Flying in the face of twelve years of development in the RTS genre, there is no way StarCraft 2 should be any good. Hadn’t we moved on from unit churning mechanics, complex resource systems and base building? Games such as Company of Heroes and Dawn of War 2 have streamlined the experience, simplifying and cutting out all the fluff to leave us with a much more concentrated type of strategy game.
It's actually this aspect of the game I find most appealing, even though I've never played the first game and is too expensive for me to consider as a single player only game (not interested in the multiplayer). Games like CoH are good in their own right, but there are times I just want to play an old-school RTS with modern production values, and I think the only other game to do that recently was SupCom.
This is what they should have done with the C&C series. C&C4 was a total let down! They should have just polished the original just like what Blizzard did.
*sigh... well that's what happens to developers bought by EA i guess.... I feel like most of the code in their games were just copy and pasted from other games and they just replaced the textures and skins.
I don't understand how it took Blizzard this long to make SC2, could've been complete in a couple years tops. Guess they like to work slow and build up hype.
Some folks are apparently have issues with graphics cards melting while playing StarCraft 2 due to a bug that doesn't limit the framerate on in-between mission menu screens, allowing the graphics card to overstrain itself. Until a patch is out for that, the following can be done to fix it:
Quote:
Open your Documents/Starcraft II/variables.txt file, and at the bottom, add in these lines:
frameratecapglue=30
frameratecap=60
In case someone notices their card getting hotter than expected.
I've never played Starcraft, and just looking at the videos from the beta over the last couple of months, I wasn't truly excited about SC2...Yeah, yeah I knew about the fan following and obsession over the game, but for my generation RTS games were defined by C&C and Total Annihilation and (almost) perfected with SC: Forged Alliance...
...having said all that, though, when was the last time an RTS generated as much hype, enthusiasm and debate? I'm just happy that RTS is back in the headlines and I may just have a look at the game in the next couple of months.
Originally Posted by Bauul When you start a mission, is the entire map already revealed to you, or do you get to go exploring to discover the lay of the land?
I think on SP you start knowing nothing and in MP you know the lay of the land but not where the adversary is.
Exploring and revealing the fog of war is how SC2 works.
Well thank god for that. Having the whole map shown to you before hand and just covering everything with a line-of-sight FOW is a terrible modern blight on RTSs. For this reason alone, I shall purchase this game.
Originally Posted by Bauul Well thank god for that. Having the whole map shown to you before hand and just covering everything with a line-of-sight FOW is a terrible modern blight on RTSs. For this reason alone, I shall purchase this game.
Yeah, I could see it kinda ruining singleplayer - it was always interesting to not know what was around the corner from you, or how big their base was - kept you guessing.
Multiplayer reveals the whole map then does FOW, but you can't really blame them. There aren't a ton of maps, and generally the maps are symmetrical - i.e. there are just 2 or 4 or 6 or 8 bases, all laid out in relatively the same way, spread around the perimeter. You get a feel for the map layouts pretty quickly, so IMO it is nice to save the whole "feeling out the edges of your base with a worker" step.
I loved the original. Didn't play multi too much because I would usually get smoked. Picked up a copy on the way home today. Can hardly wait to install and see if it keeps me entertained as much as the original.
Finished the campaign and I'm pretty satisfied with it. There are some pretty good missions overall, game feels polished and they seem to have thought about everything.
Please note, marines, marauders and medics (later on, medivacs) are the only thing you need in this game. :) Some missions require air units (battlecruisers or vikings) if you wanna finish it properly, but otherwise MMM tactics that were developed during beta work just fine... ;)
For those of you still playing the campaign, don't forget - there's a secret mission that can only be unlocked during the Media Blitz mission. It can be unlocked afterwards by repeating the mission, but not after the end of the single player campaign. After I finished Media Blitz, I saw "secret found: no" in the battle summary. Go back and play the mission on casual (select it from the mission archives), and before you complete the third objective, search around for a neutral building. Destroying it unlocks the secret mission, which is pretty damn difficult on Hard, but completely and utterly awesome.
