2 Review

By Ben Hurst on Aug 5, 10 08:38 AM

ONE of the longest waits in computing history is over - Starcraft II is here.

Along with Duke Nukem Forever, it has been one of the longest sagas in gaming and the big question - was it worth the wait?

Well, firstly, it is fair to say that the developers haven't taken any chances.

In fact, Starcraft II is identical in almost all the important ways to its predecessor, although, as I'll show, there are some differences.

For one there is no triple campaign. All you get is to play though with the humans, with Zerg and Protoss coming as paid for add-ons in the future.

Also there is no LAN support: something which has annoyed gamers around the world,

because Starcraft works so well as a multiplayer game.

You also have to sign up to battle.net, meaning you must sign in online before playing even the single player game.

All the above have caused some consternation, but I have to say they pale into insignificance next to one big important thing: the game's great.

It should be, I suppose, given how similar it is to the superb previous incarnation, but as sequels through history have shown - it's hard to replicate success.

For the terrans the game begins with Jim Raynor now a hard drinking revolutionary trying to overthrow Dominion Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, when suddenly the Zerg, who have been quiet since the events of [hatefully poor from a single player perspective] expansion pack Brood War, attack.

The Dominion pull all their forces back to defend the core worlds of the system, while Raynor is left trying to protect the outer colomnies.

Of course, if he can make a bit of money on the side to fund equipment upgrades, all the better, and one new innovation is the system of carrying out missions for cash.

Often you're faced with chosing between tasks such as rescuing a group of colonists from the Zerg or a more lucrative bid to seize an alien artifact.

Money gained is used to fund upgrades to units or funding mercenaries, and by and large is a good thing adding to the overall gaming experience.

There's also Wing Commander-style chats with other characters on the battlecruiser Hyperion, which serves as Raynor's base, which advance the plot and put a bit of flesh on the bones of the characters.

Depending on which difficulty setting you play on, things will get hard by around the third mission, even for seasoned Starcraft veterans.

The core of the game, the units, methods of playing, interphase and so on are more or less identical to the original. It works superbly well, and proves that a classic design is effectively timeless.

Probably the best real time strategy game out there, with an exciting plot, decent characterisation and bullet proof game mechanics.

What's more, it's been well programmed, meaning it will work on most lower end gaming machines. That's assuming, of course, you've got the small matter of 12gb free on your hard drive!

92 Per Cent