| StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty | |
|---|---|
 StarCraft II cover artwork, depicting protagonist Jim Raynor | |
| Developer(s) | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Designer(s) | Dustin Browder |
| Artist(s) | Samwise Didier |
| Writer(s) | Chris Metzen |
| Composer(s) | Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford, Russell Brower,Neal Acree |
| Series | StarCraft |
| Version | 1.4.2.20141 (November 8, 2011) |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows[1] Mac OS X[2] |
| Release date(s) | July 27, 2010[3][4][5] |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | DVD-DL, download |
| System requirements | |
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video gamedeveloped and released by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Asequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft and its expansions, the game was released worldwide on July 27, 2010.[9] It is split into three installments: the base game with the subtitle Wings of Liberty, and two upcoming expansion packs, Heart of the Swarm andLegacy of the Void.[10]
Set in the 26th century in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy, the game revolves around three species: the Terrans, human exiles from Earth; the Zerg, a super-species of assimilated life forms;[11] and the Protoss, a technologically advanced species with vastmental powers. Wings of Liberty focuses on the Terrans, while the expansions Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void will focus on the Zerg and Protoss, respectively. The game is set four years after the events of 1998's StarCraft: Brood War, and follows the exploits of Jim Raynor as he leads an insurgent group against the autocratic Terran Dominion. The game includes both new and returning characters and locations from the original game.
The game was met with very positive reviews from critics, receiving an aggregated score of 93% from Metacritic. Similar to its predecessor, StarCraft II was praised for its engaging gameplay, as well as its introduction of new features and improved storytelling. The game was criticized for lacking features that existed in the original StarCraft game including LANplay and a single multiplayer region. In its first month on sale, over three million copies ofStarCraft II were sold worldwide.[12]
Contents
- 1 Gameplay
- 2 Synopsis
- 3 Development
- 4 Release
- 5 Reception
- 6 Professional competition
- 7 References
- 8 External links
Gameplay
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StarCraft II features the return of the three species from the original game: Protoss, Terran, and Zerg.[1] In the Terran campaign, the originalStarCraft briefing room is replaced with an interactive version of the battlecruiser Hyperion, with Jim Raynor, now a bitter and hard-drinkingmercenary captain, as the central character. In a departure from previous Blizzard games, the campaign is non-linear, with Raynor taking jobs for money and using that money to buy additional units and upgrades. Although each playthrough will vary, the end result remains consistent, keeping the storyline linear. Vice President Rob Pardo stressed that each campaign will function very differently.[13] The Terran campaign,Wings of Liberty, places players in a mercenary-style campaign, as Terran rebel Jim Raynor performs missions for cash. The second release, the Zerg campaign Heart of the Swarm, will have role-playing elements. The player will level up the Queen of Blades, Kerrigan, throughout the missions. In the last expansion, the Protoss campaign Legacy of the Void, the dark templar Zeratul will have to employ diplomacy between Protoss tribes to acquire units and technologies for each mission. Wings of Liberty has 29 playable campaign missions, but only 26 of them are playable in a single playthrough since three missions are choice-related alternates. There is one secret mission named "Piercing the Shroud", which can be unlocked on the "Media Blitz" mission.[14][15]
Several unique missions are included in the Wings of Liberty campaign. In one level, lava floods the battlefield every five minutes, forcing the player to move their units to high ground or watch them get destroyed. In another mission, enemy units will only attack the player at night. Finally, in one mission, the player tries to influence the tide of an AI-controlled battle with only a single unit, a Spectre. The single player missions are highly customizable and are featured in the StarCraft II Community Zone. Between missions, players can choose units, buildings, and upgrades that are not available in the multiplayer missions.[16] A major new addition to the map-making community will be theStarCraft II Marketplace, where high quality maps will be sold for a small fee as "premium maps" over Battle.net. The mode of payment has not yet been announced. Lead Designer Dustin Browder has mentioned that even maps like player-created Defense of the Ancients inWarcraft III would not meet the quality requirements to be branded as a premium map.[17]
