I managed to get my hands on a copy of Blizzards new game Starcraft II, and as soon as I got home from work I was playing the campaign. Compelling, visually entertaining and ultimately a win for Blizzard. I Stayed up late that night, long into the morning. Story wise the team have done a great job. A quick flick through the manual reminded me of just how messed up it all was before we got here, and now I’m watching as Jim Raynor fights the good fight from the bottom of a bottle in a dirty bar out the backend of nowhere.

This new style of game story telling is a good thing for Blizzard’s Starcraft franchise. Adding a layer of depth and choice into the RTS genre allows gamers who are not interested in the multiplayer experience to appreciate the game for what it is. A masterclass in the reworking of a classic game in a well matured genre. Let’s be honest, Starcraft II has been sitting in the wings for almost 12 years now, perhaps longer. I know I’ve been excited on and off a few times about various leaked release dates. So when I tell you Starcraft II is Starcraft with a 2 added on the end you will have to forgive me. It’s a fact, Starcraft II is basically Starcraft on today’s technology with a lovely new World of Warcraft inspired Battlenet. There are no squad’s, nothing in the way of a cover mechanic and we are somehow playing with the same army cap limit we so enjoyed/hated in the original Starcraft. Scope has been changed, so the game scale feels different yet ultimately the only real mechanical change (Apart from units and race balance) is the limit on unit selections. No longer are we locked to a 8 x 2 grid. Our selection is limitless though our army is capped. I find it strange that after all this time Blizzard have in fact managed to resurrect everything I loved about Starcraft and give it a new polished edge. It’s like picking up an ancient stereo at a second-hand place and paying full price because it was recently repainted and trimmed in chrome. You know you should feel ripped off but it leaves you with that warm fuzzy feeling.

Story wise it’s a fast entertaining RTS, with limited RPG elements included for a few missions. It does not tarnish the Starcraft experience with the Warcraft Hero mechanic. With excellent graphics and reasonable system requirements (Running quite happily all settings ultra on my laptop, apart from custom games or carrier swarms which have forced me to be more frugal with my settings) Starcraft II offers an exceptional single payer experience with a great deal of replay value. It’s obvious this was an expensive option for them, featuring single player specific technology trees and all the fmv glory we have come to expect from Blizzard.

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Multiplayer is likewise a refined experience. Keeping with the old school RTS mechanics that made Starcraft the world’s professional e-sport we can see the ast ten years of competitive e-sport on the Starcraft platform have not been ignored. Built in replay’s with the ability to watch Build Order, Action Per Minute Graphs and most importantly the tactic that gave you a win, or the opponent you’re crushing defeat. The whole experience comes together with a great Battlenet lobby and league system. Designed to give everyone a fair and competitive playing arena. Of course, a great lobby system is often let down by the p2p connection issues that plague the FPS genre utilising similar connection systems. Starcraft II dosn’t fall into this category.  Over the course of a week and numerous casual, league and custom games I’ve found little to no lag, and very few disconnection. Should the unfortunate happen the end game report give you the opponents details where your free to converse in regards toa  rematch or simply a gg (Good Game) for the short stint that you did play.

All in all I’ve come to enjoy Starcraft II as much as I ever enjoyed the original. With the multiplayer however I have found a depth that never penetrated with the original. Smooth online games and great balanced ranking means I am no longer limited (or subject) to the skill level of my local gaming community. Falling into the Starcraft II Multiplayer with abandon I have already begun my climb through my ranks. There is one thing I cannot ignore. When I used to see the Zerg loading in as my opponent a slight chill would glance across my spine Zerg where the ultimate in pro player carnage.  With insane Micro and great map control Zerg under the right hand would ultimately win the game. It was rare a good zerg player was ousted by a lucky Terran Defence or Noobish Protoss Air Rush (A Favored tactic of mine). SOmehow I think the tables have changed. Zerg are no the area control force they once were. Much like there tech tree the zerg have become a constant shifting force. The y lack pushing power, they lack defensive gumption. Even with the insanely micro heavy early game expansion the Zerg seem all in all unable to control the game. I can only assume Blizzard did not wish to see a repeat of Starcraft’s Zergling rush though I cannot understand why.

