Gaming StarCraft 2 Beta First Impressions

We take a look at the beta of Blizzard's long awaited StarCraft 2 to see if the game has managed to elevate itself above the old tactics of Zerg rushes and samey build orders. Do fans actually want anything new with StarCraft 2, or is a high-res remake more than enough for the hardcore?

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2010/03/09/starcraft-2-beta-first-impressions/1

 

it seems so unappropriate for someone who hasn't played SC to make a comparison between the two games. You say there is nothing new. Why would you change a formula that has worked for more than 10 years? The SC community expected exactly this, some eye candy, new units, great balance. Not to mention the story behind the game, one of the best stories ever (you are somehow free of accusations on this point since it's only a multiplayer beta).
To sum it up - you're obviously not a RTS player therefore this article has no value whatsoever.

 

I'm not really excited by this since it seems to be just the same as SC1, which i played. i personally, find the series too micromanagement intensive as opposed to tactically inclined. As you said, it's all about who spams the most of a particular unit to overwhelm your opponent coupled with reflexes of a Korean player. I personally prefer company of heroes since that game rewards tactics and unit preservation (most of the time), more so than SC does, thanks to veterency and a retreat mechanic.

However, i most definitely respect Blizzard for making a game that the fans want as opposed to f***ing them over by getting people who don't even like the series to play by dumbing it all down. This is true fan service IMO.

 

I must be one of the few people who want the game to continue the story. We want to find out what happens next!

I don't care about the multi-player, I want to see how Jim Raynor saves the galaxy.

 

Having played this beta it was exactly what I expected. Identical to Warcraft 3 in pretty much every way but based in the Scarcraft universe. It is yet another RTS that is won or lost by build order and uber micro.

 

this, i want to know what kerrigan has been up to all those years, as its what, 10 years after the events of SC1? Also want to know if Protoss are still arrogant as hell even when facing extinction lol.

 

You've obviously not really read the article, since that's something I talk specifically about - the fact that it wasn't broke and didn't need fixing.

And playing the first game doesn't suddenly qualify or validate someone's opinion. You might not have played all the Hitman games, for example, but I'd still give consideration to your point of view if you said that Hitman: Contracts was rubbish.

You're obviously a hardcore SC fan and I'm obviously not - but that doesn't mean my opinion is wholly and objectively meritless. That's just moronic.

 

I didn't play SC1 either and yet from these first impressions all I can see is yet another cloned variation of Command & Conquer and Blizzard's own World of Warcraft series set in a different environment. Both allowed you to build attacking units quickly and go and attack your opponents early on in the game and C&C was notorious for having a build system that once understood allowed you to work up to Nuke your opponent in a very short space of time.

To wait 10 years for a sequel is just plain dumb, for Blizzard to wait 10 years to come back to an old game and give it the no. 2 moniker only says to me that they must be out of any really original ideas.

 

Or maybe they are giving people what they want.

 

The replays on youtube etc. aren't as zoomed in as your screenshots.

I wonder why. Maybe it makes a difference depending on what resolution you play at?

 

Best rts game ever. All there is to it.

 

To be honest Joe, I much appreciated that you were the one to preview the beta. I am in a similar position myself, I never really got what people loved about Starcraft, and similarly with Warcraft 3, it never seemed to be about battle tactics. If you're a hardcore Starcraft player, I respect that you might want "one of your own" to preview the beta, but the vast majority of us either lost interest a long time ago or never had any in the first place. I have vague interest in Starcraft 2, merely from all the hype surrounding it, so I'd prefer an opinion based on the game's own merit rather than nostalgia for times gone by.

That being said, I'll likely wait until the single player reviews appear before making my decision. Multiplayer Starcraft 2 will be a no-go. I prefer the long, drawn out tactical all out warfare over getting beaten by a small handful of the weakest units within 30 seconds.

 

If you read the impressions of a new player to the SC world like Joe is you will understand didn't need to be changed. The game is kind of a clone of C&C, wich was a clone of Dune 2. But still one of the best RTS ever made (imo the best ever is "men of war").

I hope they do the same with Diablo III.

PS: What happened to "Starcraft: Ghost"?

 

It's not even finished or out yet....

 

It sounds very much like Blizzard again to me. They are very light on innovation in my opinion and very afraid of making changes. They always implement 'soft touch' updates that seem like they change a lot but in fact do almost nothing and usually include a healthy dose of dumbing-down.

With that said it's hard to say they are dumbing SC2 down - but they are definitely not trying to make any big changes or innovate and evolve and I think that's rather rubbish.

I am willing to believe however that loads of SC1 players won't think the same as me and Blizzard knows this.

 

that's the bit i really don't like. the player, as commander of an army, should not worry about unit actions, when they should stop to fire, which route they should take, what special ability they should use.

it should be about the larger picture. building an army, creating building sized units to crash the enemy, strength in strategy and technology. Supreme Commander 2 anyone?

don't get me wrong, micromanagement is great if done right, such as Company of Hero (not DoW2) perfect balanced of base building and unit-management. Starcraft just requires you to work so hard at 2 fronts.

 

Incorrect. SupCom shows this up as the ancient rehash it is.

 

You opinion IS wholly and objectively meritless, when it is not only wrong, but uninformed and (let's use your term) moronic as well (yes you can qualify an opinion; don't hide behind subjective nature of opinions, everyone's right to have one and similar cliches).

Let me point just a few stupidities:

Basic gameplay is like in all other RTS games? In what way? You use the mouse to move the units around? How is gameplay in SC2 similar to CoH or WaW or TW or Dow2?

So the gameplay is similar to all the other RTS games (which you must have played to draw that conclusion, I presume) and yet it took you 10-15 minutes to get a hang of the Terran interface? Did you need an all-nighter to figure out the Zerg interface?

You never played SC and needed 15 minutes to figure out the interface for the "vanilla" race. You play a game and can't defend from an early attack. So, naturally, you conclude that the game is just about who can train the most low level units first. Makes sense.

The differences between races are mostly cosmetic? What is this... I don't even... Are you trolling again? That wonderful piece of rhetoric about older games being rubbish was much better. This is just too obvious. (PROTIP: You should have mentioned blocky unit models, works every time!)

 

This game is great for people that have fun competing. Care bears that can't play without "blue shells" or won't youtube some commented replays in order to learn the game should just wait for the singleplayer.

Yes, it's beastly hard to learn properly. But once you do, it is extremely gratifying.

 

I didn't enjoy the first game very much so it doesn't look like this is going to be much better. While my brother seemed to enjoy SC1 (in single player anyway), I found that it simply just wasn't very fun!

I'd like to know why both C&C and SC2 seem to prevent players zooming out as far as they would like. While it's nice to be able to zoom in and look at the destruction in detail sometimes, it is also nice to be able to zoom out far enough to get a good view of your surroundings.