Starcraft, and all future Blizzard games, will never recover from this complete and thorough betrayal to the fans.
Starcraft 1 was the second game to have dominated my life. Diablo took the top spot, but this was one of the greatest things that had ever happened to me and officially made me a fan of the RTS genre in general.
It managed to get everything right and set a new standard for the genre to follow. The right click menu, the control groups, and a strong multi player that, even though it was hacked constantly, was one of the strongest online infrastructures ever used in a game. Not only that, but it also featured LAN support, Something you don't see much of anymore thanks to developer's unfounded fear of piracy.
Though we should have seen this coming. Ever since Bobby Kotick rose to the position of President & CEO of Activision-Blizzard, many things have gone downhill.
Not even Blizzard's sacred "genre-changing" Starcraft series was spared from the poor decision making and seemingly endless greed of this man. Starcraft II is the perfect example of how far the hobby (and Acti-blizzard) has rotted away due to greed.
I honestly can't figure out for the life of me how to properly start with this.
However, I think I know a good place to begin:
Let's go off topic for a little bit. Let's look at another game just for a moment. Let's take a look at none other than "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", Activision's best selling shooter. It's a cookie-cutter FPS that only has about three hours of single player and is more or less just a very boring way to spend your time on a weekend.
But, small truths aside, let's see what features it has other then its Single-player.
The Multi-player lacks any form of dedicated servers hosted by players on the PC version. It is impossible to remove people from lobbies, and it generally lacks any anti-cheat protection and customer service.
The game is matchmaking only, lacking any real type of hosting, and is a solely online game. It has no value whatsoever, and the only fun to have with it is to grief it's online community.
Now, let's fast forward a bit to get back on topic.
Let's take a look at Starcraft II. Let's take a look at its millions of videos and advertising campaigns, and then finally examine the result. The thing you waited for, the thing you wanted for ages. Was this worth it?
I think waiting for Duke Nukem Forever was much less painful and considerably less of an embarrassment.
One funny thing I should mention is that Starcraft II is perhaps the first PC game in the past six years that I've seen without Anti-Aliasing. You have to wonder what they spent all of their money on when it came to graphics. If I can produce one compelling argument in the matter it is this: Starcraft II's lack of anti-aliasing is no doubt due to their desire to port the game to the consoles for a quick buck. Some might argue otherwise, but Activision's PR department would probably be all too eager to prove you wrong.
I don't think you can look at Starcraft 2's engine and consider it to be anything other than an upgraded Warcraft 3 engine. Someone like me who had played Warcraft 3 religiously for its amazing custom maps can easily tell that there is little difference between the two.
Now let's get a little more technical. Most FPS titles clock in around 7-8GB in size, which is understandable...but a strategy game like Starcraft 2 should be a bit more grand in size and scope than a mere console-ported FPS. Starcraft will only take about 8GB of your HDD space. Fun fact, that's actually quite near the exact space of Resident Evil 5 on the X360.
Graphics are one thing, but plain laziness and lack of content is another thing entirely. Granted, graphics are rarely considered important in games like RTS since they're the type of genre where you're more focused on managing and staring at the ever-changing menus, but where's the effort?
Now let's delve deep into the game itself.
The first time you start Starcraft II, you'll notice something very odd about it's main menu. Take it in a for a moment. You've finally obtained a game you were waiting ages for, and the minute you start it, you are given only one thing.
A log-in screen.
Yes. Starcraft 2's main menu is nothing more than a multi-player sign in bar. The game is without any form of true single player. Don't be mislead by the "Play as Guest" option, as you still need to have a character made for battle.net, which means you need to sign in regardless.
And to make matters worse, you're losing features if you choose to play as a guest, which, in this day and age, is totally unacceptable, yet people take it naturally for some reason.
The real menu of Starcraft II feels more like an internet browser than a multi-player platform, and that says a lot.
You have two main tabs and a plethora of smaller tabs, as well as your profile. Also, as long as you are signed in, you can be chatted with by friends if they are online too, even if you are playing in single player mode. They can even bug you and invite you to parties while you're in the middle of concentrating on beating a tough mission.
Single-Player and Multi-Player.
I'll start with the Single-player first.