Wings of Liberty features approximately the same number of units as the original StarCraft.[18] Some units from the original game have returned, some featuring new upgrades and abilities. For example, the Protoss Zealot, a melee unit from the original game, now has the researchable ability to dash forward and quickly reach nearby enemies as a refinement of its speed upgrade from the original. Other units have been replaced or removed entirely.[19][20] Other changes to unit design have been inspired by story events in StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War, replacing old units with new or renamed versions which sport different attributes and abilities.[19] Units in StarCraft IIhave new abilities, compared to the original, that encourage more complex interaction with the game environment. Among these are the inclusion of units that can traverse varying levels of terrain,[21] or have the ability to teleport short distances.[19] Some Protoss units can be warped into pylon-powered areas using the Warp Gate, a slight modification of an existing building called the Gateway.[19][22] StarCraft II's campaign also has exclusive units which are only playable in the campaign and not in the regular multiplayer mode, though they are available for custom maps. These mostly consist of units which have been scrapped from development such as the Terran Diamondback as well as various returning units from the original StarCraft such as the Terran Wraith and Vulture.[23]
Editor
The StarCraft II Editor is a campaign, map, and mod editor. It is more sophisticated than StarCraft's StarEdit and WarCraft III's World Editor for creating custom maps and campaigns, and it is the first editor by Blizzard to feature built-in mod creation and usage support. Updated art and data from the original StarCraft that were not used, along with models and data that were scrapped during the development process (including those made as April Fools jokes) will be available in the editor.[24] Unlike previous editors made by Blizzard, it is the first to have Internet connectivity features such as map publishing, retrieval, and online activation of the editor client. Lead Producer Chris Sigaty has stated that the editor gives players the ability to create RPG, Hero-type units and structures resembling those from WarCraft III.[25] AtBlizzCon 2009, Blizzard demonstrated a build of the Starcraft II Editor showcasing its capabilities, such as the ability to customize the user interface to include features such as the Item system from Warcraft III. The final build includes a third-person style perspective for missions.[26]
The editor was available for the first time during the phase 1 beta testing of StarCraft II, when it came with a patch. With the start of phase 2, the editor was updated. At present, there is a large map-making community using the editor, creating first-person shooter games, RPGs, tower defense and AoS-type games. The map database is constantly being updated as more map makers create mods for the community. Blizzard has also changed the way that custom maps are distributed. Rather than hosting games using local map files, users now create and join games using maps that have been published to Battle.net. Users publishing maps or mods to Battle.net are limited to a total of 50 MB of storage, divided between ten files at most, with no file being larger than 10 MB. Although the Starcraft II Editor offers more features than the original StarCraft Editor in terms of gameplay customization, there are concerns that the publishing limitations of Battle.net will not allow for large-scale custom maps or extensive map availability unless there is an external map publishing tool.[27][28]
Synopsis
Background
The campaign storyline of StarCraft II takes place four years after StarCraft: Brood War,[29] and features the return of characters from the original series that include Zeratul, Arcturus Mengsk,Artanis, Sarah Kerrigan, and Jim Raynor. It also features new characters such as Rory Swann and Tychus Findlay. In StarCraft II, players revisit the original series' worlds, like Char, Mar Sara, and Tarsonis, as well as new worlds, such as the jungle planet Bel'Shir and New Folsom. TheXel'Naga, ancient space-faring race responsible for creating the Protoss and the Zerg, also play a major role in the story.[13]
At the conclusion of Brood War, Kerrigan and her Zerg forces became the dominant faction in the Koprulu Sector, having annihilated the United Earth Directorate's Expeditionary Force, defeated the Terran Dominion, and invaded the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. However, after the conclusion ofBrood War, Kerrigan retreats to Char, despite having more than enough power to crush all remaining resistance in the Koprulu Sector. In the four years leading up to the events of StarCraft II, she has not been seen or heard from by any of the other characters, although her ultimate attack may come at any moment.[30]
