StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
StarCraft II cover artwork, depicting the Terran protagonist James Raynor
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Designer(s)	Dustin Browder
Artist(s)	Samwise Didier
Series	StarCraft
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Mac OS X
Release	July 27, 2010
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer (via Battle.net)

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment as a sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft. Released on July 27, 2010, the game was developed for concurrent release on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. StarCraft II is split into three installments: the base game with the subtitle Wings of Liberty, and two expansion packs, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void.

Set in the 26th century in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy, the game is built around three species: the Terrans, human exiles from Earth; the Zerg, a race of insectoid genetic assimilators; and the Protoss, a species with vast psionic power. Wings of Liberty focuses on the Terrans, while the expansions Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void will focus on the Zerg and Protoss, respectively. The game is set four years after the events of StarCraft: Brood War, and follows the exploits of Jim Raynor as he leads an insurgent group against the autocratic Terran Dominion. The game includes old and new characters and locations from the original game.

Gameplay

File:Protoss skirmish (StarCraft).jpg

A group of Terran units attack a Protoss base.

StarCraft II features the return of the three races from the original game: Protoss, Terran, and Zerg; Blizzard states these are the only playable races in the game. StarCraft II is also designed to focus more heavily on the multiplayer aspect, when compared to the original StarCraft. The changes include overall improvement in Battle.net, a new competitive "ladder" system for ranked games and new matchmaking mechanics—designed to "match-up" players of equal skill levels. In addition, the replay function, which allows players to record and review past games, is being improved. Blizzard has also stated they have made some changes to the game that were suggested by fans.

StarCraft II continues its predecessor's use of pre-rendered cinematic cut scenes to advance the plot while also improving the quality of in-game cut scenes within the levels themselves, which are rendered on-the-fly using the same game engine as the graphics in the game proper. Blizzard states that with the new graphics engine that StarCraft II uses to render the gameplay, they "can actually create in-game cut-scenes of near-cinematic quality". Most Protoss and Terran units, and some Zerg units, have been shown on the StarCraft II official website, and in several video demonstrations held by Blizzard. Improvements include advanced scenery allocation and more detailed space terrain, such as floating space platforms with planets and asteroids in the background. Small cliffs, extensions, and even advertising signs were also shown to have been improved and refined.

The new Terran briefing system allows the player to explore the inside of the battlecruiser Hyperion.

The single-player aspect of StarCraft II has also been altered substantially from the original game. The Terran campaign shown at BlizzCon 2007 replaced the original StarCraft briefing room with an interactive version of the battlecruiser Hyperion, with Jim Raynor, now a bitter and hard-drinking mercenary captain, as the central character. In a departure from previous Blizzard games, the campaign is non-linear, with Raynor taking jobs for money and using that money to buy additional units and upgrades. Although each playthrough will vary, the end result will remain consistent keeping the storyline linear. Vice president Rob Pardo has stressed that each campaign will function very differently. The Terran campaign, Wings of Liberty, will place players in a mercenary style campaign, as Terran rebel Jim Raynor performs missions for cash. The second release, the Zerg campaign Heart of the Swarm, will have RPG elements. The player will level up the Queen of Blades, Kerrigan, throughout the missions. In the last expansion, the Protoss campaign Legacy of the Void, the dark templar Zeratul will have to employ diplomacy between Protoss tribes to acquire units and technologies for each mission. Each campaign is expected to span 26-30 missions. Wing of Liberty has 29 playable campaign missions. Of this 29, only 26 are playable through a campaign playthrough since 3 missions are choice-related alternates. There is one secret mission named "Piercing the Shroud" and can be unlocked on the "Media Blitz" mission.

Lead Designer Dustin Browder has discussed with Shacknews some of the unique missions that may be included in the Wings of Liberty campaign. In one level, lava floods the battlefield every five minutes, forcing the player to move their units to high ground or watch them get destroyed. In another mission, enemy units will only attack the player at night. The last mission Browder discussed was one where the player tries to influence the tide of an AI controlled battle with only a single unit, a Ghost. The single player missions will be highly customizable and are featured in the StarCraft II Community Zone. Between missions, players can choose units, buildings and upgrades that are not available in the multiplayer missions.

