Since a young age I have always been a fan of the RTS genre although, in recent years it seems to have been going through a bit of an identity crisis. I never thought that after all these years what a modern RTS needed to change was essentially very little.
Starcraft 2 has been in development for a long time and it seems as if all that time has really paid off. The gameplay is exactly what you expect from and RTS game with you building bases to produce and upgrade your units before engaging in a battle to discover the victor. In multiplayer this is exactly what you will see, a death match in which you aim to destroy everything in your opponents arsenal. The thing that makes the gameplay so interesting though is when you delve into the single player campaign. Every single level seems hand tailored and unique from train robberies to avoiding lethal lave flows. This is really what makes Starcraft 2 stand out from every other game in the genre and make its 10-12 hour campaign constantly seem fresh. Its not just the skirmishes that make the campaign so fun though there is also a sort of hub world which makes it carry some almost RPG elements. You spend your time in between levels on board your ship spending your money and research points on new abilities, units and upgrades. These vary from making certain units stronger to allowing your supply depots to instantly air drop in meaning that you can choose upgrades to match your play style and it becomes quite addictive.
The story follows the Terran in this instalment and it really does a solid effort of making you care about the characters and why you are fighting. Having not played the first Starcraft I also had little trouble following the story and I especially enjoyed the mini Protoss campaign in the middle of the arch.
Multiplayer is where Starcraft 2 really comes into its own. Battle.net allows you to do anything online that you would do with a paid service like XboxLive. You can add friends, chat and organise games with minimal issues. When you first go online you have 50 practice games before playing 5 placement games. The result of your placement matches allows battle.net to place you in a particular league and you then must continue to compete to keep your place. The system works ridiculously well and makes multiplayer a lot less intimidating. Of course there are 3 factions in Starcraft. Terran are your space marines who's army is a straight forward military construct and are a personal favourite of mine, I think simply because of using them in the campaign. Protoss are the mysterious alien race that warp in their buildings and units. While being very similar to Terran small differences in the way they play means you need to adopt a very different playstyle when playing as these aliens. Zerg are the most different race by far and one I struggle to get the hang of as all units are created in a single building. All these races are great, they seem very different to play and while Zerg have a bit of a learning curve I have seen all used very well online.
Starcraft 2 overall is an amazing RTS and while little has changed you really can't fault this game. If you have any interest in this genre this is the game you need to buy.
