With the first phase of the beta now over, it gave me some time to reflect on this glorious piece of gaming engineering. As you can tell I like it, I like it a lot. I managed to get a Starcraft 2 beta key at the Sci-Fi London event, where I also got to try it firsthand. Starcraft as a franchise is a worldwide phenomenon, particularly so in the Far East. One time while I was in Hong Kong a few years ago, I noticed internet cafes all over with hundreds of PCs hooked up for Starcraft LAN play. In South Korea, the population is still madly passionate spawning professional players everywhere. Considering the first Starcraft was released in 1998, this is a testament of the lasting longevity this game brings.

Enter Starcraft 2; I cannot tell you how many years in the making it was, but for the world it felt like an eternity. At long last it has arrived, expectation runs high to top the original and Blizzard have their work cut out. And rightly so, sequels are a tricky business and players will not take kindly to anything other than a near perfect gaming experience. This IS Starcraft after all.

So what’s it like to play? Well I’ll give you a quick rundown of the three sides you can take control of. If you are familiar with the first game, you will know that they are Terran (humanoid race), Protoss (futuristic alien race), Zerg (insectoid swarm race).

Terran
I’ll be honest with you, when I first got my beta key the first thing I wanted to do was fire up a Zerg or Protoss side and thrash it out with the AI. I didn’t play with them much but they are easy to get to grips with. Terran is comparable to say, the U.S.A in Command and Conquer: Generals. They are middle ground, a side you would start with when you have never played Starcraft before. Not to say they are not a force to be reckoned with; each side has tactical advantages and disadvantages that keeps everything balanced. My favourite unit is the Siege Tank, it can be a used as armoured support with light weapons, or flip to Siege mode where it can be used as a static gun emplacement. It’s very effective when within the boundaries of enemy territory, or as a quick way to plug a hole in your base defences since it can be mobile. A similar capability applies to Vikings; you can either morph to Assault mode to attack ground units, or Fighter mode for air targets. This type of dynamic game play makes Terrans very adaptive without having to think too much.

Protoss
The Protoss are technologically advanced and they look it; every unit looks like something out of Star Wars. They have the best eye candy and have extremely powerful units in their arsenal. Of course, all this armoury comes at a cost. The units are expensive, the computer voice calling for more minerals and Vespene gas will be a common phrase if you don’t keep your resource count in check. This will give you an idea of unit cost:

Protoss, Zealot: 100 Minerals, 0 Vespene Gas
Terran, Marine: 50 Minerals, 0 Vespene Gas
Zerg, Zergling: N/A (yes it’s basically free, and initially very weak)

Not cheap for Protoss, the above are the first basic infantry units you will create.

Protoss buildings are restricted to being within a certain radius of Pylons. This makes them different to Zerg, who are more flexible in where they build. The Zealot is the most powerful first ground unit when comparing the three teams. One of my favourite units is the Colossus; you do NOT want to be around when a group of these descend.

Zerg
Last but not least, Zerg. I am a Zerg player, so I have played with them more than the other two. My style of game play leans towards them; the Zerg ethos is to create and assimilate as many units as possible and to “zerg” the opponent with your hoard. Outnumbering is the key. Sounds easy, but I feel it is the most difficult team to play for. This is because they are weak, in some cases very weak when comparing a unit to another from Protoss or Terran at the same level on the tech tree. On the same token, they are very cheap. When you create a Zergling from Larva, you get not one but three. Everything stems from Larva, which are the building blocks to evolve into other units. Zerg also need a lot of micro managing, they hunger for Vespene gas later on and you will lose units at a rapid pace during combat. Be sure to keep churning out Zerglings and morphing replacements. A nice feature for Zerg is Creep; Overlords dump Creep on terrain so that you can build structures on top of it. A structure MUST be built on Creep and units benefit from speed increases when running on Creep. The killer use for it is that opponents cannot build on Creep; Overlords are mobile and can dump Creep on an enemy base to prevent them from building. Not only that, but it will allow you to build in their base after you have weakened them. Coupled with Nydus tunnels for unit transport anywhere on the map, and you have some good strategies to play with.

This game is lovely, the mechanics, the graphics; there are so many possibilities with tactics that I haven’t even explored yet. However, since it is in beta phase everything I have said could change but probably not by much. The guys at Blizzard are constantly tweaking balance issues and the final product come July will be slightly different. I personally can’t wait; I will have to satisfy myself with the next round of beta testing coming shortly. The game will come with a campaign for Terran, and only Terran. I can assume that the campaigns for the other two sides will come in the form of expansion packs.

Sadness
I tried everything humanly possible to bring you a Starcraft 2 video montage of all the games I have played, but failed miserably. Ever since the beta closed, you can no longer access your replays which is annoying :( In fact you can’t even log onto Battle.net in the game to get to the replay function, but hopefully I can rip a recording in beta phase two. Instead, I’ll show you this great video introducing the Zerg. And yes it’s not an exaggeration, you can and will create that many units in the game.

I’ll end with what someone said on a Starcraft 2 forum post: Goodbye SC2 jailbait, see you in 4 weeks when you’ll be legal.

About Motoko

First embraced the inner geek at the age of 10 with a Commodore 64 and programming in BASIC. Avid PC gamer, Gundam Gunpla builder, manga editor and anime enthusiast. Loves Mountain Dew and Ghost in the Shell. Twitter: @Motoko_K

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