Conclusions. Starcraft II is great. A refined Starcraft experience with a great single player and an exceptional online matching system for endless gameplay. Although Race’s have changed somewhat they are for all intents and purposes true to their form. Just want to know, when will the Zerg get that bite back. I miss them, I miss them as my opponent. I miss the threat they imposed across the battlefield as I struggled for even a single expansion point. Bring back the Zerg Blizzard Starcraft needs them.

Just for fun an absolutely awesome game of PvT. I was amazed at how aggressive these players where.

Zerg Victory Part 1

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Zerg Victory Part 2

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I would like to thank ‘Judas’ for his selfless act of gifting myself Starcraft II. Let’s see what we get to review next.

So for your viewing pleasure ten minutes and over 200 retro games available free right now. Bring back a little nostalgia and enjoy.

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Its been a long time – GLaDOS

Portal was one of the best puzzle games in 2009. Possibly the perfect mix of game for the acerage geek. Puzzle action and humour, add a dash of geek referance and geek nostalgia and there you have it. It looks like the developers are taking the sequel to a whole new level.

Just have a look you will be amazed on how valve have put this teaser together.

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Of course there is plenty of geek music and theatrics out there. Nerd Core, Geek Rock, endless opportunities abound. Perhaps given a little inspiration we’ll see you out there. A small geek, cased in a thin mesh of chain, commanding spectacular arc’s of natures pure energy while an engineered sound entices our auditory senses.

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Bohemian Rhapsody spoof of Battlestar Galactica starring Gandalf the White and Xena Warrior Princess, kinda.

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First of all, Mass Effect 2 is gritier, darker (in both theme and lighting) and ultimately larger then ME, with the promise of sprawling worlds and lots of content actually being delivered. I picked up the SE boxset down at EB Games, and the product description lists the Hard Drive usage at between 12-25 GB. That’s around the size of World of Warcraft and Aion (put together if it tops out at 25 gb). So it looks like they’ve delivered on the promise of a sprawling universe.

The second thing that makes my day is ME2 actually gives you the opportunity to carry on your ME character into the gleaming new world that is ME2. Now on my PC, I’ve played ME over and over again, every class in both male and female I’ve leveled to 60. So, if I can take my lvl 60′s and own up in ME2 I’m champing at the bit.

But where is the real revolutionary aspect of this game you ask. Well simply put the story line revolves around how you talk and treat your party members, they will mutiny if your an ass to them, and not only that but you can KILL off characters that piss you off. But remember in at least one of the story lines, Shepard dies, in fact most of the story lines end don’t have happy endings. ME2 has pitched your adventure as a suicide mission, and only along one gleaming possibility do you survive, intact and not a head case. ME2 has literally thrown down the gauntlet, the combat might or might not be easy, but it brings back the thrill that I used to get playing The Witcher, in which even the tiniest decision had a larger consequence. ME2 looks like it’s going to provide me alot of replayability. Which is something very few non-mmo games  have these days.

Onto actual combat and mechanics. ME2 has an improved physics engine, with one of your party (of course it’s the Krogan) being a charge-aholic. Biotic powers have been redone with at least 1 new power added, your team mates AI has been improved, with a psychotic Biotic and a Krogan who head butts everything in site at range.

Ok, now you’ve got the general idea, why should you pre-order. Well if you do, you get access to special ingame equipment. A Desolator type weapon that fires mini-black holes, and the Terminus armour, a very very sweet looking peice of combat gear. in fact I’m going to give you a little taste of it right now.

Once you’ve finished looking at that, you’ll have access to some of the myriad of trailers out there. I recommend looking at the Garrus Gameplay trailer.