Units

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty features approximately the same number of units as the original game. Some units from the original game are returning, some featuring new upgrades and abilities. For example, the Protoss Zealot, a melee unit from the original game, now has the explorable ability to dash forward and quickly reach nearby enemies as a refinement of their speed upgrade from the original. Other units have been replaced or removed entirely. Other changes to unit design have been inspired by story events in StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War, replacing old units with new or renamed versions which sport different attributes and abilities.

Units in StarCraft II have new abilities, compared to the original, that encourage more complex interaction with the game environment. Among these are the inclusion of units that can traverse varying levels of terrain, or have the ability to teleport short distances. Some Protoss units can be warped in to pylon-powered areas using the Warp Gate, a slight modification of the existing building called the Gateway. StarCraft II's campaign will also have exclusive units which would only be playable in the campaign and not in the regular multiplayer mode (though they are available for map makers to use in custom maps). These mostly consist of units which have been scrapped from development such as the Terran Diamondback as well as various returning units from the original StarCraft such as the Terran Wraith and Vulture.

StarCraft II Marketplace

A major new addition to the map-making community is going to be the StarCraft II Marketplace where high quality maps will be sold for a small fee as "premium maps" over Battle.net. The mode of payment has not yet been announced. Dustin Browder has mentioned that even maps like player-created DotA (Defense of the Ancients) in Warcraft III would not meet the quality requirements to be branded as a premium map.

Galaxy Editor

Galaxy Editor is StarCraft II's campaign, map and mod editor which is included with all versions of the client. It is more sophisticated than StarCraft's StarEdit and WarCraft III's World Editor for creating custom maps or campaigns and is the first editor by Blizzard to feature inbuilt mods creation and usage support. Updated art and data from the original StarCraft that were not used in the actual skirmish play along with models and data that were scrapped during the development process (including those made as April Fools jokes) will be available in the editor. Unlike previous editors made by Blizzard, it is the first to have internet connectivity features such as map publishing, retrieval and online activation of the editor client.

Chris Sigaty, Lead Producer, has also stated that the editor will give players the ability to create RPG, Hero-type units and structures resembling those from WarCraft III. At Blizzcon 2009, Blizzard demonstrated a build of the Galaxy Editor showcasing its capabilities, such as the ability to customize the user interface to include features such as the Item system from Warcraft III. Blizzard also commented that it would like to include a third-person style perspective for missions though it may not be in the final build.

The Galaxy Editor was available for the first time during the phase 1 beta testing of StarCraft II when it came with a patch. With the start of phase 2, the editor was updated.

Blizzard has also changed the way that custom maps are distributed. In order for other users to be able to access your maps they need to be published through Battle.net. The storage limit for each user is 20MB in total and you are limited to 5 maps or mods, each with size of no more than 10MB. While the new Galaxy Editor offers much more than that of the editor in the original StarCraft, there are concerns that the publishing limitations of Battle.net will not allow for large-scale custom maps or extensive map availability unless there is an external map publishing tool.

Synopsis

Characters and setting

The campaign storyline of StarCraft II takes place four years after StarCraft: Brood War, and features the return of a number of characters from the original series; including Zeratul, Arcturus Mengsk, Artanis, Sarah Kerrigan, and Jim Raynor. Players will also revisit the original series' worlds, like Char, Mar Sara, and Braxis; as well as new worlds, such as the jungle planet Bel'Shir. It has been confirmed that the Xel'Naga, the ancient space-faring race responsible for creating the Protoss and the Zerg, will play a major role in the story.

Cast

The English language version of StarCraft II has several new and returning voice actors. The voice director of the game is Andrea Romano. Over 58 voice actors were hired with some voicing multiple characters.

• Robert Clotworthy as Jim Raynor
• Neil Kaplan as Tychus Findlay
• Ali Hillis as Dr. Ariel Hanson
• Brian Bloom as Matt Horner
• Dave Fennoy as Gabriel Tosh
• James Harper as Arcturus Mengsk
• Tricia Helfer as Sarah Kerrigan
• Fred Tatasciore as Zeratul / Swann
• Josh Keaton as Prince Valerian

Background

A Zerg colony gathering resources and expanding its military.

