I have to be honest here. My sum experience with the original Starcraft extends to about ten minutes total play time, and maybe thirty minutes watching other people play. I do understand it's a classic game. I do understand it's a compelling game. I do understand that it's practically a religion in South Korea. It's just never been my game of choice, as I've been busy with other games titles.
But when a major developer such as Blizzard unleashes an eagerly-awaited title simultaneously on PC and Mac, the lure is irresistible. Irresistible is a good word to use in the StarCraft II context, as it's a highly addictive game.
Addictive wasn't my first impression of the game, however. The first time I started it up on a Core i7 iMac with an ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB (well above the minimum specifications) I was met with a dazzling cacophony of digital corruption. Thinking this was an effect — this is a game set in a far-flung future where technology corrupts as much as it compliments — I ploughed on, but when I realised I couldn't see my troops for tessellation glitches, it was time to try something else.
Checking online, I saw many complaints about the Mac version. It's apparently slower than the comparable PC version. It's prone to lockups. The minimum specification* may be Blizzard's idea of a joke.
I didn't see anyone with the kind of problem I had, so I took a rather Windows-centric approach to the problem, and rebooted the iMac. Thankfully that solved the problem, and it's been glitch-free, even on the highest settings, since.
The Starcraft II: Wings Of Liberty experience is split into two not-entirely-even components. On the one hand, there's the fiercely-contested online multiplayer component, where long-term fans can order a team of Zerg to rush your base while you're still trying to sort out which way is North. Starcraft II is dazzlingly fast for an RTS, and plays well to that crowd, but as noted, I'm not one of them.
Thankfully, the single-player campaign is an excellent proving ground that hones the basic skills needed for survival in the rougher online arena. It only represents one side in the three-way struggle that is the Starcraft world, as you take on the role of renegade Jim Raynor, fighting the Terran dominion forces as well as the alien Zerg and Protoss races. Future expansions will offer up single-player campaigns for Zerg and Protoss fans, but for now single-player is a humans-only zone.
If I wanted to be overly critical, I'd point out that the actual campaign narrative is chock full of cliché. It's clear that Blizzard's well aware of the clichés, and revels in them — which saves it from being too annoying.
StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty is one heck of a tense game. Even early on in the single-player campaign you're clicking all over the place, managing build queues, sorting out basic and advanced strategies, deploying new buildings and repairing existing ones and watching as all your carefully-laid plans are annihilated by a sudden sneaky enemy move.
There's a surprising amount of variety in the single-player missions, but all the time you're learning new strategies and getting slowly better at the core game. Which I'm still slowly doing.
Saying there's a lot to StarCraft II feels like something of an understatement, given how many years of different competitive play gamers were able to extract from the original game. It's an easy recommendation for anyone who likes RTS titles, with the implicit hope that Blizzard will squash some of the Mac visual and performance bugs along the way. Those who are only mildly interested should be forewarned that it's a horrible time sink of a game.
Now, if you'll excuse me ...
*Minimum hardware requirements: Intel processor, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT or ATI Radeon X1600 or better, 12GB hard drive space, broadband internet connection
