Saturday, January 22, 2011

Star Craft II

This post might seem like white noise to some of my regular audience. I figured I'd post it anyhow to see what happens. Basically there's nothing to do over the winter besides plan next year's gardens, and research assorted topics. In between this though I take little breaks finding various ways to relax.

One such way is to play computer games such as "Star Craft II: Wings of Liberty." It's a popular game, and actually won best Real Time Strategy of 2010 from a lot of reviewers. It was even a contender for Game of the Year but didn't quite make it. (I couldn't tell you who won.) One of the reasons it's so popular is the multiplayer aspect. And it's one of the main games used in "Professional Gaming," yes people and teams are actually sponsored by companies to play this game and compete in torments. What's more bizarre is there's actually a slow growing second industry inspired by this one called Online Gaming Commentator. Here is an example.  





These games are not for everyone. If you're not as proficient with a computer this isn't a game for you. If you can handle this kind of game though you'll find it to be one of the more engaging and balanced out there.

For those looking for something a little deeper the single player campaign has you covered. The story revolves around the Terran race (humans) and probably with good reason. They're they most accessible to their target audience. They're the perfect race to show off some amazing story telling that I don't think I can describe well enough so I'll let the game's official release trailer do that for me.




The score is excellent and worthy of any Hollywood summer block buster. Supposedly they went to three different composers, one for each race. What's unclear is if all three were used for this one game. Star Craft II has two expansion packs coming that will feature stories revolving around the other two races, Zerg and Protoss. The Protoss scare the bejesus out of me and the Zerg don't communicate with a series of grunts.

What could they possibly do for the Zerg? Not to spoil anything but at the end they lose their only speaking character. In Star Craft one they were voiced by gelatinous blobs that formed the hive mind as well as the Overmind, who was a floating eye ball being held up by some vanes. The only thing I can think of that could mix up the action is allow these beings to possess various Zerg units to incorporate some action into the dialog scenes.

The Protoss should be easier for them to do. Their units don't have mouths but we've herd them speak before. They're more ethereal beings. They're all about the crystals and religion. Star Craft II is actually a blessing to this race because in Star Craft I their base sort of looked like they bought it at Toys R Us. The graphic overhaul has updated this look.