At the conclusion of Brood War, Kerrigan and her Zerg forces became the dominant faction in the Koprulu Sector, having annihilated the United Earth Directorate's Expeditionary Force, defeated the Terran Dominion, and invaded the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. However, after the conclusion of Brood War, Kerrigan retreats to Char, despite having more than enough power to crush all remaining resistance in the Koprulu Sector. In the four years leading up to the events of StarCraft II, she has not been seen or heard from by any of the other characters, although her ultimate attack may come at any moment.

Arcturus Mengsk has been left to rebuild the Dominion, and is consolidating his power while fending off harassment from rival Terran groups. Valerian Mengsk, a character introduced in the novel Firstborn, will play an important role in Dominion politics, due to his position as heir apparent to the throne. Meanwhile, Jim Raynor, whose role in the events of StarCraft and Brood War has been marginalized by the media under the Dominion's control, has been reduced to mercenary status, and has been shown to be doing business with the "Moebius Foundation", a new faction which is interested in ancient Xel'Naga artifacts. Chris Metzen, Vice President of Creative Development at Blizzard, has emphasized that by the events of StarCraft II, Raynor has become jaded and embittered by the way he was used and betrayed by Arcturus Mengsk. Other new characters to the series include Tychus Findlay, first introduced in the StarCraft II teaser cinematic, a marine who will be a member of Raynor's crew, and Matt Horner, Raynor's second in command, a character originally featured in the novel Queen of Blades.

Following the fall of Aiur and the death of their matriarch Raszagal, the Protoss have retreated to the dark templar homeworld of Shakuras. There, Artanis, a former student of Tassadar, is trying to unify the Khalai Protoss and the dark templar, who have nearly separated into a tribal mindset as a result of centuries of distrust. Zeratul, tormented over the murder of his matriarch, has disappeared to search for clues to the meaning of Samir Duran's cryptic statements regarding the Protoss/Zerg hybrids in Brood War's secret mission "Dark Origin".

Plot

Four years after the Brood War, the Dominion is once again the dominant Terran power in the Koprulu sector. For reasons unknown, Kerrigan gathered the swarm at Char and has vanished from sight. With the Zerg gone, the Protoss have once again taken a passive role in the galaxy. After the Brood War, Jim Raynor has formed a revolutionary group named Raynor's Raiders in order to overthrow Dominion Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. However, Mengsk launched a massive smear campaign against Raynor, painting him as a terrorist.

On Mar Sara, Raynor is waiting for his troops to prepare. Provoked by a televised press conference held by Mengsk, Raynor leads his forces to liberate the people of Mar Sara. After the battle, Raynor is approached by his old friend Tychus Findley, who claims to have escaped from prison serving a sentence for a crime Raynor was also guilty of. Tychus proposes that Raynor's Raiders collect Xel'Naga artifacts for the Moebius Foundation, a scientific organization who will pay Raynor the funds he needs to wage his war against the Dominion. Raynor agrees and steals an artifact piece from the Dominion at a dig site in Mar Sara. As they prepare to leave the planet, Backwater Station suddenly comes under siege by Zerg forces. After escaping, Raynor discovers that the Zerg have instigated an invasion of Terran systems. However, the Dominion forces have largely withdrawn to defend its core worlds, leaving the fringe colonies to fend for themselves.

Afterwards, Raynor may choose to take side missions that focus around the plots of individual side characters:

After rescuing Dr. Ariel Hanson and a number of refugees from Agria, Raynor helps Hanson relocate the refugees while protecting them from the Zerg. However, when the Protoss arrive and reveal some of the refugees are infested, Raynor must decide whether to protect them until Hanson can devise a cure or purge the infestation. If he protects the refugees the Protoss leave and Hanson stays behind with the refugees. If he purges the infestation Hanson is infested, forcing Raynor to kill her.

