A Fun Review specially for PC gamers......
I vaguely remember playing Starcraft (because it was way back). However i am very familiar with Blizzard's two other premier franchises - Diablo and Warcraft.
If you are a Starcraft fan, stop reading this review. Go and buy Starcraft 2 now as i can say fearlessly that Starcraft 2 is the sequel every fan of every gaming genre be it shooters or action games hopes for especially if one is the old generation and the sequel is the next generation. Rarely franchises of such old timeline have managed to keep up the good quality especially in RTS.
Anyways for those who don't know what starcraft is, then think about it as a strategy game but on planets. Instead of militia and peasants you have advanced robots doing the fighting and resource collecting for you. The theme is definitely same for all RTS games. All have a central town center, you have to gather resources to advance ur military and you use those military to besiege the enemy. So if you have never played starcraft, but you are a strategy genre fan then that path is clear for you.
Unlike other RTS especially the ones like Rise of nations where you have a plethora of types of resources to collect, the best thing i like about SC 2 is that it has only two resources - mineral and vespene gas. Plus you don't have to advance through different ages(i miss those but i don't mind this either) which is ofcourse an impossibility here because SC 2 takes place in the ultimate age.
If i am not wrong, SC 1 was about how mengsk left Kerrigen to become the queen of blades and the zerg overmind is the main antagonist. SC 2 puts a lot of light on the unanswered questions of SC 1 which is a great thing.
The campaign is satisfyingly long and yes as some reviewers have complained the story is incomplete. But that's the point of having three games rite? Story will be complete by the time the third one arrives.
Gameplay like i iterated before is technically powerful. You can clearly see the seven or more years work. You have some of the most awe-inspiring maps in the end. You get more and more advanced units and technologies as you advance. You will be in a separate ship where you can upgrade the units with the credits and points you get after completing a mission unlike in other RTS where its directly done. Its neither too stingy in giving you the credits and points you need to upgrade your units nor it is too benevolent. Good to have a strategy game trying something out of the genre's magnitude. What's next? Hero Mode would be nice.
Two issues that i had which ofcourse are nitpicks. One is the graphics. I expected some AA and other options. Graphics though was good could have been a lot better. But ofcourse we don't want games like GTA IV or Crysis which barely run then take months to get patched either. So there is a trade off between graphics and smoothness when it comes to gaming. But i atleast hope they introduce some AA in the next game.
Second issue is the lack of market. Again not a big issue. But that's what you do when a game has very few flaws. You tend to nitpick. Anyways it would be helpful if there was some sort of a trade market where you could sell your vespene gas or minerals for credits. You do get credits for exchange of protoss points and zerg. However something which we have under control would be better.
You may be thinking i am a huge strategy fan. I used to be one hell of a fan. But these days due to games like Age of Empires 3, Command and Conquer - Red alert, tiberium twilight, the hope for an amazing strategy game appeared bleak. However Starcraft 2 gives a lot of hope and boost and finally we can proudly say like the Xbox360 and PS3 owners, "We Have A Next-Gen Game Which You Don't"
Some people had issues with the price too. Its not overpriced. Its got a satisfyingly long campaign. Took me 20 hours, actually 30 with the trial and error. Also you have the single player and multiplayer. This is finally a RTS game in a long time since Warcraft 3 where you actually will care about the single player because of the amazing technology tree. Buy Starcraft 2 if you are a strategy fan without fear. If you are new to strategy though this is the best game to start with (P.S. Read the manual thoroughly before playing though). I remember myself having fun reading the fat manual of Age Of Empires 2. Man i wish we had more of those.
I cannot wait for the next Starcraft game already and now my hopes for Warcraft IV and Diablo III have skyrocketed because of this game. Blizzard, hopefully you do what you do best.....