The Return of an Old Friend: Starcraft II

Have you heard yet? You havn’t? And you call yourself a gamer? Psht. I can’t believe you don’t know. Well, I guess I’ll tell you about it, because its so freakin’ cool. Its Starcraft, you see… its BACK!

Thats right, Starcraft II is in production, and whats better is they’ve released some teasers that are sure to make any gamer drool with longing and giggle with delight. Jesse has been bugging me to post about this for a little while now, but I’ve been putting it off like a bad little blogger. I apologize for depriving you all of this eye-candy so to make it up to you, I’ll give you links to the goodies first, and then give you a few highlights.

Starcraft II

Here is the Gameplay video and Trailer (be sure to watch the gameplay video!) and
some screenshots while you wait for the 20+ minute video to download (goes fast on a decent connection).

So, in between oogling the screens, and waiting for the video to d/l, why dont you read on about a few of the cool things in Starcraft II:

This long-awaited second installment of the Starcraft series will not dissapoint old-timers nor the new gaming generation. It keeps the 3rd person aerial view, with the additional ability to change the viewing angle, but updates the old motif with beautiful new textures, silky smooth new unit animations, and a new physics system for falling debris and the like.

Don’t worry, this isn’t just starcraft I with a new 3d engine. Blizzard has stayed true to the delicate balance of the beloved three races of Zerg, Protoss, and Terran, but have updated the races with all sorts of goodies.

For one, there are new units like immortals, stalkers, the colossus, and an awe-inspiring gem I shall not spoil here. These new units, and many old favorites, sport new weapon types and defenses like the planet cracker, new shields and laser weapons, and something called the “time bomb!”

There is also a new “IK system” which I believe integrates multiple-level terrain that can be moved across by certain units, and includes holes in the ground revealing the infinity of space.

In addition to offline story mode and multiplayer battles against either the computer or online players via Battlenet –which, BTW, is getting a total overhaul (No word yet on what that may entail)– Starcraft II will also have story modes available online. That should be interesting to say the least. Lastly, Blizard says they’ll provide fully-functioning map making and scripting tools for players to create custom maps and battle scenarios.

There is currently no release date, which is good as it ensures they won’t be rushing out a half-assed product. Also, Starcraft II is only in development for the PC, which IMHO is just the way it should be.

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