Originally Posted by Ph4lanx It's still way overpriced. I'll add it to my list and buy it when sanity has checked in.
are you kidding? I was amazed that it was so cheap. Here in Aus we regularly have to fork out anywhere between $90-$120 for brand new (and huge) titles like this. I managed to grab a copy for $69. Bloody wrapped!
I don't know, haven't played RTS games since the days of Red Alert, Warcraft and Age of Empires and I don't think I want to get so involved in a game again. How long does the average mission/map take?
I loved Freelancer. It was an awesome game that completely shot itself in the foot. For those unfamiliar, it was a space game that shared many RPG and FPS aspects. There were missions you could go on, and you could make money to buy new weapons and upgrade your spaceship, but the combat was similar to an FPS - you had a view of the front half of your ship, and you could turn and point and click to shoot people. It had a huge universe you could explore, however it had several fatal flaws that killed its replayability.
The story missions were so close together that you never got much of a chance to stop and take a breather or explore. There were about 50 different solar systems, and the plot only took you through about half of them. Of those you visited, you generally only stayed for a half hour or so before moving onto the next one. The plot mission would take you to a new sector, you'd do like one or two generic side missions to make money, then the plot would take you onto the next sector, without exploring much of where you were.
There were over half a dozen different 'races' (American/British/Japanese/German/Outcast/Rogue/Corsair/Civilian), each with three categories of fighter and one transport. They were balanced for singleplayer. You started off in the American sector, where the ships were weak and cheap. You moved onto the British sector, and so on. The net result was that for multiplayer, they didn't re-balance this, so a German, Outcast, or Corsair light fighter would pwn the face off of an American, British, or Civilian heavy fighter. Rather than having each class be balanced (i.e. one race has more armor, one race is faster, one race has more guns) so that you'd get to choose between them, you'd always end up skipping right to the ship that was the best ship in the game by a huge margin, and everyone in multiplayer had it.
Anyway, I'll continue this after dinner.
Anyway, one of the cool things of it was the bar.
When you docked at a planet or space station, there was the usual shop for repairs, shop for upgrades, etc. but there was also a bar. You could go there and have casual conversations with people. There might be storyline info, or useless info, or they might offer you a mission. Plus, there is a spoof news feed. You're an outlaw for most of it, so you get to read opposing propaganda about your escapades in the bar after the mission. So not only do the menus have the same feel as I mentioned earlier, but the 'bar' area is very similar as well.
And the freaking 'artifacts'. I am so tired of them.
Freelancer had you collecting alien artifacts that had some mysterious powers. One specific artifact was a plot element, but the rest you could buy at outlaw bases and smuggle into the main bases to make a profit, at the risk of being attacked by the police if they scanned your hull and saw them.
I started Stalker Call of Pripyat, and yep, there are very valuable artifacts that stalkers collect and sell.
And now I'm playing freaking SC2, and some guy who may or may not have been in the originals (I can't remember) comes up to me and asks me if I want to make some money by finding and selling artifacts. All of my gaming has revolved around finding and selling these stupid little artifacts that don't do anything yet somehow are very valuable.
Comments 51 to 73 of 73
Reply+1
Bring on the decade-old gameplay!
*sigh... well that's what happens to developers bought by EA i guess.... I feel like most of the code in their games were just copy and pasted from other games and they just replaced the textures and skins.
source: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/13501356
...having said all that, though, when was the last time an RTS generated as much hype, enthusiasm and debate? I'm just happy that RTS is back in the headlines and I may just have a look at the game in the next couple of months.
When you start a mission, is the entire map already revealed to you, or do you get to go exploring to discover the lay of the land?
Whether I buy this game honestly rests on the answer to this question.
Exploring and revealing the fog of war is how SC2 works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kwEXXebT4A
Read the review here:
http://www.gladriel.com/reviewFull/content/3761/StarCraft-II-Wings-of-Liberty-review/
Well thank god for that. Having the whole map shown to you before hand and just covering everything with a line-of-sight FOW is a terrible modern blight on RTSs. For this reason alone, I shall purchase this game.
