Gaming StarCraft 2 review

StarCraft 2 has finally landed, and we've been stomping Zerg like never before!

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2010/07/29/starcraft-2-review/1

 

I was sceptical, I must admit. The lack of LAN, the "trilogy" effect, the way RTS games seem to be moving away from dirt farming to get you straight into the action.

Curiosity did, however, kill the cat and I bought the game last night.

I don't feel anything for the main character, nor his rather deep voiced friend. Their situation feels all to.. Scripted, there doesn't even seem to be an air of what I would consider "natural interaction" between the two. That seems to be exclusively between the Captain and the main character, which considering the supposed history between Tychus and Raynor, is surprising to say the least.

However, for me RTS games have always been about the gameplay rather than the characters in the single player. I've only cruised through a few missions (Is it me, or does there seem to be very little difference between casual/normal/hard and then a rather large jump to Brutal?) so far, but the gameplay is remarkably good. There are a few things that irk me, though.

Control groups - You can set them, but you can't unset them. I was playing one mission, that involved collecting 8000 minerals, and as such had two groups of SCVs doing the collecting, and of course, two command centres. I labeled 'em up, but I cocked up control grouping some of the SCV's, when I went to reset that, it became clear that once that'd happened, that was that. Short of adding the ones that were contaminated with another number, to yet another number (EG: In group 9 I had some of group 8, so selecting 9 also selected some of 8, and the only way to correct this would be to manually select what should be 9, assign them to 7, and use 9 for something else).

Medics - No matter how I play, the dozy bints trundle to the front of the fight, and just stand there. Yes, they need to be near the troops taking the brunt of the damage, but not between my troops and the enemy. Granted, that becomes a non-issue when I build my force up, as very often when it gets to a certain point, the restorative power combined with the speed of death dealing prevents anything from getting taken anyway.

Otherwise, I agree with the review. It is a nice game, and I regret doubting it.

 

BEST GAME EVER. Done.

 

StarCraft + Mass Effect + Fire Fly = StarCraft 2

 

Pfft. B'ah. Humbug.

 

Definitely agree with the huge Mass Effect influence here...

 

I never played SC1, but I'm totally wrapped up in SC2 single-player. It reminds me of Freelancer in the way you have a job board, an armory, a bar, and loads of AI to converse with between missions.

I'm not sure how well I'll fare in multi-player, I don't think I'm dedicated enough to truly get good. There's some pretty crazy koreans out there.

 

OMFGNEEDTHISGAMENOWWWWWW >_<

 

Good call. Loving the SP so far but will no doubt suck balls at the MP.

 

This is more addicting that boobs.

 

It's still way overpriced. I'll add it to my list and buy it when sanity has checked in.

 

bit-tech "for those who suck at Star Craft 2 MP" MP gaming night? I'd be interested cause I'm naff at RTS online. Plus, it wouldn't matter that my ping would be crap

 

I'm glad the single player is strong as id be dubious about how much fun I'd get out of getting continually pasted in the multiplayer.

It makes it worth getting even if I don't think ill play on-line much.

 

Interesting review. I've kinda ignored all the hype and such surrounding this game but now i'm rather intrigued. I never played the original but i'm a fan of RTS in any form pretty much though I have a question to those who have it already. Based on what you've seen of the single player campaign, is it more than a enough to jusitify the game as well i have no intention of playing it online as that side doesn't appeal to me and i guess i'm after something more engaging and i'm an indeciesive chap at the best of times!

 

Some ass always finds posts like this and then comes in to demolish folks like us in 3 minutes

 

Such a shame i loathe and detest RTS games......as it looks quite nice.

I dont know why i hate them so much, but i can never seem to get past the tutorial and about the first 2 levels on any RTS game, before mind numbing boredom sets in..

 

It's actually this aspect of the game I find most appealing, even though I've never played the first game and is too expensive for me to consider as a single player only game (not interested in the multiplayer). Games like CoH are good in their own right, but there are times I just want to play an old-school RTS with modern production values, and I think the only other game to do that recently was SupCom.

 

LOL, Multiplayer pratice against the A.I.?

For new players, the A.I. has one setting.. Crushing.. Whilst I was building my first Marine unit, the AI walks in and stomps on me with an army. That was on Easy setting (2vs2 as well). Ok i'm still learning, im sure the AI is beatable, but please, looking at it's build speeds.. 1 second in the game and it's already started to build miners. It's built an whole army by the time I've got the resources and worked out how to build a single marine. Thats not very new player friendly.

What happened during the long beta period? or was that just for the seasoned RTS pro players?. Maybe Blizzard should offer beta access to genuinely new players to RTS.

Ok I accept it's early doors, I still need to learn the units, I still need to do the practice league maybe there are real people (like me) out there who don't play that quickly. :/

 

My advice is to go into the practice league for anyone who thinks they are going to get stomped online but want to try the game. It's specifically set up to be beginner friendly. Theres only 3 maps so you get to know the maps really well, they have plenty of easy expansion points, and they have special rock barriers to make rushing very difficult. Give that a go. You get 50 practice games and they don't affect any future ranking so you can experiment with crazy strategies.

 

I'm with Joe on this! Maybe I'll retry the original, after I've cleared my backlog of games.