According to its creators, StarCraft 2 is designed to be the “ultimate competitive real-time strategy game”, building on the successes enjoyed by its predecessor, StarCraft. It features the return of the three races from the original game: Protoss, Terran, and Zerg. Blizzard states these are the only playable races in the game. StarCraft II is also designed to focus more heavily on the multiplayer aspect, when compared to the original StarCraft. The changes include overall improvement in Battle.net, a new competitive “ladder” system for ranked games and new matchmaking mechanics—designed to “match-up” players of equal skill levels.

StarCraft 2 continues its predecessor’s use of pre-rendered cinematic cut scenes to advance the plot while also improving the quality of in-game cut scenes within the levels themselves, which are rendered on-the-fly using the same game engine as the graphics in the game proper. Blizzard states that with the new graphics engine that StarCraft 2 uses to render the gameplay, they “can actually create in-game cut-scenes of near-cinematic quality”.

Most Protoss and Terran units, and some Zerg units, have been shown on the StarCraft 2 official website, and in several video demonstrations held by Blizzard. Improvements include advanced scenery allocation and more detailed space terrain, such as floating space platforms with planets and asteroids in the background. Small cliffs, extensions, and even advertising signs were also shown to have been improved and refined.

StarCraft 2 Trilogy

During the StarCraft 2 gameplay panel at BlizzCon, Blizzard posed a question to the audience: Should they sacrifice an epic story or truly create something spectacular? They’re choosing the latter. Today they announced that they will be creating a single-player trilogy for StarCraft 2 where each race will have a stand-alone game. The first will be Terran: Wings of Liberty, where players take on the role of Jim Raynor in a non-linear game. The second is Zerg: Heart of the Swarm, and the last will be Protoss: Legacy of the Void.

Blizzard is promising that each game will have 26-30 missions, and each campaign will feel like its own epic story. They are also promising that they won’t leave StarCraft lovers with cliffhangers. Each game will be a full product with a satisfying ending. We’ll be hitting up Blizzard for more info as BlizzCon continues, so stay tuned.

Starcraft 2 Release Date

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is scheduled to be released on July 27, 2010.

Tags: blizzard, BlizzCon, games, protoss, starcraft 2, StarCraft 2 gameplay, StarCraft II, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, starcraft release date, terran, zerg