This game is the first in a while that really makes me want to play "just one more mission". I’m quiet satisfied with a purchase I really thought wasnt going to be my cup of tea.
I’m one of 3 gamers in the world who was active during the original release and never played it. Regardless of the hype I’m fairly happy with my purchase of Starcraft 2. The whole battle.net social networking system is a huge turnoff. Its superfluous to the game for my purposes and its very “present“. It seems designed to make people who don’t want the battle.net experience feel like they are doing something unnatural. The RTS gameplay itself feels older, as if RTS is a style from a lost era. It’s a game style I played almost exclusively during the 90s and then havnt really touched since MMOs came out. Its still fun and takes one back to warcraft 3 or Rise of Nations but you got spacy units and buildings instead of fantasy ones. The big draw I feel this game brings for me is the campaign story mode. Starcraft 2 seem to borrow direct from games like Wing Command and Privateer by telling a story through clickable characters/plot objects in ~4 various static rooms located on your ship. I never could claim to a lot of depth in computer programing but this is a storytelling technique I regularly used in the games I made as a middleschooler. Its funny to see that style being used in a game that will likely end up being the most financially successful video game ever. Anyhow you are cast as a rebel hero from the first game and feel like the privateer captain from the TV show Firefly. The “old west” style cantina on your ship doesn’t hurt nor does what I’m sure is a near rip of the Firefly theme music playing during most of the dialog scenes. The dialog is at times painful but I’m sure a hit with 14yo boys who enjoy endless dramatic clichés and one liners. Having not played the original, you do feel sorta thrust into the middle of a story, forced to care about people and events you are unfamiliar with. I’m still not sure I care about any of these characters but the game play and ambiance makes up for that. I will say on normal mode I havnt come close to failing any missions. There are two more levels of difficulty above normal and technically I am an experienced RTS’r though totally out of practice. So far it feels like as long as you follow the directions at the beginning of the mission the enemy comes to you and dies without much effort. For reply value they have included a two path tech tree that allows your to spend alien loot you find on your missions to provide unique upgrades to your units. If you buy one side of the tree the other can not be accessed. Its simple but well done and gives extra incentive to explore and fully experience each mission. I’m not near the end yet but I’m told by others I’m going to be annoyed that Starcraft 2:wings of freedom is only 1/3 of the plot and I need to wait 6 months and pay another 60 bucks for the rest of the story. At this point there seems to be plenty of game and I’m quiet satisfied with a purchase I really thought I wasn’t going to like.
No comments:
Post a Comment