Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

An all new leagues and ladders system should make for much more balanced matchmade games.

The insectoid Zerg can still produce large numbers of enemies and have mobile food but now can turn Zerglings into suicidal Banelings and Queens can now produce more Larva from a hatchery. The alien-like Protoss carry shielding and rely on warp technology, but now have Colossus which are capable of climbing walls and attacking or Stalkers capable of short-range warping ("blinking") to get around defenses and chase down opponents.

Of course, the now popular tactic of blocking your choke points goes only so far. With all of the new units you can find a lot of solutions to problems that existed before. Units capable of going up and over cliffs and hugging siege tanks like Reapers, stalkers that can blink and chase, and other units allow for new experiences and tactics to come forth.

Second Opinion Ethec the SC newb's take... As one of the uninitiated - those who never played the original StarCraft -I felt like big daddy Blizzard dressed me in lead swim trunks threw me in the deep end of the pool. Without a single player mode or a worthy computer opponent to familiarize you with you with the five points of holy Starcraftism (time managment, resource management, units, buildings, and strategy), you basically learn through being defeated, and not the sort of gentlemanly, "gg" inducing defeats, you'll be ravaged. Worse, there's plenty of tough opponents that will toy with you like a kid shaking an antfarm - building up to godlike levels but dismantling you by tortuously small degrees, just as soon as you're starting to show some particle of progress. This is their fun, and there's little you can do about it but ragequit, since if you begin badly you can't help but finish badly. SC2 multiplayer is designed with e-sports foremost in mind, meaning that there's few no random variables aside from starting location on extremely balanced maps. For veterans, the game's formulaic nature (in the early game) and rock, paper, scissors matchups between units in endgame is a blessing, for largely ignorant newbies it's a curse, and a curse whose ill effects you'll have to endure through the 10 placement matches to see which league you have the dishonor of fitting into. Bottom line, Starcraft was and is a game that rewards experience, knowledge, and furiously twitchy decisionmaking, and Starcraft 2 is no different. If you're the sort of gamer that likes to sit back and puzzle out your actions a la Civ or Empire multiplayer, you'll quickly find zerglings in your base, chomping on your stuff.  If you find yourself in the SC2 beta as a new player, go big, go fast, or go home. But most of all, read up and find a skilled mentor you can latch onto, asking questions as you're learning the ropes.

The thing I love most is how smoothly the game runs. You only need 16 workers to mine a field, more than that will only produce minimal gains (to none) and the extra workers are only for additional bases that you build.  The unit A.I. (not the single player, but the general A.I. that controls pathfinding, gathering, attacking, etc.) is streamlined to the point that it almost makes you want to cry tears of joy. Units don’t fumble around awkwardly or act in weird ways, harvesters harvest efficiently, and it’s like it gives you a clear canvas on which you can paint your battles on.

One thing that SC2 is lacking at the moment is balance between the races. Most units resemble their original counterparts, but some of the new units are far too powerful and far too easy to obtain. This creates games where strategy, tactics, and your ability to click your mouse doesn’t matter as much as how many overpowered units you can pump out and send to your enemy. This is why the beta exists though, so that players can test things beyond numbers and ideas.

Fear not though, as Blizzard has already begun releasing patches to change units around. It’s helping, but nothing short of hard playtesting and lots of observation from Blizzard will help turn SC2 from an OK game into the modern world’s standard in professional multiplayer gaming. A perfect example is the Protoss Mothership or “Yo Mommaship” as many players have renamed it, was nerfed epically in beta patch 2 due to how powerful it was deemed. Most recently, research time for Terran ground unit upgrades was reduced, making these units more formidable against an early game rush and mid-game air.

Overall, the game is smooth, polished, and remarkably brilliant. The issues relating to balance are the only things that stand between it and the gold medal for not only the RTS genre but gaming as a whole. Time will tell if Blizzard can balance everything as smoothly as they did with the original, but as it stands now it’s still an involving and fun game. It has a lot to live up to, but things seem to be on track for it to become the greatest RTS when it releases later this year.