For years, rumors of an epic new installment to Blizzard's Starcraft series have been circulating. Recently, Blizzard announced the long-awaited release of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty which will be hitting store selves on the 27th of July. But with all this dramatic build-up, will Starcraft II really meet the lofty expectations?
The original Starcraft and its expansion pack, a decade old by now, were award-winning masterpieces for their time and many refer to Starcraft as an iconic example of how a real-time strategy game should be made. But since the original Starcraft was released, countless games have mimed and improved upon the game's mechanics. In fact, the Starcraft genre is so popular as to be considered by many to be simply overdone. The concepts of base building, tech trees, and repetitive enemy units on different campaign maps is a road that has been traveled many times before in the RTS genre.
GAMEPLAY: With this in mind, it seems foolish of Blizzard to try to revive Starcraft without an added dynamic. Considering the company's immense success, it's hard to believe that Blizzard would neglect to do so. However, lately Blizzard has merely updated old games with a new subtitle, slight graphical bumps and a continued storyline. The tremendously popular World of Warcraft is a prime example. Of all the expansion packs made, there has been little changed in the mechanics or intent of the game. Looking at the initial trailers and explanations of gameplay, it seems that Blizzard is releasing a glorified expansion of the original Starcraft game. New add-ons seem to be limited to minor changes to environment interaction (high-yield minerals, destructible rocks, etc.) and a few new units. Important and noteworthy changes for sure, but not enough to give Starcraft players a whole new challenge and outlook. That type of change would have to include an overhaul in game mechanics and additional races. Perhaps if players could now purchase high-grade ammunition that could run out for all weapon-bearing units (much like what was done with the original Reapers and Carriers) or could upgrade individual units, Starcraft would have that necessary new strategic dynamic. Other illustrations of these new mechanics could be weather involvement (rain, snow, etc. creating slower troop movements, lower accuracy, and the chance of falling), unit fatigue, group formations, or a baseline 'warrior' unit that could be equipped and upgraded with different weapons, armor, or, in the case of the Zerg, mutations.
BALANCE: Considering the lack of change that seems to have gripped Starcraft, it isn't hard to anticipate the return of some of the most highly lauded portions of gameplay, notably the balancing of the races. In the original Starcraft, no single race was significantly superior. For every unit, there was an equivalent enemy foil. For example, the Protoss Carrier, which was one of the most powerful units in the game, could easily fall victim to a swarm of Zerg Scourge, which were utterly useless as anything but Kamikazes against large enemy ships. This aspect of the game will most likely remain untouched, meaning that this game, as its predecessor, will lend itself to very intense online play.
STORY: That said, Blizzard has excelled even more significantly in one area: the storyline. The problem for Blizzard is, many game developers have taken the hint, and are starting to increase the value of their storyline. In addition, it's difficult to predict how Blizzard will approach their storyline. In the original Starcraft, important plot details were generally told to the player in a round-table discussion before each mission, which was fine when considering the computing capabilities of the time. Over the last decade, however, we’ve seen more dramatic/cinematic story sequences used as a storytelling device for successful games. Interactive storytelling sequences in games are being updated with free camera movement, player controlled characters and quicktime events all of which can be found in successful games like God of War, Prince of Persia, and Assassin’s Creed. Can the cinematic storytellers at Blizzard learn some new tricks and expand upon expansions to their own precedents?
The final and most unquestionable dynamic to Starcraft is the multiplayer component. Again, these don't seem to have been updated much, but unlike the single-player modes, I don't see how these could be made much better. Largely due to campaign editor and players' creativity, Starcraft multiplayer battles are and have always been spectacular.
All in all, I think that Blizzard has put in a decent, if a somewhat uncreative title. I imagine that it will do very well, considering its predecessor's success and Blizzard's reputation, but I foresee it being a very big let-down due to its lack of originality. I hope for Blizzard's sake that they come out with a campaign editor along with the game, to allow some savvy players to implement some of the twists and interesting quirks that Blizzard should have.
Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts in regards to the potential successes or downfalls of the upcoming Starcraft 2 title. If you’d like to get a feel for Blizzard’s cinematic flare you can watch a cutscene from Wings of Liberty down below.
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