Customer Reviews

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Collector's Edition

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

One can only respect BLIZZARD for not setting a release date before they knew they could meet it. No matter that this was the most awaited game for over a decade, they would release it "whenever it would be ready". Well, it is ready, it is here and it rocks. Too bad they kicked the respect bucket in the end. But first things first.

THE GOOD OLD GAMEPLAY GETS THE CIGAR
Seasoned and new gamers alike will appreciate the simple yet highly enjoyable gameplay. The factions are well balanced and the units perfectly valued. You gather minerals and vespene gas, you build your defenses, you upgrade, you expand, you gather your forces - and you unleash hell. Repeat as needed until satisfied.

STARCRAFT: THE QUICKENING
The game is much faster than the original. Resource gathering, building, researching and expanding all go faster now. This is something that will appeal to most and I for one liked it. It conveys an enjoyable sense of urgency, adding to the immersion. And because the game is richer and deeper, the tension just keeps mounting.

SWARMS!
The game designers either enjoyed STARSHIP TROOPERS one times too many or they are fond of killer bees documentaries. Either way, be prepared to have to deal with a lot of swarming enemies! The plains shall be soaked in Zerg blood leaving you with a thick metallic aftertaste of accomplishment.

SPACE. SPACE IS BEAUTIFUL
Visually this game is GORGEOUS. It looks like C&C4 was supposed to (but failed miserably). The units are detailed in design yet clearly discernible whereas the environments are superbly done (although not that variable). True, I could do with somewhat more realistic graphics but I can see that this could only be done at the expense of clarity when the number of units rises. What needs a bit getting used to is how some of the buildings do not look that different. No complaints about how they look but one can easily confuse them and build the same building twice.

COME FOR THE VESPENE GAS. STAY FOR THE STORY
The story picks up just where SC-BROODWAR left off. Following each mission nicely done videos move the single player story along (no spoilers, not to worry) that, although we are given the illusion of choosing between different paths, apparently they converge towards a predestined end.

DAMN IT JIM, WHERE IS THE REST OF THE GAME?
Why only 3 stars then? Well, in a nutshell: GREED.
Apparently ACTIVISION's influence is not very healthy to customer relations. Together with BLIZZARD they are trying to turn the StarCraft franchise into yet another World of WarCraft phenomenon - and, at the same time, using STARCRAFT II as the vehicle, turn BattleNet into the new STEAM. Unfortunately this results in a barely palatable product and using your fan-base to advance your corporate ambitions is always tacky.
Although priced even more than a full premium game, this is not a complete STARCRAFT sequel. You would not know this by its price-tag(!) but this is only A...THIRD of the game, the first part of three: you can only play the Terran campaign. The Zerg and the Protoss campaigns will be released independently later (and priced as if they were full games, one could safely bet).
To add insult to injury, one has to keep spending even more money if he wants any "premium maps" and "premium content" sold only via the BattleNet. Since this is a game that will be played mostly online don't be quick to dismiss this if you have a competitive streak.

OK, LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT IT - BUT THERE IS A HYDRALISK IN THE ROOM, ISN'T THERE?
Much more serious is the NeverLettingGo-OnLineActivation requirement. The game will ask for activation during installation, which also includes signing up to BattleNet (and, yes, this means that even this expensive game never becomes yours to keep). But that is not all: a periodic OnLine confirmation is also required EVERY THIRTY DAYS, FOREVER. You can play offline but no more than a month between re-activating.
Unlike the latest EA and UBISOFT flops (which have an idiotic Always-OnLine requirement), with SC2, after its initial Activation, you CAN play a single player game (campaign and skirmishes) without logging on to BattleNet. Only, to do this you have to log on as a ..."Guest" (I know, a Guest to your own game and your own computer...). You will be able to save your progress but you cannot tie it to your BattleNet account later, so any progress or accomplishments are lost for your online Account. After your 30 days are up you have to re-activate once more.
That is why a Broadband Internet connection is included in the minimum system requirements. You can decide if this bothers you.

SORRY TO BRING THIS UP BUT SPAWN SEEMS TO BE MISSING FROM MY COPY...
Remember how we could take our original STARCRAFT CD to a gathering of friends, Spawn it on everyone else's PCs and start a LAN party? Now one can play with his friends only through the BattleNet - and the Spawn function has been eliminated! Yes, that means each one of your friends now has to have his own original copy of the game!
The brass at the top conveniently forgets that the ability to Spawn games was the main reason both STARCRAFT and DIABLO acquired such huge fan-bases.
Et tu, BLIZZARD?

This is a good game, one I think we will be enjoying for years - or for as long as BLIZZARD shall allow us to do so. However, I had higher hopes for BLIZZARD's respect to its own customers.