Say goodbye to any lone-playing of custom maps, and definitely say goodbye to fun skirmish fights.
Before I explain some of the campaign, I need to explain something. The AI in Starcraft 1's skirmish was a lot smarter, but now, you are treated with near-impossible fights due to imbalanced forces.
After playing a few matches on my own with SC2's skirmish AI, I have come to the conclusion that there is no balance in this game. I played three games with all three races, and was highly disappointed that every match, my enemy always rushed me from the start and totally ditched any fun with base building or, you know, different strategies.
What makes it worse is that there is no real fun in destroying well-laid bases anymore. Not to mention, some upgrades and units from the campaign are not allowed in Skirmish. Perhaps they did it to "balance" the game, but it feels very empty without the newer stuff.
It's really sad to see that's how people think RTS need to be played. There's no real fun in it if there is no managing, it all boils down to who gets the first units out, and then the match is practically over. I've never played online RTS, because I've always considered the genre sacred for it's uncanny use of nice stories with unique game play mechanics.
Thankfully the Single-player campaign was set up fairly and had decent pacing to it.
It's a shame the story didn't hold up to the standards it set before, though.
Jim Raynor returns to battle against Stalin in the futur- I mean, Jim Raynor is now a desperado type character, a redneckish warrior battling against the tyranny of the Terran Dominion, featured in the first game. Arcturus Mengsk still rules, and the two are still at odds.
Joined by his friend Tychus Findlay, the two set off to make some cash, save a few civilians, and try and bring down Mengsk. At least, that is what they planned to do until Kerrigan returned, and Zeratul brings tidings of doom.
I would like to mention that Zeratul is not as cool or foreboding as he was in the first game.
One thing to do is not to come into this game expecting what the first game was like. This game is guilty of totally disregarding everything before it. All the units are different and all voice actors have been changed, though this does nothing to improve the gameplay or the experience.
Famous quotes and notable remarks from the old units have been replaced by lazy voice actors spewing them out in monotone voices, as if they were tired when they recorded everything, or just didn't care.
In a succinct statement, everything you liked and were expecting to see in the game, reference or not, was taken out back and shot in the head.
The SCV is no longer an intelligent, nerdy dark skinned guy, but now someone who faintly resembles a citizen of Alabama. Every time I selected the SCV, I took off my headphones, not wanting to hear the contrived comments it was programmed to say. To build an object was perhaps the most demeaning thing to do.
"Well butter my biscuit."
It is nothing short of insulting when you think of it. The SCV is no longer a goofy, but intelligent unit anymore, and is instead just a southerner put in for the sake of this game's theme.
They brought back some of the original voice actors from the original game, like the driver for the Siege Tank, but all of the lines are deepened and feel like they are pointlessly trying to live up to the sharp, crisp lines that made them remarkable. Instead of innovating, they just got lazy and did it to try and be "cool".
I would also like to point out that the new medic voice acting lacks any seriousness and is trying way too hard to come off as a lecherous, always-sprung woman now.
The single player takes place over 26 missions. It features some non-linearity in which you choose between some choices that mean little in the end. Like, you could get a Spectre or Ghost unit.
Speaking of Ghost, they recycled a character from a game they canceled a long time ago. Remember Nova? Starcraft: Ghost?
Yes, well, she's in this game for one mission where you control her.
There is a series of missions you take for a stereotypical voodoo man named Gabriel Tosh, who is actually a Spectre, an elite ghost type unit. But, in the end, you realize you're just helping him release criminals and whatnot, and Nova tells you to stop and to let her kill him.
The choices do not impact the story much, and are only there to let you choose between units. Specters(The game calls them Spectres) have a little more attack power but lack the range of a Ghost. They are more offensive minded, and are perhaps better than Ghosts.
Over the course of the game, you will find Zerg and Protoss technology so that you can research advanced upgrades for your stuff, like a new unit or regenerating vehicles. You also use the money you get to buy upgrades for buildings and units, and hire mercenaries.
Mercenaries are just the "Hero" class of a unit. If you're familiar with SC lingo, Hero is just a term to refer to an upgraded normal unit or an actual hero like Zeratul and Artanis. For example, Banshees are a stealth bomber, Dusk Wings are the Hero of them and do more damage and have different aesthetic features, but are essentially the same.
