Starcraft 2; The Review
While it's true that Starcraft 2 is already almost a year old, it has been anticipated for 12 years and is as relevant as ever. With it's multiplayer becoming ever more popular in America as it's already the biggest thing in Korea since Starcraft 1. Which was the biggest thing in Korea since the Korean War. I do not plan to go into the multiplayer much more, only saying that it's extremely fun and addictive. I plan to talk about how the game stands as an RTS and not take into account all the hype.
If you don't want to read the whole thing I'll sum it up right now, Starcraft 2 is the best RTS game I have ever played... and I've been playing RTS (real time strategy, for those you who have no idea what you are doing here) games ever since the original Warcraft. No, this does not make me a Blizzard fanboy... I have played many other RTS games the aren't exclusive to Blizzard and have plenty of bad things to say about the developer. But none of this changes the fact that this is a great game. Now to explain why...
I don't think in the history of video games has there ever been so much money and time pumped into the development of an RTS game. Its true that a big budgets doesn't guarantee success, but in this case... it didn't hurt. THERE IS SO MUCH content and variety in the campaign. Every single mission is so different, where in one instance you're fighting "zombies" at night and burning their hives during the day to another instance where you're escaping an exploding sun. It's a nice change from the usual "build up the same big army and destroy the enemy base" formula you encounter in most every level of an average RTS. The progression is great as well, each mission is basically a moment for a new unlocked unit to shine. But since you can choose which order you do the missions you'll end up having a unique playthrough, based on what you've unlocked first.
In between missions is insane to say the least. Never before in an RTS have I seen so much "fluff". From watching the TV, to research projects, playing arcade games, to upgrades that specialize your army, or just plain clicking on yourself. There is so much to do in between missions I was amazed. Obviously you can skip all this if you want to, but I wouldn't recommend it considering most of the time its beneficial.
But the entire game is based on only one race "The Terran" so is it worth being a full priced game? Easily the answer is yes... considering compared to the first game which had all three campaigns, this one alone feels to have way more content. Thus I'm actually looking forward to the two upcoming "expansions" which are said to be just as huge but about the remaining two races.
Icing on the cake is a very powerful editor that is included with the game. Which people have already used to make a third person shooter, a turn-based final fantasy style game, and obviously just more maps of the actual game. Not the average joe's cup of tea but the very fact they gave their players such an amazing tool makes me happy, since its the creativity of a game's community that keeps it alive.
Now to bring up the things that made this game lose a few points. First of all you have to be connected to the internet to play it, even if you have no intention of playing multiplayer. No reason for that aside from Blizzard spying on you. And the thing that really made me question their motives were reports of people being BANNED from playing the game because they cheated in the SINGLE PLAYER CAMPAIGN. This is just too retarded... considering the first game actually had a cheat code that was a tribute to it's community.
Overall, if you consider yourself to be a fan of real time strategy I have no idea how you don't already own this game.