RECOMMENDED.

Love this game. It's concepts and strategies can be applied on so many levels outside of the game. Great community online as well.

even though I suck at this game, I still like it very much. good online play experience is the most important thing for this game.

Greatest RTS game ever, love it, strongly recommend user to buy. Will buy Starcraft II the heart of swam as well!!!

Starcraft II was long awaited by Starcraft and RTS fans alike. With the expansion (HOTS) coming out soonish, what can be said about this game?

Well, in two years Blizzard hasn't managed to balance the game as perfectly as it did for SC:BW (although SC:BW took nearly 7 years to become very balanced).

The game feels cleaner and faster than it's predecessor, the campaign is slightly more interactive giving you some choices (although they don't affect your gameplay much).

A lot of things lacking at release (LAN, clan support, chat channels) made this far weaker than Warcraft 3: TFT in many aspects as far as multiplayer goes. Blizzard has said many times that it wouldn't implement LAN ever although the entire community and tournaments have requested so. Clan support will come in the expansion and chat channels were added in BNet 2.0.

A lot of the "Custom Games" part feel very clunky, what they call the "Arcade" is not as visually understandable as it was in SC:BW and WC3:TFT (although you can tell they tried hard).

If you're a RTS fan I would suggest you try it although I cannot vouch entirely for it. I played it enough to consider my investment worth it although I feel the replay value (especially in single player) is low. I'm happier with Dota2.

Great game and fast shipping from this seller!! Also price unmatched anywhere in store or on the web.. It is the Great Britain version of the game but no problems at all playing it in north america!!

Blizzard said that the game would be epic/massive even better/longer than the first game, even if this is just the first part of the game.

well i played the entire campaign and the secret missions. overall the missions were ok, maybe i should of tried on hard difficulty because it wasnt that hard on normal difficulty. but
the major problem is the story. there was few good things in the story but seriously in 29 missions, nothing much happen, the whole thing could be resumed in 6-8 missions(maybe even less) and the rest are pretty much just ''filler mission'' like 'get this artifact, save those people,get this item' without really making any progress into the story. It was kinda painful doing all the mission because i was like ''ugh when am i going to have some story...?'' it didnt feel rewarding because i didnt feel like i was advancing in the story...
dialog in the game could of been better too, i didnt really feel attached to all the new character they put in. (mostly the script, not really the voice behind the character i mean)
music and sound is ok.

menu/bnet are a bit confusing for now(well for me), but i'll probably get use to it...

as for multiplayer, i didnt played much so far, seems pretty much like the first game wich is not a bad thing but it seems a bit slower(i am not 100% sure on this one but it does seem slower at the beginning).
Where i have some problem maybe is, most of the map from what i've seen are pretty much the same(same pattern). Everyone start on a elevate floor with one entrance(or 2 on certain map but blocked by a rock wich you can destroy).

As for the internet required, well i dont mind it, i mean they said it that it would required internet to play and it's written on 3 place on the box of the game, it's not very flashy but it's up to people to know what they're buying. (like language, because not every game are multi language..)but if it wasnt written on the site when people bought the digital copie, then i kinda understand why they're a bit mad.

i havent check much the map editor but i have no doubt that this is a great tool for people who love making maps and probably not too hard to work with. (considering i knew very well Sc1 map editor and i spent some time on Warcraft 3 map editor too and both were easy and great)

so overall, was this worth 60$? if you dont care much for the story like me and plan to play online a lot with friends ect, then sure it is. otherwise, even if they say that it's just 1/3 of the story, i felt like the story didnt move much foward for a 60$ game, and i am afraid that the zerg and protoss expension are going to be around the same, some story and filled with missions that does nothing.
they said that the next installement wont be full price like this one, but still, it'll be more money (wont be under 20$-30$ for sure...)

well i tried to be honest with the game(the game does have some good and bad) and sorry if my english aint really good (i actually speak french).

Very high replay value. People will be playing this game for DECADES to come. The first starcraft has been out for 12 years and it still has online activity rivaling modern online games today. It may seem expensive for a pc game at 60 bucks but you won't regret buying it.

Good game, the seller is also very cool, I`m enjoy, I'll come here again and buy the new game. So,I gived 5 stars for the fun of this game and other 5 stars for rating this game.

What the hell amazon? Why is this $69?
You can get it at ANY store for $59, or directly from
blizzard which you may as well do if you are buying online,
since there's no point in using the disc besides saving a little bandwidth
before you have to download all the patches. There is literally 0 offline content.
You have to patch, you have to log in to play, you have to be online to play, even just
in campaign.