Publisher: Activision Blizzard
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Genre: RTS
Players: 1-8
Released: Out Now

You can never go back to a state of grace, they say. No matter what you try, time and toil make it impossible to reclaim the joy and sense of wonder you had when things were new. As life-long gamers we’d be inclined to agree; there’s just a sense that as time goes by, we become more difficult to impress – give us something new or take it away.

Well, what they say is wrong; with StarCraft II we’ve been taken back to a time when the RTS genre was a joy; tightly crafted, challenging, yet accessible and entertaining. You’re going to hear a lot of lazy talk about how Blizzard has effectively just re-skinned and updated the formula that made the original StarCraft such a phenomenal success, but that’s mostly wrong, and largely missing the point

Yes, the heart of the old gameplay is here, featuring StarCraft II’s three finely balanced races, the rednecks-in-space Terrans, the hideous, alien Zerg, and the technological/Psi-based warrior race, the Protoss. This is still a traditional RTS in which you’ll gather resources, build a base, develop your technology, and destroy the enemy but Blizzard have taken the formula that they perfected twelve years ago and given it an astounding level of polish and refinement.

The first of which is new way StarCraft II’s epic story is told. While StarCraft was famous for its great brief cut-scenes most of its story was told in-game via talking heads. It’s often difficult for real time strategy games to get their narrative across and really connect missions with story. In StarCraft II, though, your ship – The Hyperion – serves as a point and click adventure hub in four areas; the Bridge, the Cantina, the Armoury and the Laboratory. In between missions, you’ll use these areas to talk to the motley crew you’ve gathered. And there’s a hell of a story to be told here.

It charts the fortunes of lead character Jim Raynor, as he fights to bring down the despotic Dominion, survive the Zerg onslaught, and battle with his inner demons from the loss of his lover, Kerrigan (to the Zerg swarm, where she survives as the Queen of Blades and plots the destruction of humanity). The highly polished interactive areas all have elements you can play with (our favourite is the Cantina, with it’s jukebox playing StarCraft versions of southern rock anthems such as like Sweet Home Alabama and sweet Lost Vikings arcade game), but you’ll eagerly return after each mission for the character conversations in each that drive the narrative. It’s a tale told with a truly superb script and wonderful voice work (with music to die for). It all goes to making you care that much more about Raynor’s battle to save humanity.

There’s also some narrative gameplay choice – as with missions requiring you to either side with, or against crewmembers determining whether they stay with you or leave, taking their technical advantages with them and changing the story. It all just gives StarCraft II greater narrative depth, as well as further replay value.

This is a level of love and polish that works its way into StarCraft II’s gameplay in so many ways, elevating its way above core genre concepts. While things that RTS gamers may have gotten used to in StarCraft II’s contemporary genre stable-mates, (facing and cover aren’t here), StarCraft II has its own nuances, like line-of-sight and rate of fire. And, there’s countless RPG unit effects, like healing, splash damage, and the ability to slow your enemies.

It’s the versatility of the units you field that makes it such fun, with old friends like Marines and Siege Tanks joined by the transforming Viking or massive Thor Walker. There’s an underlying rock, scissors, paper mechanic to be sure, it’s just that you have several varieties in each category. But, once you start to get to grips with it, things become second nature and that’s when choice and play-style begin to deepen the experience.

What’s astounding about the StarCraft II campaign in particular, is just how tight the mission design actually is. We’d be hard-pressed to point to an RTS with as great a flair for it, or one which ramps up quite so well. It seems that Blizzard really took to heart the fact that it would effectively be re-introducing the genre to a whole new unsuspecting generation, but that, rather than dumb down the concept as others have, (yes, we’re looking at you Command & Conquer 4), they chose to create a perfectly gentle curve that would both teach, and challenge.

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Leading the pack is the StarCraft II Limited Edition Zboard gaming keyboard bundle, which includes the much vaunted SteelSeries Zboard Base complete with Z Engine II software, a standard QWERTY keyset and, of course, the Limited Edition Zboard Keyset designed through a partnership between SteelSeries and Blizzard. It provides a dedicated key layout,  labeled commands and special in-game shortcuts, though using the Z Engine II software players can remap every key on the keyboard ensuring a 100% customised experience. Of course, if you’ve already got a Zboard you’ll be able to buy the Limited Edition Keyset seperately, though we’re still waiting on UK prices.

Further complimenting SteelSeries’ current line of StarCraft II-branded Limited Edition mouse pads, SteelSeries is also releasing two further designs each showcasing  Blizzard’s excellent in-game artwork. The mouse pads feature Tychus Findlay and Marauder artwork and are constructed of high-quality cloth with an ‘optimised textured surface’.

Check out the full range here to get your RTS juices flowing…

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The petition was started following the announcement that Blizzards much anticipated RTS sequel wouldn’t come with the ability to play across a ‘Local Area Network’ or LAN, which  for many fans of the first game was a staple way to play multiplayer. Instead Blizzard has said it will only be playable online through Battle.net, leaving a large number of fans unhappy about what they see as the loss of a basic feature.

While StarCraft II was originally meant to have been released late this year, Blizzard recently announced that it was delaying the game until 2010, to ensure it launched simultaneously with their re-worked Battle.net, which wasn’t ready to go live. Since that news the activity on the petition actually seems to have increased, with thousands of unhappy fans adding their online signatures to it.

“We, your most loyal fans, implore you to reconsider adding LAN as a network feature to StarCraft II. This is a response to the announcement that the only multiplayer in StarCraft II will be via Battle.net. “say the petitions authors, and in effect, all those who sign up to it. “We understand you will be adding amazing new features to Battle.net that you can’t talk about yet, but regardless of any features you might add online, we would still like to be able to play in a traditional network where no internet connection is needed. For an internet connection might not always be available.”

“The new Battle.net sounds absolutely awesome, ” it goes on to say, ” from the sneak peeks you have given us, and people will most likely be using it exclusively, even if they only play single player. However, there is no harm in allowing LAN play as well, and it does bring further depth and life to what will probably become the top RTS of the next decade.”

The further points in the petition then go on to address some of the concerns that Blizzard has expressed, including many based around piracy, as the reasons for not having LAN in StarCraft II in quite some detail.

It appears to be a fairly well thought out petition, which might account for the large numbers of PC gamers willing to sign up to it.

As of writing the actual number of signatories’ stands at 113854 and counting, but as with many of these things whether it’ll actually make any difference to the state of the final game remains to be seen. At time of posting Blizzard were unavailable for comment.

StarCraft II is currently scheduled for release sometime in 2010.

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