StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is an incredible sequel that definitely exceeds expectations.
THE GOOD
-Highly addictive and competitive multiplayer
-Exciting story
-Three well-balanced races
-Powerful map editor
-Plenty of extras
-Incredible graphics and sound
THE BAD
-No LAN support
OVERVIEW
Some of you might recall playing a game called StarCraft way back in the day. StarCraft won many awards and was heralded as one of the best RTS games of all time by many gaming communities. Well, it's been over a decade since that fabled game (and Brood War expansion pack) hit retail shelves and finally its true sequel has been released to the masses.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty takes place four years after the Brood War. The Zerg, led by the Queen of Blades herself (Sarah Kerrigan), have vanished from the Koprulu sector. The Zerg is a highly aggressive bug-like race that grew as the main adversary in the previous games. With the Zerg Swarm gone without a trace and the highly advanced Protoss abstaining from war, the Terran (humanoid race) Dominion led by Arcturus Mengsk, have become the dominant species in the area.
The story revolves around the former Dominion marshal named James Raynor. Even though he has a slight drinking problem Jim is still a charismatic leader trying to organize an uprising against Mengsk. The problem is that Raynor doesn't have the funds to wage a war against the powerful Dominion. There are many reasons why Jim wants this ruthless tyrant eliminated but there was one major event that pushed him over the edge. A while back, Mengsk abandoned Kerrigan to the Swarm. A fate worse than death occurred because the former Zerg Overmind infused her with control over the entire hive cluster, stealing her humanity and it's for this very reason why Jim will stop at nothing to see Mengsk dead.
The base of operations for Raynor's rebellion is aboard the Hyperion; Jim's personal and heavily armed Battlecrusier. The former marshal forms a rag-tag team of unlikely heroes which include Matt Horner (esteemed military captain), Tychus Findlay (former criminal) and Rory Swann (grease monkey/engineer). In order to build a sizable force to battle the oppression, which rules with an iron fist, they must engage in random mercenary type missions for profit.
The overall feel of the story reminded me of the hit TV series Firefly. The hero is a gritty but likable space cowboy and they take on mercenary type missions to earn cash. Overall, Raynor and his comrades complement each other and the character development is rich and interesting. The dialog and storytelling is also highly entertaining. That coupled with some player driven decisions and you have an enjoyable experience to play through. StarCraft II: WOL is another Blizzard masterpiece combining an exciting tale, incredible gameplay and a highly addictive multiplayer atmosphere.
GAMEPLAY
Describing the flow of the gameplay is actually quite simple: harvest resources, build an army and defeat your opponent(s). The concept is easy to understand but to become a master player, it takes plenty of practice and skill. Scouting, outwitting and macro/micro managing units are a few things that go on during a match. For those of you playing this game for fun, which is a vast majority, StarCraft II offers a variety of AI difficulty settings for the campaign while the Battle.net (multiplayer portal) is perfectly setup to match your skill level with that of your opponent. This ensures that anyone can participate, have fun and feel the right amount of challenge.
StarCraft II consists of three unique, well-balanced races: Terran, Zerg and Protoss. The Terran are a humanoid race with units that are fairly resilient and cost effective. A Terran army may consist of gauss rifle carrying Marines, hulking mech-warriors, or powerful starships. The Zerg is an insect type race that relies on creature mutation over technological prowess. Building a Zerg army doesn't require a lot of resources so they amass easily. However, the trade off is that most units, by themselves, aren't very durable. The Protoss is an ancient and highly advanced alien race that utilizes psionic energy to power their buildings and protect their army. All Protoss units have personal shielding and wield powerful attacks from the psionic blades of a Zealot to prismatic beams of the Void Ray. To balance their power out, the Protoss need to manage their economy very carefully because building up a large army will cost a small fortune. Every unit, even the top tier, has their strengths and weaknesses and every strategy has a counter which creates a game where the tides can turn at anytime.
The campaign offers a thrilling story that'll last a satisfying amount of time but it's the multiplayer aspect that'll take you well over the 100 hour mark. The Battle.net presents an easy, user-friendly menu where you can play ranked matches or custom/user created scenarios. Your friends list displays whose online and what there're doing while the achievements section presents all your awards. You can even allow SCII to append additional friends via your Facebook friends list. Unfortunately, all your online gaming has to be done through the Battle.net because Blizzard neglected to include a LAN feature; sorry, no LAN party here.
The ranking system on the Battle.net ensures that you are matched up against people with similar proficiencies. After five preliminary games, you'll be placed in a certain league marked with a standard icon (i.e. bronze, silver, gold, platinum or diamond). After each contest you'll earn points for winning and lose points for a defeat. If you gain (or lose) enough points you'll move to a different league. For the most part, Blizzard's ranking system works well and most of the people I've played against were definitely within my skill-set.
StarCraft II: WOL does an excellent job making sure that you have plenty of options to improve yourself. There are loads of extras which include replays of past matches, tutorials for learning the basics and challenge matches against the computer which puts you in many different situations. With all this help and a little practice, you'll improve in no time. The best extra feature this game offers is the map editing software that comes free with the purchase. Here you can create just about anything that the developers have already produced. Designing maps, adding voices and narrating your own stories are just the tip of the iceberg here.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
If your graphics card will let you run on the highest settings, this game will look phenomenal on your PC. For those of you out there that don't have a high-end computer, like me, SCII will lower the visuals a bit; however, the quality still looks great. The animations are superbly crafted and fun to watch, like the way a four-legged Protoss Colossus meticulously scales a cliff or the bloody mess a marine bursts into when it's received a fatal blow.
The soundtrack fills the game with appropriately themed music with a little bit of old-school nostalgia thrown in for those loyal fans of the series. The sound effects really bring out the chaos and the sense of urgency that war entails; I especially enjoyed when two massive armies with many different units clash together on the battlefield. StarCraft II is also filled with terrific and notable voice actors like Tricia Helfer as Sarah Kerrigan.
CONCLUSION
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is an outstanding real time strategy experience. The game offers a lengthy, well scripted campaign, highly addictive multiplayer and an abundance of extra features. The gameplay is top-notch with plenty of strategies to employ against your opponent, whether you're adversary is the computer or another human player. I would highly recommend this game to anybody that owns a PC. Blizzard's company philosophy has always been to take as much time as need for every project. This attitude really paid off because StarCraft II, just like its predecessor, will go down in history as one of the best games ever developed.