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StarCraft II


How StarCraft II will change your views on the RTS genre

Two days with the Zerg and (shock) we fall in love with an ultra-hardcore space strategy

And this is just what we meant when we described the seemingly impenetrable RTS scene. If the above leaves you feeling an insufferable urge to hit the back button and read about Super Smash Bros or GTA IV instead, please just take this from it: StarCraft II's trump card is how accessible it makes relatively complex game mechanics. As long as you can grasp the concept of collecting, building, and attacking (all achieved with simple 'menu' driven mouse clicks) the subtleties and strategy just come naturally with extended play.

In our experience this occurred after seeing our opponents attack with new units we'd yet to discover which prompted us to search through the build options to see what we needed to invest in to get the same one. Usually this was accompanied by total annihilation of our own base - a totally demoralising experience, as witnessed by our opponent earlier on - but it's all part of the learning process. And the amazing thing is, rather than prompting you to hit the off button, it just makes you want to go back and try a slightly different approach. See if you can make it work this time.

So after witnessing our ground defences being butchered by Zerg air units known as Swarm Guardians, we saw their destructive potential and worked out the fastest route to build some of our own: you need to build a Spire in your base, create some Mutalisks and then morph them to Swarm Guardians.

Now, no-one *tells* you that, but all the information on how to do it is provided in the info panels that pop up out of the user interface at the bottom of the screen. Blizzard also promised that it will be including mulitiplayer tutorials for those that need babying and may include post-defeat feedback, to explain in detail why you sucked so much.


 
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The Knowledge

StarCraft II

Genre: Strategy
Expected release date: Early 2010
Published by: Blizzard
Developed by: Blizzard
Franchise: StarCraft
Multiplayer Modes:
Offline
1 player SOLO
Online
2 player VS
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