With Gabriel Tosh, Raynor obtains a number of resources to help Tosh revive the Spectres; a group of enhanced Ghosts. The final mission is to break Tosh's fellow Spectres out of a high security prison on New Folsom. However, Nova arrives and tries to convince Raynor not to trust Tosh claiming he is too dangerous and unpredictable and that his Spectres are mentally unstable. If Raynor decides to help Tosh he gains access to Spectres and Tosh joins the Hyperion crew, revealing that the Spectres are not mentally unstable after all and some are imprisoned revolutionaries. If Raynor helps Nova, she gives him data on how to train Ghosts and later assassinates Tosh.

Matt Horner organizes a number of missions designed to strike at the Dominion. After recovering a recorded transmission proving Mengsk was responsible for the Zerg attack on Tarsonis, Raynor strikes the UNN headquarters on Korhal and transmits the message across the entire Dominion, causing a major scandal and inciting riots.

Raynor and Tychus raid a number of worlds to recover Xel'Naga artifacts for the Moebius Foundation. Eventually, the Zerg begin attacking the Moebius Foundation's main headquarters, prompting Raynor to assist them. Horner meanwhile doesn't trust Tychus and begins investigating, confiding to Raynor that Tychus' suit is rigged to shut down his internal organs when a certain signal is sent, confirming that Tychus is hiding something from them.

During this time Zeratul sneaks on board The Hyperion and gives Raynor a crystal infused with his memories. Looking into the memories, Raynor sees Zeratul searching for a prophecy about the half-Protoss, half-Zerg species found in the bonus mission in Brood War. However, Kerrigan is also looking for the prophecy and Zeratul barely manages to escape alive. Being unable to translate the prophecy, he takes it to another world to be interpreted. However, he finds that the Protoss he was looking for had been enslaved by a Zerg-Protoss hybrid. He learns that the prophecy spoke of a "great hungerer", the original Zerg Overmind, and returns to Aiur to try to read the Overmind's memories. While preparing to enter the Overmind's corpse Zeratul encounters Tassadar, who tells him that the Overmind planned its death to protect the Zerg, and that Kerrigan was the key to saving the universe. Tassadar then shares with Zeratul the Overmind's prophetic vision of the future, which shows a great battle between the Protoss and the Zerg. The Terrans have already been exterminated, and the Zerg have been enslaved by the hybrids. The Protoss put up a valiant defence, but eventually fall to the never-ceasing numbers of the swarm. The Zerg are then annihilated, leaving only the Hybrids. Zeratul tells Raynor that he must protect Kerrigan, lest the whole universe be destroyed by the "Fallen One", who was actually the controlling force behind the Overmind's actions to dominate the Protoss.

After collecting the final artifact piece Raynor's forces encounter Dominion battleships at the pre-agreed Moebius Foundation rendezvous point. The Moebius Foundation is revealed to be under the control of Valerian Mengsk, Arcturus' son. Valerian asks Raynor to help him invade Char and use the artifact to restore Kerrigan to a human, and weaken the Zerg.

To the initial dismay of the crew, Raynor agrees. As the invasion of Char begins The Dominion and Raider fleet is caught off-guard by a preemptive strike by the Zerg. Raynor secures a foothold on Char and rendezvous with Dominion forces which survive the crash landings. The combined forces push towards the main Hive Cluster of the planet. Eventually the artifact reaches full power and activates, destroying all Zerg within its blast radius. Raynor's team finds Kerrigan restored to human form; however Tychus reveals that he made a deal with Mengsk, trading Kerrigan's life for his own freedom. Raynor defends Kerrigan from Tychus' attempt to kill her, shooting Tychus in the process. The closing scene shows Raynor carrying Kerrigan across the battlefield in his arms.

Development

The development of StarCraft II was announced on May 19, 2007, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, South Korea. Development on the game, initially delayed for a year by the temporary reassignment of Blizzard's resources to World of Warcraft, began in 2003, shortly after Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was released. According to Rob Pardo and Chris Sigaty, development for StarCraft II was put on hold for a year in 2005 due to the assistance needed for World of Warcraft. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty supports the DirectX 9 (Pixel shader 2.0) software and will be fully compatible with DirectX 10 as well, although the development team has not yet decided whether to add exclusive DirectX 10 graphic effects. The Mac version uses OpenGL. The game also features the Havok physics engine, which allows for more realistic environmental elements such as "debris rolling down a ramp". Additionally, there are plans to implement VoIP into the game.

