Features:

  • Fast-paced, hard-hitting, tightly balanced competitive real-time strategy gameplay that recaptures and improves on the original game
  • Three completely distinct races: Protoss, Terran, and Zerg
  • Units and gameplay mechanics distinguish each race
  • 3D-graphics engine with support for visual effects and massive unit and army sizes
  • Full multiplayer support, with competitive features and matchmaking utilities available through Battle.net
One of the best in its class

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is not only one of the best Real Time Strategy games on the market it is one of the best games period. It's up there with RTS games such as the original Rome, original Company of Heroes, C&C, and Homeworld. Anyone who enjoys a good RTS game now and again should definitely consider picking this up. It's biggest flaw is the DRM(digital rights management), which is pure trash. I understand the need to combat piracy, but this hurts the real fans more than anything. I have great internet, but my room is 75-feet away from my wireless connection so I don't always get the most stable of connections and therefore I can't even play single player sometimes. This is my biggest issue, and in no way does it take away from the great experience I had with SC2. Gameplay- standard tactical RTS gameplay, feels very satisfying ordering your troops around and attacking the enemy. First off you start with a small amount of classes and as the story progresses you unlock more and more diverse classes from Tanks, Aircraft, Titans, Spec Ops and more. You have your standard defensive, economical, armory, and class structures to build during your time playing, setting up your base is always key along with maintaining a vast amount of resources. The game has some RPG elements where you can give certain classes and structures particular skills which is a nice addition as you choose carefully what you use with your research points and money. You also have the option to pay for mercenaries which is a nice way to get troops on the battlefield quickly. Small Flaw: when setting up base and your SCV(builder) gets caught between a structure and essentially becomes useless for the whole game unless the structure is attacked and the SCV repairs it or dies... It's s minor flaw but during my experience it happened quite often. Sound/Visuals: MAN, MAN! The SOUND in this game is AMAZING! From the movement of your troops to the sound of the combat and even the dialogue during the cutscenes, to the one liners your troops say when selected. Everything just sounds so detailed and crisp it's just great! Graphically the game looks good, nothing spectacular but adequate for a Real Time Strategy game. But the detail in this game is where StarCraft shines, the layout looks very complete and full rather than other RTS' where the environment looks baron and dull. Story/Characters: I found the story quite intriguing, I enjoyed every single part of it from the very first minute all the when until the credits started rolling. Having never played the original SC I was able to follow along with the story for the most part and I was never really confused at any point during my campaign play through. The voice acting is very good on all fronts, there was really no weak link to be found here. The characters were really cool, enjoyable and interesting I especially loved the dialogue between Jim Raynor and Tychus Findlay. Over all the story and characters really stick out in StarCraft 2. Multiplayer: This is what will keep you coming back long after you beat the game. The community is one of the better communities out there and online is still very active to this day. It's hard not to find a multiplayer game. The balance is good, I always thought it was a fair game when playing SC2. Overall StarCraft 2 is one of the best in its class, today it still warrants a 40$ purchase whether your buying for yourself or as a gift.

Amazing real time strategy game!

I bought this game the day it came out and I still play it a fair amount to this day. If you've never played any of the Starcraft games before and you're a fan of Real Time Strategy (RTS) games, I would highly recommend this one. If you're a fan of the original Starcraft, this one improves on pretty much every aspect of the game. The graphics are much better, you can queue units to do a series of things in a row and let them go off on their own. When you create gathering units you no longer have to assign each one of them to go gather minerals or gas thanks to the queuing system. Supply depots now have the ability to be raised and lowered, so they make excellent barriers early in the game, yet don't trap you in your base. The campaign focuses only on the Terran race and is very in depth. There are about 30 missions in this campaign and the great thing about it is it's not 100% linear like many games campaigns are. You can choose to do different missions at different times and you can choose different rewards which will make the campaign different for each play through. There are different difficulties as well. So if this is your first time playing Starcraft, you can learn on the easiest mode and if you're a veteran like myself, you can test your skills with brutal mode, which gets very difficult. Most of the units are the same, although they have removed some units from the online multiplayer and added new ones. The multiplayer has different tiers of players, which allows you to play against people with similar skill to you. Stats are stored online for these competitive games. Custom maps make a return as well and thanks to the much more powerful map editor, map makers can do much, much more and many have made some creative games. If you're someone like me who is into achievements this game is absolutely packed with them. Each mission has it's own achievements (some of which are easy and some are actually very difficult) and the online multiplayer does as well. These are great for bragging rights among friends or they can be easily shrugged off if they aren't really your thing.

To buy or not to buy...that is the question.

If you are a hardcore Starcraft fan, do not be afraid to check this out. At the current price here on Amazon, you can get it for almost half of what local retail stores in your area are charging for it. The game is immersive, fascinating and does not have a linear storyline like it's predecessor. You're going to need a pretty beefy machine to truly enjoy it's expansive beauty, but you can still play it on lower powered machines by during down your graphics settings inside the game. (Note: NO MULTI-MONITOR SUPPORT!) As for multi-player, unless you are some hardcore player with the ability to click like an epileptic in a strobe light...I would avoid the MP features since folks like to play at the games maximum speed and you will quickly find yourself getting curb-stomped by Zerg players rushing your base within 5 minutes of the game. Otherwise, the single player campaign is AMAZING! Check this out! I definitely see this being the greatest game of the year since the playability and replay value is phenomenal.

Awesome game, I got the collectors edition and have had fun playing for the last couple of years.

