It's a shame I didn't play this game when I was much younger and addicted to RTS games. Nonetheless, it was a good journey, a quite enjoyable campaign with very diverse missions. The wall of fire level and the final stage are good highlights, with a nice level of difficulty. Others have good setpieces, like the mission where you have to transport your troops by ships and release invisible specters to pre-emptively kill enemies.

Many good moments on this one. That said, the upgrade system is kind of dull, and I couldn't get used to the camera using arrow keys instead of WASD. Probably a problem from a casual gamer of RTS games but as someone who never played much RTS competitively, things are as they are. Oh, interesting lore too. Eventually, I should play both expansions.

If I was a fan of RTS games this would definitely go higher, maybe an 8 or even a 9 (I suck at them).

This game went hard back in the day - countless hours spent playing and making custom maps, everything from MOBAs to Single player RPGs and Left 4 Dead clones and Slender Clones, this game was fucking awesome. The story was generally decent as well, it wasn't 10/10, but it was serviceable and enjoyable, and when I was a teenager some of the moments were pretty spooky.

Luckily, in Blizzard fashion, the game's art style leans more toward style than graphical fidelity which meant it has aged better than some games. Unfortunately, this does not count for much, given that Blizzard essentially let the game die. It has two expansions, one that I couldn't be bothered to play (HOTS), and one that was pretty much DOA, no one even knew it had came out (LOTV).

This is the kind of game that was good at the time and you had to be there. The ship has unfortunately sailed, unless you can still get all the custom maps these days, but I have no idea. This game is mostly abandoned by both Blizzard and fans as far as I am aware.

A huge QoL upgrade from Starcraft 1, but still not a replacement.

The campaign was awesome, being chock full of upgrades, old units, and characters to talk to. It has a lot of content for being so old, and it's my favorite RTS to watch competitive too.

Definitely give it a shot if you've never tried RTS, it's easy to jump into!

On a casual level, this is an easy 4/5. They made a story worth investing into and made a "new gen" starcraft, making it look amazing. Seeing units from the 2D starcraft 1 into 3D starcraft 2 was fucking awesome. Though, with this next gen change, it took a lot out of the game. Everything that made the first starcraft fun competitively was ruined in this game, causing it to die out really soon. There's a reason people still talk about brood war and not this.

It was fun when it released, and that's pretty much it.

Narrative: 4 - Gameplay: 5 - Visuals: 4 - Soundtrack: 4 - Time: 4
Stars: 4
A real-time strategy gem, Starcraft II has one of the best gameplays of the genre. With a few different races, but with a lot of density and depth within them, the game does magic. Relying in the well-known quality stamp of Blizzard, the spiritual heir of Warcraft III delivers a full package, with a mistake of two.
My experience was, as usually is, kind of messy. I enjoyed the story just as the next guy, but I need to say that it lacks something. I don’t know if I hadn’t the best time because I had a huge gap (precisely 2 years, which damaged my experience) or if it flops a little. The whole plot is very interesting and the way that all the main characters come together is amazing. I think the problem lies in the charisma of each one of them. I had a hard time to relate to any of them, though it needless to say that cool moments arrive every 3 missions or so.
Perhaps if I played in one run, I would think differently, but I kind of doubt that. Like I said before, it’s not like I didn’t like it, it’s just not as memorable as Warcraft III. Even the choice of not having hero system is sort of upsetting, even knowing that it was probably for the best possible game-balance. Anyways, it’s a must for any real-time strategy or blizzard fan.

I will be mostly focusing on the campaign and leave the review for multiplayer in my later review for Legacy of the Void once I get to it. I do have to say though that the first campaign for SC II absolutely wipes the floor in terms of sheer awesomeness.

Despite its infamous difficulty, I was immediately hooked by SC II's playstyle when I first played it years ago. There are a lot of resources that you have to constantly monitor to be good at this game but they are never too overwhelming. It is not like Paradox games where you get blasted with millions of information panels that you don't really know what to do with. For Starcraft II, the basic formula is extremely easy to understand: you get resources from minerals and gases which you mine; you build all sorts of units to kill; and you have upgrades that make units better at killing enemies. I think why so many people really love the Starcraft formula is because it is so easy to understand yet extremely hard to master, just as a good game should be in my opinion.

The plotline to the Wings of Liberty campaign is pretty much a classic in the video game industry. Not only were the cutscenes top notch in terms of animation quality and establishing characters, but the dialogues within each campaign are also really useful in terms of conveying the plot. The details were also implemented very well within the campaigns like the sky darkening during that bunker rescue mission, debris falling from the sky during the invasion of Char.... This game just shows that Blizzard used to actually care about delivering a good product.

You will be playing as Terran for most of the campaign with some occasional opportunities to play Protoss through Zeratul's memory crystal. The campaign missions are a nice mix of different objectives. You will be wiping out the enemy like a traditional RTS game, defending your position from an endless swarm of zergs, conducting special missions using a character with special abilities, and even mining (fuck that mission). All the campaigns are designed extremely well and are relatively challenging. Especially Last Stand on brutal difficulty. Not having the right upgrades, it took me nearly a week of constant trying to get through it and was eventually able to biting the skin of my teeth. The moment that supernova wiped all the enemies from the screen was the most satisfying experience I have ever had finishing a video game.

Between each campaign missions, there is also a hub area that you can explore. You can talk to all sorts of characters here and get to know them better (as well as some backstories or some integral part of the plot). You can also access all the research and upgrades in the hub world using the research points you get from bonus objectives and the funds you get from completing missions. The hub world is superbly implemented as I often find chilling on the Hyperion and getting to know the lore to be just as much fun as beating the missions.

After completing the campaign, there is also always reasons to return and replay it. Whether it's for achievements, beating the game on a higher difficulty, or just doing challenge runs of your own, Wings of Liberty has a lot to offer. The replayability of this game is honestly one of, if not the, best I have ever experience in any video game out there.

I really adore Wings of Liberty and often find myself returning to replay the campaigns. Whether it's trying a different strategy for missions or just beating the game on brutal difficulty, I find myself returning to this game a lot. Wings of Liberty, and by extension StarCraft II, is hands down the best RTS experience I have ever had, although there really aren't that many competitors out there. This is a truly classic game that everyone should try at least once.

Hell, it's about time. Go download the game already if you haven't yet!