Epic Fail Games

Okay, so I’ve gotten to play a fair chunk of the game now. I started with a handful of Campaign missions, moved to multiplayer with some friends, then checked out the already growing selection of custom maps available and I have to admit, I’m fairly impressed with the game as a whole. Although, there are a couple things that didn’t appeal to me and in reading other reviews of the game these seem to be a fairly common gripe.

First, let me start by answering a question I’ve been hearing a lot. Far too many people are complaining about the cost of the Starcraft II: Collector’s Edition and frankly, I think it’s silly. In addition to the game which is retailing at $59.99, the Collector’s Edition includes a 2GB flash drive in the form of Jim Raynor’s dog tags. Raynor’s dog tags come preinstalled with the Starcraft Anthology with a license built into the installer. Given that the Starcraft Anthology is still selling at $19.99 and your average 2GB flash drive is ranging from $5-10, and that Blizzard included numerous art assets, commentary, the games soundtrack, and more I see absolutely no reason to believe that I overpaid for my copy, or that the money was wasted.

In my opinion, Starcraft II’s campaign has lived up to all expectations and then some. I am absolutely amazed by all of the detail in the missions, cinematics, and the continuation of the storyline. The various UI and control improvements from its predecessor have made the game easy to pick up after having played some of the more recent real time strategy games and the newly added element of persistent teching and upgrades is a very nice touch for the campaign.

For me, the biggest drawback came when I switched from the campaign to multiplayer. Having played the Starcraft II beta I was well aware that many of the units were not going to be in multiplayer games but that doesn’t stop me from missing my colossal army of Dragoons! Another note on multiplayer, while the persistent teching and larger unit selection in the campaign are good for the campaign, it fails to prepare you in any way for multiplayer. “Versus play is a beast of an entirely different species.” Tim @ CAD.

Despite my repeated failures in multiplayer I am still enjoying the campaign and all of its glory.

Here is another photo gallery for those of you interested in seeing what the campaign holds in store for you…

Click Here To View The Photo Gallery

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