StarCraft II Single-Player Details Revealed 206
As Blizzcon approaches, a number of gaming sites were invited out to California to get an early look at the single-player campaign for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Kotaku has a detailed write-up (spoiler-free version), and 1Up summarizes one of the missions: "... you're on a planet with an alternating day/night cycle (every five minutes, it switches): during daylight, you're safe. You can build forces and go out and destroy structures. At night, the infected Terrans will relentlessly stream towards your base — necessitating a strong defense against the 'zombie horde.'" An interview with some of the developers is available, in which lead designer Dustin Browder says Blizzard will continue their trend of having downloadable maps and other improvements throughout the game's life. BlizzPlanet posted a mission guide for the part of the game they got to see, and new video footage has been released that shows off the single-player mode.
Re:Can they do anything wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Can they do anything wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:the next lost generation of koreans (Score:4, Insightful)
So how are the dedicated fans of Starcraft going to take any changes in the gameplay? Starcraft was perfectly balanced, the fact that people are still having competitions after so many years shows that much. What can Blizzard do to Starcraft to make it new and worthwhile, without damaging the perfection of Starcraft?
Re:Sounds like a Standard Tower Defense Game (Score:5, Insightful)
If just one mission is tower defense, I think that leaves a good degree of potential for the rest of them.
I wouldn't worry much about mission variety here -- if the originality Blizzard has been cranking out for of World of Warcraft quests in the expansions is any indicator, they'll have their hands full experimenting with mission structures.
Re:Sounds like a Standard Tower Defense Game (Score:3, Insightful)
Blizzard never was a revolutionary company. Warcraft was just dune/c&c with a warhammer-like theme. Starcraft was "just" Warcraft in space, with non-identical sides this time (THE major difference, I would say). Diablo is just a 3rd person real-time dungeon hack. World of Warcraft was not the first mmorpg. What all these games have in common is this: they're well made. To increases sales, they also try not to murder your poor PC.
Re:Can they do anything wrong? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ahh... Starcraft Ghost.
Re:Sounds like a Standard Tower Defense Game (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Starcraft 2 will not be defined by single playe (Score:2, Insightful)
Glad to know that the only opinion that matters is yours. I'll be sure to consult you next time I need to know if a game is good or not.
Personally I couldn't care less about the multiplayer. My idea of a good time doesn't involve teenage boys calling me a faggot Mexican Jew Lizard, which is pretty much all that multiplayer games are.
Re:Ladies and gentlemen... STARFOX! (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Sounds like a Standard Tower Defense Game (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Starcraft 2 will not be defined by single playe (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure. But how many copies will a pure single-player gamer (who will only play through the game once and then shelve it) buy? One. How many copies will a hardcore multi-player gamer (who will play it obsessively for years and years until he finally croaks in an internet café [slashdot.org]) buy? One. Once you've bought your copy, it doesn't matter how much or for how long you play it. The money's already changed hands.
Good multi-player is a selling point. But don't delude yourself for a minute that the fanatic cliché is who the game is developed for - it's developed to lure in as many customers as possible, and there are a hell of a lot more casual than hard-core gamers.
Like the Anonymous Coward, I don't really care about Starcraft II's multiplayer (and much for the same reasons) - but if its single-player mode is as good as Starcraft I's, I'll buy it in a heartbeat.
Re:Sounds like a Standard Tower Defense Game (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:the next lost generation of koreans (Score:3, Insightful)
It's such a ridiculous argument...
Everyone knows Protoss is best...
Seriously though, the game is fantastically well balanced. Not so much when it first came out but Blizz did an awesome job patching it.
Starcraft is a classic. SC2 won't be. The Blizzard who developed the original SC is a VASTLY different company than the one who developed SC2.
Incidentally, I notice no mention of the "There will be 3 different releases, one for each race" nonsense. Have they dropped that? Or are they hoping people might forget that money gouging nonsense?
Re:DRM + Restricted off-line play = FAIL (Score:3, Insightful)
I hate and distrust non-free software more than most, but I actually am OK with this type of non-free for big-budget computer games. Basically, I must be able to run them in the userland, privilege wise, and I want my privacy preserved (no submitting hardware/other software specs without my consent). Beyond that, they can do whatever chit-chat with the home-base they want. They can require uninterrupted Internet connection. (I do, so why cannot they? Being on the Internet is quite a priority for me, and I am not alone here.) A title can submit my usage statistics for itself. I am OK with all that producer-serving crap because its just a freaking game. It's a pure luxury and an expensive work of art, and I am thankful for having it at all. As far as copy protection goes, this is the least annoying one for me as a user. This is by far the best (for everyone) way to pay for big-budget games. The only thing better is paying up front for a free game.