StarCraft II

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

As a devoted Warcraft fan, it really was just a matter of time before Blizzard Entertainment took the classic StarCraft game and turned it into a masterpiece, just like it did with the original Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, back in December of 1995 when it released Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. I still play StarCraft mind you, there’s just something about it which keeps bringing me back to it and I think that StarCraft II is going to be freaking awesome. Eagerly awaiting it’s release early next year, I’m forced to drool over video clips and screenshots. Now, I watched the game play and cinematic trailer a couple of weeks ago and I got goose bumps all over. Here’s the cinematic trailer.

Plot (taken from wikipedia)

The storyline of StarCraft II will take place four years after StarCraft: Brood War,[8> and will feature the return of a number of heroes and villains from the original game, such as Zeratul, Artanis, Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor. Players will revisit worlds from the original game, such as Char, Mar Sara, and Braxis, along with new worlds, such as the jungle planet Bel'Shir. It has also 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 game.

Following the events of Brood War, Kerrigan and her Zerg forces were the dominant force in the galaxy, having annihilated the United Earth Directorate's Expeditionary Force, destroyed the Terran Dominion, and invaded the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. However, it has been revealed that after the conclusion of Brood War, Kerrigan retreated back to Char, despite having more than enough power to crush all resistance in the Koprulu Sector. In the four years leading up to the events of StarCraft II, Kerrigan 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, 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 have 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, 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, another character originally featured in one of the novels.

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, tortured over his murder of his matriarch, has disappeared to search for clues to the meaning of Samir Duran's cryptic statements regarding the hybrids in Brood War's secret mission "Dark Origin".

The story line seems promising, it will be as involving and exciting as the WarCraft series was. There will be a few new units, some of the existing ones will have a new feature or two and they’re going to improve the graphics not only for the actual game play and the units themselves, but the terrain is sure to be pretty great. Here in the game play video, you’ll get a little taste of what’s to come.

The original file is actual another 10min, but it’s a terribly large file so you’ll just have to settle for this 10min one
There doesn’t seem to be much info on the Zerg yet, seems like they’re leaving the best for last. Well I have to admit, I usually play with Zerg and I’m sure that StarCraft II will be revamping the Zerg superbly, but after seeing that game play video, I did sort of get a craving for Protoss again. It sort of comes and goes. I think it’s just the allure of the Protoss defence and armour

Well I for one can’t wait for it, the new units look great, those Protoss Colossus look awesome and I cannot wait to get my hands on a Protoss Mothership, those abilities are going to be fun. Oh and I like how they’ve implemented some units to be able to defy the terrain. This of course, will interferer slightly with my main strategy of in impenetrable main base but that’s ok, I can work with that

Let’s hope for another midnight launch… I know I’ll most definitely be there!

Happy Shopping!