SC2 Ongoing Review #2: "Fair and Balanced"
Part One here: https://savedbyatowel.com/chyrp/text/334
And let it be noted that the further this ongoing review goes, the more things will be spoiled.
When it was announced that “StarCraft II” would ship in three parts, there was an outcry that Blizzard was simply seeking to milk the fanbase across expansion packs, and that we would encounter a weaker single player experience for it. According to the missions zone of SC2, I’ve completed 9 out of 26 of the single player missions in “Wings of Liberty”, and while I don’t know if there are any bonus missions, I must say I’m feeling pretty screwed right about now.
The missions continue to be interesting gimmicks. Playing with time, enemy movements, and unit properties, the campaign has showcased some interesting concepts. But in single play this only counts for so much without a story to complement what is happening. Remembering the first segment of the original game, by the time you were a third of the way in we’d seen characters making huge decisions including one of the best betrayals in video game storytelling. Here the ONLY storytelling element put truly on display is MYSTERY. “Hrm, this gas has magical drug powers!” “This person seems shady!” “That person seems too good to be true!” “Oh, remember that time we did something in our shared past that the player isn’t privy to? Wasn’t that fun?” The cardboard supporting cast is becoming increasingly frustrating, especially the unwarranted black voodoo doctor.
As stated, the missions themselves continue to be complex, but I can’t say I give much of a damn for two primary reasons. First, they’re easy as hell. I’m playing the game on normal, and it’s a cakewalk. Now, I suppose I could be playing “hard”, but I don’t understand why a person who won one out of every ten games that they played in the multiplayer beta should be classified on the higher end of this game’s difficulty scale. The second offense is even more grievous as a fan of the original: the emotional stakes do not exist. Hardcore fans might recall the shareware demo “Loomings” or the two authorized expansions “Insurrection” and “Retribution”. Allow me to say, in all confidence with my nostalgia goggles placed securely in the “off” position, that all of those side stories were better than anything I’ve seen on display thus far. A large part of the problem is easily explained in that there is literally no one in whom to invest. As stated in the first part of my review, the faceless character played in the first game is a concept that no longer exists. So people aren’t talking to you, they are simply talking around you. And further, only the first mission of the game included a hero unit. That’s right. I’m nine missions in, and in eight of the missions I haven’t had a hero. And while I was not a fan of the ridiculous micro-managing and leveling of heroes in “WarCraft III”, I still want someone to “lead the troops” or to defend or to… pretend has some importance on the map.
Pushing this envelope of “bleh” further is the unnecessary focus on achievements, money, and collection. Again, I’ve played WoW. I want STARCRAFT. This isn’t to say I wanted or expected this game to be a port of the original with prettier graphics. I fully embraced the idea that we’d be tackling new things in this sequel. That’s why I’ve been able to take enjoyment from all the new map abilities placed on display, and was honestly looking forward to seeing this new “non-linear” gameplay. But these unusual unit upgrades played out between missions, coupled with all of the tired RPG elements of any recent game was not something I was anticipating, and it isn’t even done well here. I think a prime example of this is the mercenary unit.
Mercenary units are upgrades you buy outside of missions– pay a flat fee and you can call down this type of unit throughout gameplay for an in-game cost. Once you get into the mission, you have a mercenary building which allows you to obtain these units. Thing is, they are overpowered, outside the tech tree, and only slightly curtailed in that you can only call them down so many times in a match and they’re on a cooldown. These units usurp the classic tech tree experience, and damage any need to actually build up forces. So many of the upgrades fall under this same sort of horrific misstep that it feels like this game is only manufactured to showcase what a thirteen-year-old modding StarCraft might find as “cool”.
On top of all of this rests what I consider the cardinal sin of the game thus far. Now, I loathe the hypocrisy and madness of Fox “News” more than the next guy, I truly do. But the flimsy propaganda newscast of the game just went so far as to make a “Fair and Balanced” joke. The last time I was so forcefully ripped from a world I loved by a creator’s lack of reverence for their own universe was some twenty minutes into the limp second “X-Files” film when they used the classic theme music to make a poorly timed and executed George W. Bush joke. I want to sit down with whomever thought this repulsively lame joke would fly and hand them a copy of the original StarCraft manual. You know, the big book filled with race backgrounds so dense you could FEEL them. Classic science fiction world-building, jam packed with love for an IDEA of a universe filled with creatures that could spark the imagination. All of that work has been left to die thus far in this game, and my only shining hope right now (as I’d be a sap to hold my breath for the single player to improve at this point) is that other fans will be similarly dissatisfied and moved to use this remarkable game engine to create our own sequel that actually expands upon the world we so loved in the first place.