Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty

After having played Blizzard's latest entry into the RTS genre, Talarin shares his view on the game thus far.

I've never been a big fan of real time strategy (RTS) games. That's not to say that I don't find them entertaining - one of my favourite online gaming moments was an Empire vs. Rebel space battle with some of the Lowstress lads (Star Wars: Empire at War). It's just that they never really seem to hold their appeal over time for us as a collective.

So I was pretty dubious about the game when our Dy357lx offered me a trial key to try the game out and really had very little idea of what to expect (I never played the original Starcraft).

I can sum up the tone of the rest of this mini-review with: it is an outstanding game which I can see myself playing for some time to come - irrespective of the other Lowstress guys.

Single Player

The single player campaign is outstanding in its own right. It acts as a fairly gentle introduction to the game, the Terran units (the campaign is Terran only - out of the three available species), and its mechanics while being diverting enough to keep it becoming monotonous.

Each mission has it's own unique twist - whether that's a night/day variation by which you have to hold very different fighting modes, or a level which regularly floods with molten lava, forcing your troops and resource-gathers to head to high ground for fear of immolation. As you progress through the missions additional units become available to you - so you have the opportunity to learn how to successfully use them.

Between missions you have the opportunity to interact with NPCs, conduct research or purchase extra units/upgrades for your troops. This does add to the immersion in the game and the missions seem to have ties to the various NPCs, giving you the feel of a story-driven campaign (which is actually quite linear).

You also have the opportunity to take on the AI in a sandbox mode similar to the multiplayer - a useful tool for learning your craft.

Multiplayer

This is - apparently - the core of the game, which inbuilt match-making functions, social plugins (such as facebook integration) and ready-made leagues. While not yet having taken on a human opponent, it's fair to say that the AI isn't exactly a push-over.

I'm not really qualified to comment too much on this element of the game as I've not played a massive amount of it - but the several co-op games that we've played have been very entertaining.

More on this as we journey through the game. In the meantime, suit up. War is here in all its glory and horror.