StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

Introduction

Okay, well the day has come that Starcraft II has finally been released, and I for one am really excited to get my hands on this game. I even went to the midnight release, just so I could get my hands on it, as soon as possible. Alright, so Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is by far one of the best RTS’s that I have ever played in my life (and I have played a lot of RTS’s.) From Command and Conquer, Supreme Commander, Age of Empires, Rise of Nations and even Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos/The Frozen Throne, do not compete with this behemoth. Now, I have played a lot of Blizzard games, Starcraft I, Diablo II, Warcraft III and of course World of Warcraft. After the release of Starcraft II, I can say for certain now, that when Blizzard makes a game, they make it right. So, let’s get down to business!

Multiplayer

            I am going to start off with multiplayer in this review, just because it is by far the best part of the game. As you all know you can be one of three races in the game (Terran, Protoss and Zerg.) And players vie to destroy one another on the battlefield. Each race has its own distinct racial features, for example, Terrans can actually move their Command Center to any point on the map just by clicking a button and moving it to any point on the map, no other race can do that. Now, the other races have other unique features to them as well, The Protoss can have their little worker bee’s (AKA probes) warp a structure in and not have to actually construct it, so they can go back to scout, gather resources or whatever. Blizzard has tried to balance out each of the races and have done a great job. Now, Starcraft II multiplayer is NOT a walk in the park, it can be difficult…extremely difficult, especially if you are not as good at the game as other players. There are different strategies that all players use, whether it is build a small “rushing” force and take out your enemy within the first 5 minutes, or build up a massive force and face your enemy head on with brute force!

            I also want to hit on Blizzard’s Multiplayer system called Battle.net, it is by far one of the best, if not the best, multiplayer systems out there. It is fast, easy and effective. I have spent no longer than 2 minutes trying to find other players to meet me on the field of battle. So, don’t worry about spending hours just looking for people to battle, if someone wants to fight, then Battle.net will find them for you.

Single-Player Campaign

Now, I will be honest here, I have not played the campaign all the way through (I have actually been spending a bit too much time, playing against other friends on multi-player mode) However, I have played enough to tell you that the overall story is great, the characters and missions are some of the best I have ever had the fortune of interacting with and playing. The characters are life like and you want to help each of them out and get to know them. Now, I am not going to give you a summary of the story, just go out and buy the game, and experience it for yourself. The story grasps you in with the very first mission when you fight as Jim Raynor trying to stop the forces of the Terran Dominion and the Zerg. You get the chance of upgrading units, hiring mercenaries to help you battle your enemies, all at a price however. You get credits for doing missions and with credits you buy your upgrades and hire your mercs. From what I have played so far, it is great, the only downside is that the multi-player aspect of the game is keeping me away from seeing on how the story of Jim Raynor continues.

Also: for those of you who did not play Starcraft I or does not remember the story from the first one, watch this video for a quick recap…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQa8co522zc

Graphics

One word…WOW ( And no, not World of Warcraft.) This game is visually phenomenal! I mean, words truly cannot describe how great this game looks, I run most of my settings on high, however some of my friends can play on ultra and a 1080P resolution, I can only imagine how good it looks on my friends computer! I can only say, go out and experience how gorgeous this game is!

Closing Comments and Verdict

I love Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, it is by far the best RTS I have ever played. Blizzard has made another fantastic grade A game, not surprising, when Blizzard makes a game it may cost them some time and money, but they do it right! The best part about this game is, while it is slowly, but surely, stealing my life away, it is not taking 15 bucks a month to do it, not like you WORLD OF WARCRAFT! So, everyone reading this, please go out and buy Starcraft II, every component is great, and I cannot find a single flaw. One last piece of advice, for any new players to the Starcraft universe, I recommend buying the strategy guide, not for the single player campaign, but it has a lot of great strategies for multi-player and got me from extreme n00b, to a competent player, with a little practice of course! So, go out and buy this game and buy the guide if you want some Multi-player hints, tips, and tricks!

A 5 out of 5!