We're giving away two copies of StarCraft 2 Review
One of the most anticipated sequels in PC gaming history finally comes to light as the StarCraft franchise returns in the first of what will comprise three parts of StarCraft 2 in Wings of Liberty.
To start, the install process is pretty straightforward, so long as you have an Internet connection handy. That’s right, Blizzard has integrated Battle.net into the installation process and without it, you’ll be SOL to play the game. Once you have installed and authenticated the title with Battle.net, you’ll be able to play StarCraft 2 both while online and in an off-line mode if you so desire.
The game has an incredible single player campaign that should be played through right away. There are a bounty of missions, all of which have their own unique set of goals and secondary goals for you to achieve. And speaking of achieve, you’ll be able to rack up achievements right and left which will be shown in your Battle.net profile.
* Spoiler Alert *
StarCraft 2 Battle
Wings of Liberty takes place a few years after Brood War ended, with you taking up the role of hero and space bandit Jim Raynor. He’s a good guy looking to find justice, while at the same time, find peace for his kind against the clutches of the evil Emperor Minsk. Raynor employs some old friends and finds some new one to carry out missions against corrupted humans, Protoss and of course, the Zerg.
Without giving everything away, all the missions play together very well, although you get to pick and choose which missions you do in some relative order. Every time you complete the mission you gain points which can be used to unlock technologies to assist you in future missions. In addition, there are a small handful of missions where your decisions at critical moments change the mission as well as the cut-scenes that follow.
The single player campaign is easily the finest we’ve ever seen from a Real Time Strategy game for the PC. There’s nothing even close, as the missions and action are awesome and the cut-scenes and back story are intimately developed to a degree of detail that assures us the 10 years of waiting for this game was time well spent.
The graphics of the game are extremely impressive and if you have a solid Quad-Core or an i5 or i7 processor, you should be good so long as you’re armed with a kick butt video card. You don’t have to unload the bankroll to maximize the settings in StarCraft 2 however and regardless, the animations and explosions are all done wonderfully. Whether you are killing a bazillion Zerglings entering your base or invade a Terran’s base with a grip of Void Rays, you’ll have plenty of awe-struck moments admiring the graphics.
StarCraft 2 Protoss
Sound-wise there is also a lot to love with this title. The audio effects are great and if you have a good sound card, and no your on-board “5.1 surround sound” thing doesn’t qualify, you’ll be very impressed with the fidelity quality of the game. It should be noted also that the voice acting in the game is absolutely superb.
Finally, we’d be remiss if we didn’t gush about the amazing depth behind the game in the Battle.net lobby. There’s a full set of things to do in here to extend the life of the game, highlighted of course by the entire ranking system of playing 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 games, in addition to the unranked FFA games which support up to eight players. There’s an entire set of levels to work through, so rest assured, as a noob you won’t be playing some of South Korea’s finest. The friends system is also very impressive and as you play with particular people in certain settings (2v2 for example) you’ll have separate standings in the 2v2 ladder system than when you play with other friends or a random party member.
Overall, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty is the finest RTS PC game ever made. Period. Nothing left to say.
1 Comment
Happy hollidays from the Koprulu sector fellow terrans