Since the announcement, fans have also been able to participate in the development of StarCraft II through feedback and questions on fansites and forums. Periodically, Blizzard Entertainment provides Q&A batches, web pages about the units, buildings, and lore, podcasts (titled "BlizzCast"), and posts from Blizzard employees on forums. The StarCraft II community was made aware of internal development processes by an official representative that went by the name of Karune (Kevin Yu) on the Battle.net Discussion Forums. Karune regularly posted Q&A on the Battle.net forums to answer various fansite questions about the game. Furthermore, occasionally Battle reports of the latest alpha build of StarCraft II were put up on the official website which were commentated by Lead Designer Dustin Browder and Blizzard eSports Team Member Robert Simpson.

At the June 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, Blizzard Executive Vice President Rob Pardo was quoted as saying that development of the campaign was one-third complete. He also said that StarCraft II is to be released as a trilogy of games, starting with Wings of Liberty, focused on the Terrans, followed by Heart of the Swarm, revolving around the Zerg, and finally Legacy of the Void, devoted to the Protoss. On February 25, 2009, Blizzard announced the Blizzard Theme Park Contest where prizes would include two beta keys for StarCraft II. In the updated news and updates page of battle.net for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne it states the top 20 players from each realm will be given a SC2 Beta Key. In February 2010, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime announced that a closed beta would open that month.

In an interview held in June 2009, Rob Pardo indicated that LAN support would not be included in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Removing LAN requires players to connect through Blizzard's servers before being able to play multi-player games. It has been reported that Blizzard is considering implementing a system whereby a LAN connection is possible after first authenticating with Battle.net. Further controversy was sparked when Blizzard confirmed that the game would not support cross-server play out of the box, restricting gamers to only play against local opponents - for instance, US gamers against those in the US and Europeans against Europeans. The company originally explained that Australia and New Zealand servers would be located in Southeast Asia, pitting them against combatants from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, however closer to release it was revealed that the Southeast Asia / Australia / New Zealand version of the game would not be strictly region-locked, with gamers able to play on either the SEA/ANZ servers or the North American ones.

Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard, announced during the opening ceremony of Blizzcon 2009 that StarCraft II and the new Battle.net platform would both be released in 2010, with a month or so of interval. As of March 2010, it has been stated that the new platform is currently being tested outside the beta and is planned for release in early July 2010, for both StarCraft II and World of WarCraft: Cataclysm, with a later upgrade for Diablo 3. On May 5, 2010, it was revealed that StarCraft II and Battle.net 2.0 would be integrated with social networking site Facebook, "linking the world's premier online gaming platform with the world's most popular social platform" - a move that will see gamers able to search their Facebook friends lists for StarCraft II opponents. Wired Magazine in its annual Vaporware Award, ranked StarCraft II first among the delayed technology products of 2009. StarCraft II was released on July 27, 2010. with launch parties in selected cities of countries around the world - USA, Australia, Russia, England, Brazil, Germany, Denmark, France, Mexico and Singapore.

Beta

Blizzard posted a release date for the game's first beta of Summer 2009, but failed to release a beta during that time. Since May 6, 2009, it was possible to sign up for the beta phase of the game. In November 2009, the game's producer Chris Sigaty confirmed there would be no public beta for the game taking place in 2009 but assured fans of the title that it would happen next year. On February 17, 2010, StarCraft II began closed beta testing. The beta was expected to last for 3–5 months. Beta keys for the initial release were sold on eBay for prices as high as $400. Blizzard has also released a map editor for the beta as part of Patch 9. According to the company, they are planning to release a major content patch towards the end of beta testing.