The theme of the game is very desperado-ish. Jim Raynor is an alcoholic and is haunted by his past with Sarah Kerrigan and the fact that Mengsk left her to die on Tarsonis. He can't get over that, and it is constantly affecting him while he tries to lead his ragtag group known as Raynor's Raiders to victory.
Fortunately, he doesn't brood and does not publicly whine over it.
Most of the missions are, sadly, forgettable. They are borderline tedious on occasion and I've noticed that most lack any real requisite skill or mental acumen to beat.
One such mission is where you have to defend a laser drill for about 45 minutes until it can pierce through an incredibly powerful door to a Protoss Temple so you can get a piece to a relic. Base defense is fun, but not when it takes half an hour and you're running out of the scarce resources you have. The mission also demands you use that laser yourself and redirect it's fire to destroy powerful enemy units coming to your base so that you are not completely decimated, which wastes your time further.
The ending was also quite an unnecessary twist. I won't spoil it for those who really want to see it, but considering all that happened in the first game, I thought it very pointless, very derivative, and downright silly.
The characters are all washed out now. Mengsk doesn't look like the secretive cruel and tyrannical mastermind he was in the first game. Raynor became yet another typical protagonist in video gaming with his brown hair, muscles, and face stubbles.
Zeratul was revealed far too much, it would have been better if his face was almost completely shrouded in darkness and he was kept a mysterious figure. Kerrigan is, well, Kerrigan. She is the most tolerable character of the game's story.
Tychus is your standard 'dumb muscle', and speaks with a raspy tone befitting his character. That isn't to say it's a good thing, though.
One thing to give the game credit for in the Single-player department is the masterfully done cutscenes and CGI. All of the cinema in the game is nothing short of fantastic, and are all mixed together with some decent ambient music, adding to the mood of it. One of my favorite cutscenes was "For a Better Tomorrow", which is the scene you get when you side with Tosh and free prisoners from a max-security Dominion Prison. It had a good mood.
There is also a cutscene that happens if you choose to burn a planet for the Protoss and kill off civilians who are infected. The doctor aboard the Hyperion, Raynor's Command ship, becomes infected with the Zerg virus and mutates. Raynor then reluctantly kills her after finding out the truth. Though highly dramatic, it was very well done.
The veracity of SC2's story is very questionable. Kerrigan, in the first game, was manipulative. She used Raynor twice when she became infested. She lied to the protoss and invaded their matters. She killed Raynor's friends, she used 'everyone' for her purposes alone.
She ruined his entire life, and pissed off everyone in the sector. She brutally murdered an entire regiment of space forces that came all the way from Earth. She was a great antagonist, now ruined.
The story is like a 15-year old's mary sue fanfiction.
But now, I have spoken long enough on that and it is time to discuss why this game has ultimately failed.
The multi-player.
There is a plethora of problems wrong with the multi player, and I will elaborate on every single one.
The first, and perhaps the worst of all of the problems with Battle.net 2.0 is the Popularity System.
The popularity system effectively removes any individual hosts and prevents named games. There is a lot of ways to start off how to explain this.
Basically, it does this. The popularity system is defined by the name. When a map is popular, it is put to the top of the list. This really just means that if you want to play a map that isn't very popular to most, you're kind of screwed unless you have some friends.
The only reason such a system is put in place is for the casual gamers. They wanted it set up so that someone could just buy this game for the MP and start immediately on the most popular maps.
Another thing to remember about this popularity system is that, what you're hosting isn't seen, only the map is seen.
The way hosting works in this game is simple. When you host a map, you are hosting just that map. Now, everyone who joins that map will join your game. It's matchmaking done in a very strange way.
But, if someone else hosts the same map after you do, they will NOT get any players joining their game until your game is started. They are in a disadvantageous position, a "take it or leave it" if you will.
Battle.net 2.0 lacks features that work, and instead, substitutes what was cut with stupid, meaningless junk like Facebook integration.
