I realise we have been posting a ridiculous amount of StarCraft II related info lately, but A) you’re the ones clicking on it, and B) I promise things will return to normal from next week onwards. Oh, and C) IT’S STARCRAFT II!
With that out the way, I give you my hands-on impressions of the first 10 or so hours of the game.
Firstly, the last time I used Battle.net, it was a mess. A buggy interface, and rubbish matchmaking made it one of Blizzard’s only real failures. I am pleased to report that my experience with StarCraft II using the revamped Battle.net has been nothing short of seamless. Login is quick and light, and I am instantly connected to all my friends who are also online. In-game chat works nicely, and finding an online match is smooth and hassle-free. I have yet to experience any bugs whatsoever.
The game itself is also very polished. Frame rates are consistent, and although the visuals are fairly modest by current standards (locked into DX9), the art direction and animation is excellent. The menu interface is super slick, and more importantly, it feels lean.
While StarCraft is most well known for its massive multiplayer following, the single player campaign also gathered significant interest thanks to an epic story and memorable characters. This is an area that Blizzard appears to have given a lot of attention to, much to the pleasure of narrative driven gameplay fans.
The story once again centres around protagonist Jim Raynor. Without giving too much away, you find him sitting in a bar on Mara Sara – the same planet the original game kicked off on. The corrupt Terran Dominion is now in charge of things, and general bad guy Arcturus Mengsk is running the show. The Dominion is busy digging up ancient Xel’naga (the guys who made the Protoss and Zerg) ruins, and Raynor decides to liberate a potentially powerful artifact that they have discovered.
I won’t give away any more story, but suffice to say that it is griping even early on. The first few missions are essentially tutorials, but the difficulty is steadily ramped up. Notably, Blizzard has made an effort to differentiate the single player missions from each other. For instance, one mission requires you to dig in and defend a base against waves of infested colonists at night, while during the day you must venture out to destroy their buildings. There are other similar missions where players have to adapt to the environment and circumstances.
The Zerg reappear after four years of laying low and begin infesting Terran planets. Mar Sarah is overrun, and Raynor takes flight in a Battlecruiser “liberated” from the Dominion. From inside the cruiser you can view various different screens, each presenting different options. There is a laboratory which you can spend research points, permanently upgrading various units. These points can be earned completing certain missions. For instance, saving a colony from a Zerg infestation may provide you with 2 “Zerg points”. These can then be used in the lab to incorporate supposed “Zerg” biology into your own technology. Blizzard has explained each lab upgrade as somehow being linked to research performed on Zerg or Protoss samples. Researching the Zerg Carapice for example allows you to strengthen the hull of you bunkers, adding additional hit points.
Similarly, there is an armory. Here you are able to purchase additional upgrades for your units. These range from weapon enhancements, to building improvements. All upgrades in the armoury are purchased with cash, which again is earned by performing missions.
There is also a cantina which allows you to hire special mercenary units which can be used in missions, as well as a bridge which is used for navigating missions. By clicking various planets in the galaxy navigator, you can find out details about the objectives and rewards and choose which missions to perform.
The single player component is very impressive indeed, and offers heaps of depth, customizability, and variation. The multiplayer component will take more time to get a feel for, as there is so much to it. For now, I am thoroughly hooked on the campaign, and from what I can gather, I have at least another 20 hours of story driven action lined up.
Stay tuned for our separate single player and multiplayer reviews next week.
View others’ opinions, or share your own in our StarCraft II impressions thread
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