As of 23 July 2010, eighteen patches have been released for the beta (only seventeen on European servers), including a patch which provided access to the Galaxy map editor. On May 12, 2010 Blizzard released the Beta client for Mac for the users who had signed-up. On May 17, 2010 Blizzard announced that first phase of the beta test would be coming to an end in all regions on May 31. The first phase was then extended to June 7. The second phase began on July 7, 2010 and ended on July 19, 2010.

Pre-Release

Customers and reviewers who received the installation DVD before the July 27, 2010 release were greeted with an error screen, telling them to wait until the release date. There is no known workaround and some reviewers have praised the action for limiting journalists to playing and reviewing the game with actual players.

Release

Marketing

A Korean Air Boeing 747 with a StarCraft II advertisement painted on it. Jim Raynor is prominently displayed on the plane. This plane was spotted at Incheon International Airport.

Blizzard entered into a co-marketing agreement with Korean Air that will last for six months, in which two of the airline's airplanes on both domestic and international routes prominently display StarCraft II advertising featuring Jim Raynor on the fuselage.

Versions

On April 8, 2010 Blizzard officially announced that the game will be available in a standard and collector's edition. The game will also be available for digital download from Blizzard on the release date; pre-loading began on July 15. The collector's edition will come with an artbook, 2GB flash drive modeled after Jim Raynor's dog tag with the original StarCraft and Brood War expansion preloaded, behind-the-scenes DVD, soundtrack, comic book, unique avatar portraits, a unique model for the in-game Thor unit in multiplayer and a World of Warcraft pet. On June 24, 2010, at a press-only Korean event, Blizzard announced that Korean players would be able to play StarCraft II for free as long as their World of Warcraft subscriptions are active. When in PC bangs, or other cybercafes alike, players will be able as usual to play the game by paying roughly the equivalent of US$1 per hour. Other options include a 30 days subscription to the service for a 9900 won fee (roughly equivalent to US$8 or £5.50), a 24 hours play-time ticket for 2000 won (roughly US$1.50 or £1) or unlimited access for 69,000 won ($56 or £37.50).

The end user license agreement for Wings of Liberty differs significantly from Blizzard's earlier titles in that purchasing the game only grants you a license to play, while the game itself remains the property of Blizzard. Any breaches of the end user license agreement amount not only breach of contract, but also copyright infringement, giving Blizzard greater control over how the game is used. Concerns have been raised by Public Knowledge about how the altered EULA may affect multiplayer tournaments not endorsed by Blizzard.

Sales

On August 3, 2010, Blizzard Entertainment announced that StarCraft II sold more than 1 million units worldwide within one day of its release, which makes it the bestselling PC game of 2010. After two days, during which period Blizzard began selling the game as a digital download on its website, it had sold approximately 500,000 additional units for a total of 1.5 million copies sold worldwide. Blizzard claims that this makes StarCraft II the fastest-selling strategy game of all time.

Overheating issues

StarCraft II was released with a bug that can cause graphics cards to overheat and in some cases permanently damages them due to the way the certain portions of the game are rendered. Specifically the frame-rate is not locked on menu screens and this causes the graphics card to continuously render the image. Blizzard has posted a temporary workaround for this bug and it should be fixed in an upcoming patch.

Blizzard has since posted a message on their official forums regarding the issue:

"Screens that are light on detail may make your system overheat if cooling is overall insufficient. This is because the game has nothing to do so it is primarily just working on drawing the screen very quickly."

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	93.36%
Metacritic	94%

Review scores

Publication	Score
Computer and Video Games	9.3 / 10
Eurogamer	9 / 10
GameSpot	9.5 / 10
GamesRadar+	10 / 10
GameTrailers	9.5 / 10
IGN	9 / 10
VideoGamer.com	10 / 10

Upon its release, StarCraft II was met with very positive reception, with an average critic score of 94/100 at Metacritic, and 93.36% at Game Rankings.

