SC2 Ongoing Review #1: "Hell... it's about time"

Well, it’s been over a year since anyone posted anything on the towel, but nothing gets you blogging again like new cultural experiences.  So, before I post two-week old “Inception” reviews, let’s talk about some important shit– “StarCraft 2″.  Now for me the first “StarCraft” is a touchstone.  It represents a lost year of my youth– I remember seeing the game in a Scholastic Reader leaflet, ordering it, and then I woke up a year later.  I was pastier, skinnier, and more cynical.  After “Brood War” I eagerly awaited the day I might enact revenge on Sarah Kerrigan, and that day has finally, finally (maybe) arrived.  So, enough with the small talk.  Let’s get to a review.  The way this will work is simple– I’m going to play the single player game, and as the days go by (at whatever pace I happen to play it) I will give updates and thoughts.

From the very instillation recap I am salivating.  So exciting to be back in this world.  Once the familiar opening cutscene (a slightly tweaked version of the teaser trailer from three years back) finishes, we’re off to the races for reasons that remain vague.  Jim Raynor has apparently been spending some time drinking, but on this random day he decides to go attack some of his classic rival Mengsk’s installations.  This would be alright if he wasn’t spurred by ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to make this attack– which apparently he has not been doing much in the “four years” that have lapsed in the storyline since “Brood War”.  Then comes the first mission that doesn’t even involve building.  It’s a simple affair of “walk the marines”, and it would take significant effort to fail the mission.  My instant reaction is a dislike of the civilians.  First, I am unable to click on and murder them (or any of the nearby animals), and secondly they move and act like the sort of NPC dredge found in “World of WarCraft”.  Now, while I sunk a significant amount of time into WoW, and the game has many merits, I have no desire for goofy, arm-raising peasant to be part of my SC experience.  So worry begins to set in.

Problems are compounded on the storytelling end as just after Jim happens to restart his fight, an old friend that we don’t know just happens to show up just as the zerg happen to make their first attack in the last four years.  Honestly, I don’t understand what the point of this “four years later” mess is, other than to explain the introduction of new units, because everything just “happens” whenever the hell the lazy scripters are feeling like it thus far.

Soon after the first mission, though, we’re moving into more familiar territory (”hold out for twenty minutes, the zerg are coming!) and the game has slowly begun to move into more interesting mechanics.  I stopped my first gaming session after completing two of the first “pick which you want to do” missions, both of which where high concept affairs– one a convoy escort and the second a timed mining mission that involved moving units to avoid lava overflow.  Both missions were welcome and interesting twists on gameplay, and were honestly a lot of fun.

However, as a fan (never has that word been so pitiful in comparison to one’s devotion) of the original story, I think the big thing to point out is how different the single player experience feels.  First off, gone is the “nameless protagonist” of the previous six campaigns.  Between missions you play in some sort of weird “Mass Effect” style limbo land.  Talk to people about the world.  Look at interesting facts.  Play an arcade game.  Upgrade your units.  While the many cutscenes are interesting, I feel as if some highly regrettable side effects have become present.  Firstly, the world is quickly becoming over-exposed.  I love the Terran hicks.  I do.  But a jukebox playing “Sweet Home Alabama” (as much as I love the song) and other Earth tunes of yesteryear seems to diminish the scope of the space.  And it SHOULD be SPACE.  There are WORLDS and systems, and multiple species, dammit.  The second unfortunate decision made by Blizzard was the attempt to infuse lame humor into the proceedings.  Now, I am not suggesting that the original was in anyway a humorless experience– far from it. But an ongoing newscast element to the game that is so corny is must be seen to be believed, coupled with a scientist character who from his first line seems destined to be the Jar Jar Binks of the franchise combine with other touches of dumb that make my skin crawl.  This bodes poorly in that the most annoying character until this point was the drawl-ridden Edmund Duke, a guy you loved to hate.  So, gone is the atmospheric “ready room” vibe of the previous entry.  Instead we are treated to generic RPG interludes, and an unusual need to tell the player exactly how much time has passed between each set piece, as if we’re supposed to be concerned that it took Jim 14 minutes to go from the bridge to the pub on his ship.  Add into this that all of the new characters so far seem about as interesting as cardboard cutouts, but then again they haven’t had a decade to become part of my conscious.

That isn’t to say all the story elements are bad.  Just hearing Robert Clotworthy channeling Jim Raynor again is a joy, the many extended gaps between missions do give a new storytelling angle to the game, and some of the finer elements of design like propaganda posters and zerg carcass trophies truly do bring a smile to my face.  The new character of Tychus Findlay is a double-cross waiting to happen, and I can’t decide if I care when and how that shoe drops– unlike the intensity of watching the Queen of Blades or even Samir Duran use and abuse our heroes throughout Brood War. 

All of these reactions, though, are just that– knee jerk feelings to a few hours of gameplay.  There’s still plenty of time for opinions to change, but we’ll see.  So far I’ve only run into my beloved Protoss once, so we’ll see what happens once they take the stage properly.