StarCraft II: You Don’t Even Need Single Player

A lot of fuss has been raised over StarCraft II’s release only having a Terran campaign.  Here’s why you really shouldn’t care.

If you’re the hardcore, 300 actions-per-minute, died-in-the-wool, tournament-only type; you may want to skip this.  You probably don’t care about the single player anyway, busy watching replays from the latest Korean match and all.  However, if you’re the kind of person who loves to play the game for the pure joy of it, the person who loved to the play the campaign a dozen times over like me, I’m going to talk about something that should be obvious to you.  Have you guessed it yet?  Use Map Settings ring a bell?  It would if you still reinstall StarCraft once every year just to see what new games are online and ready to play, just like I do.

See, there’s only one reason to really look forward to StarCraft II.  It’s the crazy amount of new games people will make with it.  Top-notch RTS graphics + Detailed physics + A map editor that’s supposed to do more than either StarCraft or WarCraft III = Some amazingly made RPGs, Turret Defense, Starship Trooper, and hell, Defense of the Ancients maps!  Most likely it will mean even more new kinds of maps that we haven’t even seen from SC and WC3 due to the (few) technical limitations those engines imposed.  Once again, your $40-$60 investment in a Blizzard RTS will equate to, perhaps, thousands of dollars worth of gameplay time thanks to the gigantic Battle.net community pumping out map after map, idea after idea.

Have you ever seen an RTS so detailed you could see each individual plant on a farm?  You have now.

So with this powerful new map maker, I ask you: Are you really going to miss not having a giant Protoss and Zerg campaign?  I’ll answer for you.  No. Back when Brood War came out, there were already dozens of custom campaign websites (my personal favorite was Campaign Creations which is currently holding a contest with a beta key as a prize) pumping out not just multiplayer custom maps but full storyline campaigns that were, I dare say, just as good as the original storyline.  A lot of the campaigns even extended the original storyline in new and interesting ways, fending off the “no-sequel blues” I felt every year E3 passed with no peep from Blizzard.  Considering the new camera controls that WC3 introduced, the amount of cinematic bliss people could put out with SC2 should be amazing.

Even the atmospheric effects of a lava level showing on your units and buildings is an amazing upgrade.

The best thing about buying StarCraft II as soon as it is released?  Rumor has it that the upcoming beta (scheduled for this summer, aka “any day now”) will even include the map editor, possibly the entire thing. So when the game does come out, there will already be polished custom content ready and waiting for you drooling custom map users.  Or maybe the drool is just a personal chronic condition I suffer.  I don’t know.  I just want the damn game.

Even the Starship Troopers movie didn’t have a horde this big getting hit by three nukes at once.

So with all this excitement I am trying to rile up within your heart and soul, you must (simply MUST) be wondering, “Hey Dave, what maps do you want to make?”  Oh!  Thanks for asking!

The very first map I will make is called “Long Race.”  It is one of my favorite maps from the original StarCraft which I would play almost daily with a b.net buddy of mine, flyinmoo.  The map is as wide as allowed, but as short as allowed; so you end up with a really long, thin map.  The tileset is “space” but no actual land is placed, it’s simply all space.  For every player participating, a single corsair (the fastest [air] unit in SC:BW) is spawned on the far left of the map.  The first person to move their single unit all the way to the right side of the map wins the long race and the other players’ corsairs blow up.  The end!

So remember, if you’re on the fence about supporting Blizzard on this next endeavour simply because you’re peeved over the “Trilogy” setup they are doing with the single player, jump off that fence and into the pack of millions ready and prepared to play Long Race.  For Aiur!  SCV here! 

BERGLERGALREGLARELG! (I am an angry Overlord!)