The game was particularly praised for retaining the popular RTS gameplay while introducing new features and improved storytelling. GamesRadar felt that "In many ways, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty feels like StarCraft 2.0 – and that’s a good thing", stating that it "delivers on all fronts". NZGamer.com said the game was "the best RTS game released in years and one of the best games on PC". In relation to its story, Game Trailers stated "If there's anything immediately apparent from Wings of Liberty's story, it's that the series' narrative structure has evolved well beyond the original's sparse between-sortie intermissions", calling it "an epic and entertainingly told yarn", while X-Play praised what they considered to be "flawlessly in fact--is integrating the story with the gameplay". Giant Bomb echoed this view while also noting the Hyperion portion between missions, finding it to have "more depth of character, more believable pathos, more surprise twists--than I honestly expected out of the story". Joystiq was very positive towards the improved multiplayer matchmaking service, calling it "similar to Xbox Live and PSN, which is a welcome change from the archaic matchmaking of Battle.net in previous Blizzard games", while GameSpot called the amount of online content "remarkable", noting the variety of maps and up to 12 player online support. John Meyer of Wired praised the improved graphics engine, saying that it "shows decades of polish" and a "slick new presentation".

Matt Peckham of PC World also noted that some buyers expressed dissatisfaction with the absence of LAN-based multiplayer gameplay, the lack of cross-realm play and the campaign being limited to the Terran race. Game Revolution, in relation to currently only being able to play the Terran campaign however pointed out that "Wings of Liberty has 29 missions; the original Starcraft had just over 30. Fair odds say the next one will have roughly the same amount; Broodwar brought about 30 too. We already got the full game for $50, and we’re getting offered two expansions. If you want to feel outraged about something, pick something else."

Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot gave the game a final verdict of 9.5, labeling it an Editors' Choice. He stated that the "campaign offers a lot of variety with awesome cinematics and great voice acting getting you involved in the story" and "the amount of content available in online play is remarkable". One of the drawbacks he identified was Battle.net's inability to conceal a player's online status when logged in, leading to privacy inconveniences.

Ars Technica gave the overall game a verdict of "Buy" and especially praised the single player campaign as "Fun as hell". They were also very impressed with the game modding tools that will allow users to create their own content and distribute it to other fans. The two "Ugly" issues they identified with the game were lack of LAN play and the decision to split up the regions. They suggest these decisions were influenced by Activision, not the game designers at Blizzard and feel this will turn many people off of the game and make things difficult for people who have international friends. In a separate article Ars Technica vigorously supported StarCraft II against a series of 1-star ratings given to the game on Amazon.com in protest against the lack of LAN play. They argue in Blizzard's defense against complaints that it was "not a full game" because only the Terran campaign was released, but did suggest that customers complaints about the lack of LAN and cross-region play were legitimate.

Professional competition

See also: StarCraft professional competition

StarCraft: Brood War is the most successful e-Sport in the world, and it is has been referred to as the national pastime in South Korea, where there are two television channels dedicated to broadcasting professional StarCraft matches. It is not yet clear how the release of StarCraft II will affect the e-Sports scene and the current Broodwar circuit; however there have already been a number of large tournaments during the Beta-testing phase, the most notable being the HDH Invitational and Day[9]'s King of the Beta.

While there is clearly an interest in a professional StarCraft II scene, there are several factors that could affect the way it develops as an e-sport. Blizzard recently had a break with the Korean e-Sports Players Association (KeSPA). This breakdown has led to an uncertain future of KeSPA's legal ability to broadcast Blizzard's intellectual property of both StarCraft and StarCraft II without paying royalties. So far only one of the two major StarCraft broadcasters, MBC Television, has agreed to Blizzard's new terms.

"The Battle.net Terms of Use state that it is a violation of the agreement—and an infringement of Blizzard’s copyright in the underlying game—to “use the Service for any ‘e-sports’ or group competition sponsored, promoted or facilitated by any commercial or non-profit entity without Blizzard’s prior written consent”."

There is also a major concern that a professional scene will not develop without the ability to play over a LAN. The reason for this is that there is a latency delay between commands issued and game response when played online. LAN greatly reduces this delay and allows for much finer control over in-game units. Currently, Blizzard has no plans to support LAN play, putting the future of professional StarCraft II in question.

External links

• Official StarCraft II website at Blizzard Entertainment