I will list all of what is missing, what worked:
* Private channel support
* Private game features missing
* Named custom games
* Regional server options
* Password Protected games
* Chat rooms
* Game titles
What you get, however, is the privilege of putting your real name on the internet, signing into facebook from what was originally a hardcore title, and having to go through tortuous amounts of trouble to get and even start games.
The multi player is generic and lifeless. It is lacking in all regards, and to make matters worse...
You can't ban or remove people from your game lobby.....
Oh yes, I will now explain the problems with hosting, too. See, you can argue that you can have a private game similar to a password system, but you need to have people on your friends list to do it, you can't just pass a code around to get some people to come in anymore.
Adding a friend in this game is convoluted and what should be a simple task is made to take too long. You need to pass your friend code off to someone so that they can add you. Observant readers will note that a "Friend Code" is something the Nintendo Wii employs for it's online capability when it comes to playing games with people.
To host a private game, first, you need a friend. Then, you need to make a party with that friend, and then, you need to host the game. They will automatically receive an invite to your game if they are not already in a game of their own.
That's what you need to do.
But, if you want to play with randoms, you need to open it to the public. One big problem with hosting in SC2 is that, when you have a game with people joining, "you cannot remove someone from the lobby". A person can openly announce with no fear that they are going to crash your game or ruin it in some way, and you can do nothing to stop it once they're in. Once a game is opened to the public, the change is irreversible.
If a host leaves the lobby, someone else is automatically assigned to be host. There is no kick function, because for some reason it is always grayed out, and the room remains forever until it is started as long as people are there. So consider this.
Imagine if there was a lot of arguing and constant leaving and whatnot for one game room. Imagine if people are trying to host it, and yet, they're getting no players due to a holdup. Though a situation like it is unlikely because games automatically start when the player limit is reached, you can see how irritating this can get.
It all comes together to make this game not even feel like an RTS anymore. I feel like I'm playing Modern Warfare 2: The Strategy Adventure game. There are a shocking number of missteps in design and presentation that you are left wondering just how much time they invested in this game over the last ten years.
One minor note to mention is the constant, overwhelming amount of "easter egging" in this game. Blizzard has rehashed many of their World of Warcraft characters and put them as cameo in this game. You can see a hologram of a night elf doing the dance animation from WoW. You can see a Tauren Space Marine. You can find a Murloc Marine.
Why? It's like they're saying they just don't care for these games because WoW is the only thing printing their money.
And, as if to appeal to the hipster "chans" of the internet, the cheat codes in this game are all based off some sort of internet meme.
"whysoserious" is in fact a cheat code for the single player & skirmish.
It's juvenile, at best.
But, what is perhaps the biggest kick to the groin for all true fans of Starcraft is that the game will be episodic, akin to the tremendous rip off of a game called Alan Wake.
It doesn't take ten years to create a sequel. It doesn't take ten years to write a story about blue skinned natives being invaded because of a valuable resource on their planet. It doesn't take ten years to get something right.
It certainly doesn't take ten years to create an outstanding sequel that could once again dominate the market and bring people back to the PC platform.
But to know that it took all this time just to get one 25-hour campaign and a poorly designed multi-player all charged at $60 is simply depressing. The fact that this game is $60 alone is outrageous. The price of a console game is now the price of a PC game.
Starcraft II is an unfinished product, deliberately made this way just to make some extra cash. The map making community is practically non-existent, further devaluing the online potential of this game.
I will never figure out the answer to the question. The question is, why was everything that worked abolished for all of this meaningless eye candy? The Starcraft 2 menu is like looking at an Apple product, it's sleek, it looks cool, but it lacks all of the features you'd expect it to have.
The trailers for this game are cliche and as shallow as a Michael Bay film. Everything has lost it's credibility and turned in it's card. The humor is all very old childish nonsense that, as I said before, is put there for the sake of the theme.
The music rips off the TV show Firefly, and there are only a scarce few amount of tracks in the game. The only one tolerable to the ears is the Terran soundtrack. There are no victory or defeat themes, and this is game is repetitious to the end.
Activision is the wave of the future in gaming. Let Starcraft II be the greatest example of how far the genre has fallen, and how destroyed the hobby is.
In the words of the Jet Trooper, the Reaper,
We're Screwed.