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Ten years after the release of the original blockbuster real-time strategy game StarCraft, a fully-fledged sequel is well overdue. Blizzard have been very open releasing detailed descriptions and even statistical figures of the various units and abilities in the game, but the release date is still indefinite. Given the massive success of every game they have developed since appearing in the early nineties, and that Blizzard's RTS games tend to become the instant gaming benchmark for the genre, expectations are as high as they come.

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  • StarCraft II

  • Publisher:

    Blizzard

    Developer:

    Unknown

    Release Date:

    TBA

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The three playable races will be the same as the original game: Protoss, Zerg and Terran. The Zerg are a race of insectoid-like aliens which resemble the creatures from Starship Troopers, they operate with a swarm mentality, and they display similar traits to the scourge from Warcraft III. The Protoss are a pseudo-immortal race of humanoids with psionic abilities and the most developed technology in the StarCraft universe. And finally, the Terran are basically space-faring humans split into multiple warring factions/empires.

The Zerg are recognised as the dominant force in the quadrant, victorious over both the Protoss and the Terran. But since the events of StarCraft expansion Brood War four years ago, the mutated queen of the Zerg, the once human Sarah Kerrigan, has retreated back to the Zerg homeland on Char despite having the power to crush the remaining resistance forces. The reasons for Kerrigan's actions are unclear.

The SCII story will feature a return to many familiar faces from the StarCraft universe such as Artanis, Zeratul, Sarah Lou Kerrigan and Jimmy Raynor. The back-story for SCII is supported by a heavily rich plot from the original game and expansions, and enforced by a series of Blizzard-backed novels (at least two of the new central characters in SCII are taken from the novels). The story of wars, alliances, betrayals and the depth of the characters of the SC universe should give a fairly high level of narrative sway to SCII, which is often lacking from competing RTS games.

The cavalier hero Jim Raynor will direct the playable Terran campaign. Jim has come under hard times, been given the hard shoulder from the larger of the remaining Terran factions, and forced into mercenary status. He's become embittered and angered by betrayals of the past; probably not least of all because his ex-girlfriend is now an assimilated insect queen threatening to crush all known life. We can expect to see the rough-clothed maverick mercenary captain with tatty length stubble, swigging whisky and smoking cigarettes while he no doubt kicks some alien ass.

The units employed in the game followed the standard Blizzard model of strategic balance. Heavy hitters with weak defences, quick production, cheap weak swarm units, caster-type units, shield producing defensive units and so on. Some of the more talked about include the huge War of the Worlds-style spider-legged Protoss colossus and the Terran Viking which can quickly transform between air unit and ground-based assault mech. Many of the basic units from the original games have been revived and re-imagined, with new abilities and functions such as the Zergling's ability to suicide bomb and the Zealot's speed boost. Details of all released units so far can be found on the official site.

The refining of the game's graphics and balancing of the three races is being done in cooperation with the online StarCraft fan-base. Blizzard seem to be taking on board a lot of fan feedback and responding appropriately. Whole unit redesigns have taken place based purely on fan reaction, including a complete redesign from scratch of the Terran siege tank model. This kind of fan-friendly approach to games development is something we've seen more of in recent years and on the whole it has proved to be an effective method of tweaking games in the direction which favours the gamer.

Being an RTS, SCII isn't expected to be the best of the best graphically, but things are looking distinctly "next-gen". The highly successful Havok physics engine is being employed for across-the-board realistic object dynamics - rocks rolling down slopes, bouncing debris, and that sort of thing. Blizzard have noted that their SCII engine is good enough for "near-cinematic quality" cut-scenes. The new engine looks bright and smooth with lots of curvy edges and glowing lights, from what we can gather.

As we'd expect, Blizzard have announced a heavy focus on multiplayer, Battle.net-based support and online balancing for this purpose. An in-built ladder ranking system will also be available, as should be the standard of all RTS games these days.

A comprehensive map editor and extensive support for player created maps/mods has been confirmed. Battle.net has been over-flowing with a massive range of player-created StarCraft maps from almost day one, many of which bare little or no resemblance to the original game's gameplay. So, given the popularity and diversity of the original StarCraft editor we can expect mapmakers to have a huge amount of control over the game engine when creating maps. The scripting language for customized sequences will be based largely on C. Blizzard have also announced that all units scrapped during the design process will be available for use in the map editor.

For those unfamiliar with Blizzard's work and reputation, frankly as far as sci-fi and fantasy RTS titles go, the developer are the crème de la crème of game makers. Now consider the extra experience and huge huge financial resources they have from the phenomenally successful World of Warcraft and realise we should really only be expecting the absolute best from this game.

1. I remembered playing the 1st starcraft in High school, and it was the bomb. I could only imagine it is even crazier in Korea.

   What is the release date for SC2?

   Versatileninja Sunday, 11 May 2008, 21:05:50

2. Waiting for this one. Starcraft is the best strategy game ever created. Strategy wise it's as complex as chess, but better game flow. Once one side has a decisive advantage, it's time for the final battle and then it's all over. It usually takes about half an hour of intense concentration to get a decisive advantage.

   BenO Monday, 12 May 2008, 10:36:5

3. "Blizzard have been very open releasing detailed descriptions and even statistical figures of the various units and abilities in the game, but the release date is still indefinite"

   Rich N Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 11:37:20

4. besttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

   ameer Wednesday, 14 May 2008, 17:28:24

5. Never been more excited for a game in my life. I've said before that had Blizzard never released the first starcraft, and then they released it today, I'd STILL think it was the best game ever made. Graphics and all...

   A tiny part of me is bracing for a disappointment, but I think things will work out.

   Lex Friday, 16 May 2008, 18:56:33

6. lol

   matic Tuesday, 8 July 2008, 18:04:0