Great game and set of single player missions. I would complain about the fact you have to connect this to the web even to play the single missions, but most programs are forcing this issue today with all the validation concerns, so I roll with it for now. The single missions and cuts scenes are great, heads above those of the new Zerg expansion. Through some sort of playing through the eyes of something, you get to play with the protoss units a bit. The sound and graphics are all great and tunable for the different speed graphic cards and computers. You can tone it down if you lack power, and crank it up if you have an Alienware machine like I run. The new game has earned levels where you can choose your tech from two choices, and once set each choice at a given level cannot be revoked. This gives the game added playability as you can redo the missions on one of four difficulty levels and change the tech from all defensive to all offensive or a combination of both. Sometimes you get different units when you do this, sometimes you get better firepower, or more armor etc. The game as units that acquire ranks the more they kill, but I don't think, or cannot tell if that experience makes them tougher, it doesn't seem like their stats get higher. It would have been nice if you had veteran units that would be twice as hard to kill because of experience, but maybe that's something for down the road implementation by Blizzard the ranks is the first step. I have one complaint about the game, and I'm not sure this happened in a recent expansion or was always there. You can't click on a crystal anymore and find out how much is left, nor can you click on an enemy unit and find out its expansion level and hp. You could always do that with SC1 and I liked the feature, they should bring it back. In the new multiplayer they still have a map editor that people have created a lot of very good games, some of them even more fun that the original if you are so inclined. Playing the AI is more fun to have you have several setting of difficulty now you can set the AI too and it does a nice job of playing at that level. Good training for noobs and even for those of us less experienced with the various races. Blizzard had another definite winner here, good for all RTS game fans.

Good buy now that it's cheaper

I was a huge fan of the first Starcraft, in fact I think my obsession with that game as a kid actually played a part in defining myself at the time. I didn't buy this game when it came out because I was too upset over some of the things that many other reviewers have mentioned, particularly the lack of LAN play. But LAN play is dying at an increased pace, and now that the game is cheaper, I reluctantly picked it up. I'm very glad I did. From a polish and gameplay perspective, especially now that it has had a few years to fix and patch problems, is probably the closest thing to perfect that I've seen in a video game. Starcraft 2 is very, very well made. The detail Blizzard puts into this game is very obvious. Even though the expansion is out, I've really enjoyed playing online with tons of other people also playing Wings of Liberty and I had a pseudo-LAN-party where we all played eachother using the same network and it was essentially the same as LAN. Campaign mode is much more epic than I expected. There's so many different ways to play this game. I really have no complaints. If you want one of the best PC games of all time and you're up for a challenge, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't buy this game.

I love the campaign

I purchased Starcraft II mainly for the campaign. I waited over a decade to figure out where the story would go next. The campaign in Starcract II is outstanding in almost every respect. In fact, the ending alone was worth the price I paid for the game. I have a few complaints but they're too small to even mention. The online multiplayer experience is outstanding and is probably the best aspect of Starcraft II. But its not for me, not anymore. I played Starcraft II online with family and friends but not for long. In total, I probably put in 50 hours or so. There's no denying that this is one of the best muliplayer games in the last decade. In the end, this is a Bizzard game and they only releases quality games. If you like RTS games, I'm sure you've already played this. If not, I highly recommend Starcraft II. If you've never played an RTS, Starcraft II is a great game to start out with. In fact, it's probably one of the best games ever made.

If you're buying it now, multiplayer is going to suprise you

Highest skill cap for a modern game. Absolutely terrifying (for me, at least) to queue up for a game and I'm in the bronze league. Campaign is very enjoyable and a good tutorial. I recommend HIGHLY playing that first. Not too diverse in terms of different races you can play, but you will NEVER master the capabilities of one. TIPS for multiplayer: Constantly build workers at your base. Send scouting units to check up on opponents Use hotkeys (set with CTRL-#) Never queue up more than one unit on a production building Place buildings to help defend your base, your income line is precious Keep your gold low - always be training units / researching upgrades Build additional bases to mine more money close to your original and make sure you can defend them Harass with your units, try to hinder your enemy while you build yourself up Build a diverse army. If you choose only to build one unit, you will find your opponent building its counter CLICK FAST! NO TIME FOR LALLYGAGGING! There is a huge community for starcraft. Check out shoutcasters on youtube or watch livestreams on the teamliquid website

Very addictive and competitive game play.

At this far, Starcraft 2 is a well-balanced, fast pace and addictive RTS game. Three races are each unique and amazingly attractive. You know the game did a great job when it is hard to decide your favorite race! The ladder and league system is very interesting and competitive. There are A LOT of great players online and if you want to advance you definitely need some practice. It is also worth the note that it can be frustrating to lose games in a row or when encountering trolls. My advise: Just take a break, don't uninstall the game (because you know you will install it back). The game requires a battle.net account to log in to main screen. For those gamers who are only interested in campaigns, it can be annoying.

Great game, upgrade to classic

Yeah, yeah, some hardcore players will say it wasn't as good as the classic, but I think it was a great sequel which made everything more user-friendly while still having the feeling of a competitive video game.

Great follow up to StarCraft

There are a lot of critics of this game due to lacking a true LAN multiplayer mode and the strict copy protection. It is also a bit annoying that you have to upload custom maps to Blizzard, however, it is a great game. I like all the new units and the single player storyline and the cinematics were superb. Only thing I didn't like about terrans was taking away the infantry medics. Can't wait for Heart of the Swarm!

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