Finally, when it's time to take that plunge and face human opponents, Blizzard has completely updated their service to make finding an appropriately balanced game a breeze. These mini-missions are exercises focusing on various strategies that should help even the most multiplayer-phobic of us feel a little more comfortable in the online arena. Once the single-player campaign is finished, Blizzard also offers up a series of Challenges. ![]() But even for those, like myself, that don't typically enjoy the frantic multiplayer battles, the single-player missions are a blast. Almost every mission introduces a new Terran unit type, or at least stresses a specific strategy-in essence, the single-player campaign is a training regimen for the multiplayer arena. The missions themselves feature a great mix, from typical "destroy the enemy" to hero-centric RPG-lite outings. There are even a few either/or points in the campaign, which when coupled with a slew of Achievement goals, make for quite a bit of replayability in the single-player campaign alone. Borrowing heavily from some other current RTS favorites, the campaign features a branching mission structure, with between-mission downtime available to purchase upgrades to troops and technologies. The campaign itself is laid out beautifully, with a wonderful assortment of well-balanced missions. Of course, nothing remains quiet for long, and soon Reynor finds himself pitted against old enemies and aided by loyal friends. Jim Reynor, hero of the previous title, finds himself hunted by the government of the recently-crowned Arcturus Mengsk. The Zerg have remained silent all the while, and the Protoss have likewise kept to themselves. Picking up four years after the Brood Wars, the Terrans have managed to settle into an uneasy calm. The plot propelling the game along isn't anything amazing, but the actual storytelling is top-notch. The first of a trilogy of titles, Wings of Liberty chooses to focus almost exclusively on the Terran forces for their single-player campaign. Some may quibble that there's really nothing new with Wings of Liberty, which is an honest assessment, but once players drop back into that familiar world most of those concerns will melt away. ![]() But Blizzard unashamedly took all the best in current RTS trends and knitted them seamlessly into the StarCraft title, and somehow made it feel like almost no time had passed in between. Granted, when compared to many modern-day RTS games, the original StarCraft looks a little worn around the cuffs. It may seem that I'm gushing with over-the-top cheese, but that's merely because Blizzard managed to bring all the nostalgia-tinged StarCraft-iness roaring back onto my screen, without missing a beat. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a finely-tuned, beautifully-polished work that brings the classic franchise to the 21st century. And that latter course is exactly what Blizzard chose. ![]() Or one could embrace the "if it ain't broke" ideal, lovingly re-creating the feel of the original in an updated format. One could blaze new trails, pushing the envelope in terms of what is expected and accepted in a game, hoping to score with ingenuity and inventiveness. So what does one do when making a sequel to what is arguably the most-played RTS in the world? I'm sure that was one of the largest burning questions running through Blizzard developers minds when designing the inevitable successor to the King of Real-time Space Strategy.
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