StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty Release  date: July 27, 2010 | Price: 59.99| PC, Mac

Story The Story of StarCraft 2 picks up four years after StarCraft: BroodWar. The player plays the . . . → Read More: Review: StarCraft 2 Wings of Liberty]]>
After more than a decade, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty’s release is finally upon us. But can StarCraft 2 reignite the Real Time Strategy genre?

StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty
Release  date: July 27, 2010 | Price: 59.99| PC, Mac

Story
The Story of StarCraft 2 picks up four years after StarCraft: BroodWar. The player plays the Terran campaign from the perspective of Jim Raynor who still feels guilty and responsible for what happened to Sarah Kerrigan. As Jim, the player will also be the leader of the rebellion against Arcturus Mengsk and his dominion. Many of the old cast of StarCraft have returned, but there are also many new characters: the captain of the Hyperion, Matt Horner, and Jim Raynor’s old friend Tycus Findlay, to name a few. You play the game mainly from Jim’s battlecruiser, The Hyperion. There are briefing videos for every mission, and between missions the player can interact with news, laboratory, armory, and the other crew members of the Hyperion. The CG cinematics that StarCraft is famous for are still there, but Wings of Liberty also takes some elements from the recent Command and Conquer series like the campy live action news cast – and don’t worry,  the UNN News crew is just as corny as the one from C&C.  There are 3 minor choices in the game that the player can make, but they only change the enemy that the player will be facing or vary the units that the player will acquire. There are many epic battles to be fought in Wings of Liberty, and the ending is surprisingly not a cliff hanger, despite having the 2 expansion packs yet to be released (Heart of the Swarm for the Zerg and Legacy of the Void for the Protoss).

Gameplay
The single-player campaign lasts around 14-18 hours, depending on the difficulty. The player can complete bonus objectives in single player to get more cash or research material, which can be used to upgrade the player’s units. The player is given a few choices for which mission to play first, but it all leads to the same conclusion. The gameplay follows basically the same formula as the original StarCraft, and most other RTS games: gather resources, built units, kill enemies, upgrade units, repeat. There are many cool new units for each faction, such as the Viking, a Terran Aircraft that can turn into a battle walker, and the Mothership, a Protoss air unit that has multiple abilities and deals massive damage to ground units. Minor changes in the gameplay include fixes for the AI structure, more easily controlled units, and a better user interface that adds, among other things, an idle worker button, so StarCraft franchise has now caught up to Age of Empires II in that department. The number of units players can select has been increased dramatically from StarCraft’s frustratingly small cap of 12; now, 255 units can be selected in one drag of the mouse, making micro managing a lot easier.

Multiplayer
The multiplayer is why people are lining up for hours in front of their local computer stores to purchase this game. As hardcore as these fans are, the amazing thing about StarCraft 2′s multiplayer is that its matchmaking system caters to both the competitive and the beginning players. Each player gets 50 practice games online before they are ranked. The first few games might get you a really tough opponent, but after 5 or 6 games, the opponents you are matched against will be around your skill level, making the game more interesting and addictive. For the casual player who might prefer custom map games, there are already some amazing StarCraft 2 mods out there, including all the classics like Tower Defense and Nexus Wars. These mods are just as fun and addictive as the Battlenet quickmatches. Plus, StarCraft 2′s galaxy editor there will be even more maps and mods coming. And although there will not be a LAN option for StarCraft 2, players can now form parties and join a match together.

Overall, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty is an amazing gaming experience, and perhaps one of the best PC games in years. The single-player offers tons of epic battles, amazing cinematics and even finishes without a cliff hanger, making players such as myself wonder how Blizzard will continue this story for the next two expansions. StarCraft 2 has a great multiplayer matchmaking system, making it easy for the beginner to jump right in and start climbing up the ladder. There will be tons of user made maps and mods once people get used to the galaxy editor. All things considered, we could be playing this game for the next decade like we played Brood War for the last one.

Review Score:   10/10

Available free from Steam, Alien Swarm is an action packed 4-player coop game. The players have to fight their way through wave after wave of aliens with 3 other teammates in order to eradicate all the aliens on the icy off-world mining . . . → Read More: Review: Alien Swarm]]> Alien Swarm
Released  date: July 19, 2010 | Price: Free| PC-Steam

Available free from Steam, Alien Swarm is an action packed 4-player coop game. The players have to fight their way through wave after wave of aliens with 3 other teammates in order to eradicate all the aliens on the icy off-world mining colony.

Story
Just like Left 4 Dead, there is not much of a story in this game. The game moves from objective to objective, with voice communications from the superior passed down to the players. Sometime it’s to start up the reactor, and other times he needs the team to go blow up a pipe. This is not a story-driven game, but the simple objectives do help the players feel the nervous tension surrounding each level.


Graphic
Alien Swarm is a very beautiful game. Each player views their marine from top-down – think of it as a Diablo-style shooter. Even from a top-down view, the depth and attention to detail is stunning. The game is also slightly scary, with explosions, fireballs, creepy flashes in the shadows and aliens that jump from overhead or crawl out from underneath the pipes. There are some clipping issues on occasion, where the marine rag doll will go through boxes or other objects, but overall the game looks really good.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Alien Swarm is what really stands out to me. There are 4 Classes in the game: Officer, Spec-Op, Medic, Tech. To be a productive team, each player must pick a different class. Once classes are picked, players need to pick their primary and secondary items. The items range from rifles, flame throwers and lightning guns to med packs, ammo packs and sentry guns (Many items need to be unlocked first by leveling up). The players also need to pick up action items like  a welder or a team damage boost. The whole game is purely based on team work, the team needs a tech to open doors and access terminals. The medic needs to keep an eye on the whole team dropping group healing med packs when needed. The officer boosts the attack power of all the teammates around him. The spec-op has some unique weapons that deal large amount of damage. If one of the team members decides to run ahead, the whole team will definitely fall apart.

Alien Swarm also takes elements from other games and implements them in different areas. Like the hand welder, which is very similar to Natural Selection’s welder. The game also uses Gears of War’s reload mechanism.

The whole game is very challenging and very fun when you have 3 other friends to team up with. Everyone should really try this game out, and you cannot really argue with the price.

Review Score:   9/10