Initial Impressions: StarCraft II

It’s here, it’s here! I’m as giddy as a school girl who just got a Hello Kitty lunch box. Um… moving on. So StarCraft II is finally here, yesterday actually, but I got mine today. Stupid shipping. I got the collector’s edition else I’d have just gone to the store. I’m only a few missions in, so don’t consider this a review, just some random musing by a lunatic.

• Why the @#$% do I have to log into Battle.net to play the single player campaign? At least let me save the password
• The tutorials are a joke ‘Select marine’, ‘Right-click beacon’, ‘Congratulations!’
• Mensk’s voice actor is as awesome as ever. Is he famous and I don’t know it? Dude gives me chills
• cut-scenes with the game engine have that plastic look from trying to be realistic but not quite there
• main game engine looks as great as beta – though I saw some rumblings on forums there’s no native AA support. whiny bitches
• SCVs have autocast Repair! I sent an SCV to repair a bunker, when he was done he moved to the next one then the damage turret
• Now that’s how a battlecruiser should kickass!

One new feature I ran into is unit upgrades. Not the per map +1 damage upgrades, these are major upgrades you can purchase between missions that you retain during the campaign. I haven’t bought any yet for fear of gimping myself, but some of the first examples seem maybe a little game changing depending on play style. For example: One upgrade allows bunkers to hold 6 instead of 4. Shit, that’s a 50% increase to the firepower a bunker can hold. Another upgrade is StimPacks for marines. I only hole these upgrades don’t become something akin to non-refundable talent trees, I don’t wanna get screwed on early choices.

Also, as I stated I did get the collector’s edition.  A few comments..

• While good quality cardboard, I have to wonder who designed the box. It’s designed horizontal rather than vertical so it sticks out 2-3 inches on my shelf. Ia it so hard to make these things storable
• The Thor mini-pet for WoW is a cute little bugger. He flies around in a circle and then starts shooting. Cute + Violence = Win
• The USB drive is sturdier than you’d really expect it to be. Doesn’t feel like cheap plastic. And yay – free copy of StarCraft and BroodWar!
• Original StarCraft is suprisingly playable – well done sprites age much better than polygons. Play Symphony of the Night recently? Still awesome

It’s late, I’ll play more tomorrow. Hopefully the difficulty curve don’t go Easy –> easy –> easy –> Haha, fuck you noob! like the late game in the original