StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Multiplayer..

I really enjoyed the campaign single player game but we all know the next few months of our lives are going to be swallowed by the on-line multiplayer experience on Battle.net. Blizzard’s on-line service is the deal breaker because, based on what I have played so far, it is going to be worth the sacrifice. But sorry, no LAN parties here, you’ll just have to add friends in-game or set up a list. Friends not online? I’m finding the map editor a lot like crack: quick, easy and leaving you coming back for more.

Running rings round them

The first thing I noticed in multiplayer was that – although there are strengths and weakness in all the three playable races – there is an amazing balance, correcting the previous game’s tendency for Zerg to overpower the others. The Protoss rely on their technology, the Terrans are a uniform organization and the Zerg are a smothering swarm.

If you haven’t played before you might find multiplayer, and its ebb and flow, hard to get to grips with, but man up, stick it out and you will start to notice the attention to detail that Bizzard has put in to make it the experience that could convert a new generation to RTS.

Booooom!

We all like to know our rank in the scheme of things – to find out how good you really are and get into ranked matches – so you play a series of games to determine which league you'll be placed in. But don’t get scared, you can play around 50 preparatory games before being dropped into Zerg-infested waters.