Yeah, I could see it kinda ruining singleplayer - it was always interesting to not know what was around the corner from you, or how big their base was - kept you guessing.
Multiplayer reveals the whole map then does FOW, but you can't really blame them. There aren't a ton of maps, and generally the maps are symmetrical - i.e. there are just 2 or 4 or 6 or 8 bases, all laid out in relatively the same way, spread around the perimeter. You get a feel for the map layouts pretty quickly, so IMO it is nice to save the whole "feeling out the edges of your base with a worker" step.
£31.50 if you are an employee :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kwEXXebT4A
full review from BadSec (ex-GameStar):
http://www.gladriel.com/reviewFull/content/3761/StarCraft-II-Wings-of-Liberty-review/
Please note, marines, marauders and medics (later on, medivacs) are the only thing you need in this game. :) Some missions require air units (battlecruisers or vikings) if you wanna finish it properly, but otherwise MMM tactics that were developed during beta work just fine... ;)
are you kidding? I was amazed that it was so cheap. Here in Aus we regularly have to fork out anywhere between $90-$120 for brand new (and huge) titles like this. I managed to grab a copy for $69. Bloody wrapped!
Panic
Played the first mission the other day.
I loved Freelancer. It was an awesome game that completely shot itself in the foot. For those unfamiliar, it was a space game that shared many RPG and FPS aspects. There were missions you could go on, and you could make money to buy new weapons and upgrade your spaceship, but the combat was similar to an FPS - you had a view of the front half of your ship, and you could turn and point and click to shoot people. It had a huge universe you could explore, however it had several fatal flaws that killed its replayability.
The story missions were so close together that you never got much of a chance to stop and take a breather or explore. There were about 50 different solar systems, and the plot only took you through about half of them. Of those you visited, you generally only stayed for a half hour or so before moving onto the next one. The plot mission would take you to a new sector, you'd do like one or two generic side missions to make money, then the plot would take you onto the next sector, without exploring much of where you were.
There were over half a dozen different 'races' (American/British/Japanese/German/Outcast/Rogue/Corsair/Civilian), each with three categories of fighter and one transport. They were balanced for singleplayer. You started off in the American sector, where the ships were weak and cheap. You moved onto the British sector, and so on. The net result was that for multiplayer, they didn't re-balance this, so a German, Outcast, or Corsair light fighter would pwn the face off of an American, British, or Civilian heavy fighter. Rather than having each class be balanced (i.e. one race has more armor, one race is faster, one race has more guns) so that you'd get to choose between them, you'd always end up skipping right to the ship that was the best ship in the game by a huge margin, and everyone in multiplayer had it.
Anyway, I'll continue this after dinner.
Anyway, one of the cool things of it was the bar.
When you docked at a planet or space station, there was the usual shop for repairs, shop for upgrades, etc. but there was also a bar. You could go there and have casual conversations with people. There might be storyline info, or useless info, or they might offer you a mission. Plus, there is a spoof news feed. You're an outlaw for most of it, so you get to read opposing propaganda about your escapades in the bar after the mission. So not only do the menus have the same feel as I mentioned earlier, but the 'bar' area is very similar as well.
And the freaking 'artifacts'. I am so tired of them.
Freelancer had you collecting alien artifacts that had some mysterious powers. One specific artifact was a plot element, but the rest you could buy at outlaw bases and smuggle into the main bases to make a profit, at the risk of being attacked by the police if they scanned your hull and saw them.
I started Stalker Call of Pripyat, and yep, there are very valuable artifacts that stalkers collect and sell.
And now I'm playing freaking SC2, and some guy who may or may not have been in the originals (I can't remember) comes up to me and asks me if I want to make some money by finding and selling artifacts. All of my gaming has revolved around finding and selling these stupid little artifacts that don't do anything yet somehow are very valuable.
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