Arcturus Mengsk has been left to rebuild the Dominion, and is consolidating his power while fending off harassment from rival Terran groups.Valerian Mengsk, a character introduced in the novel Firstborn, will play an important role in Dominion politics, due to his position as heir apparent to the throne. Meanwhile, Jim Raynor, whose role in the events of StarCraft and Brood War has been marginalized by the media under the Dominion's control, has been reduced to mercenary status, and has been shown to be doing business with the "Moebius Foundation", a new faction which is interested in ancient Xel'Naga artifacts. Chris Metzen, Vice President of Creative Development at Blizzard, has emphasized that by the events of StarCraft II, Raynor has become jaded and embittered by the way he was used and betrayed by Arcturus Mengsk. Other new characters to the series include Tychus Findlay, first introduced in the StarCraft II teaser cinematic, amarine who becomes a member of Raynor's crew, and Matt Horner, Raynor's second in command, a character originally featured in the novelQueen of Blades.[30]
Following the fall of Aiur and the death of their matriarch Raszagal, the Protoss have retreated to the dark templar homeworld of Shakuras. There, Artanis, a former student of Tassadar, is trying to unify the Khalai Protoss and the dark templar, who have nearly separated into a tribal mindset as a result of centuries of distrust. Zeratul, tormented over the murder of his matriarch, has disappeared to search for clues to the meaning of Samir Duran's cryptic statements regarding the Protoss/Zerg hybrids in Brood War's secret mission "Dark Origin".[30]
Plot
Four years after the Brood War, the Dominion is once again the dominant Terran power in the Koprulu sector. News reports reveal that in the four years since the end of the Brood Wars the standing Dominion military forces have been reduced and trillions have been spent hunting down rebel forces that operate against the Dominion. For reasons unknown, Kerrigan gathered the swarm at Char and then vanished from sight. With the Zerg gone, the Protoss have once again taken a passive role in the galaxy. Jim Raynor has formed a revolutionary group named Raynor's Raiders in order to overthrow Dominion Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. On Mar Sara, Raynor meets with an old comrade, Tychus Findlay. Together, they liberate the local population from Dominion control and also discover a component of a mysterious Xel'Naga artifact. As the Zerg begin to overrun Mar Sara, Raynor arranges an evacuation to his battlecruiser, the Hyperion, captained by Matt Horner.
The Raiders embark on a series of missions to find the remaining pieces of the Xel'Naga artifact, which they sell to the enigmatic Moebius Foundation in order to fund their revolution. Along the way, they meet with Gabriel Tosh, a rogue Dominion psychic assassin known as a Spectre, and Ariel Hanson, a researcher on the Zerg and leader of a small farming colony. The Raiders perform missions to help Tosh procure the raw materials to train new Spectres. They also aid Hanson as she attempts to secure her colonists who are caught between the Zerg infesting their planets and the Protoss attempting to eradicate the infestation. Horner also arranges a series of missions to undermine Mengsk, recovering intelligence information about his war crimes and broadcasting them to the Dominion. Finally, Zeratul sneaks aboard theHyperion to deliver a psychic crystal which allows Raynor to share visions involving a prophecy regarding the future of the Zerg and Protoss, as well as a mysterious hybrid of the two, the ultimate revelation being that only Kerrigan has the power to prevent the eradication of all life in the sector and beyond.
After collecting more artifact pieces, Raynor's forces encounter Dominion battleships at the pre-agreed Moebius Foundation rendezvous point. The Moebius Foundation is revealed to be under the control of Valerian Mengsk, Arcturus' son. Valerian, intending to show himself as a worthy successor to his father, asks Raynor to help him invade Char and use the artifact to restore Kerrigan's humanity, thus weakening the Zerg. To the initial dismay of the crew, Raynor agrees. With Valerian's aid Raynor recovers the final artifact piece and the Raiders and Dominion invade Char. The Dominion fleet is severely damaged by the heavy Zerg defenses, but Raynor secures a foothold on Char and rendezvous with Dominion forces lead by Horace Warfield. Warfield is injured and appoints Raynor commander of the Dominion survivors. The combined forces push towards the main Hive Cluster of the planet, protecting the artifact while it charges energy, and the artifact eventually destroys all Zerg within its blast radius. Raynor's team finds Kerrigan restored to human form; however, Tychus reveals that he made a deal with Arcturus Mengsk, trading Kerrigan's life for his own freedom. Raynor defends Kerrigan from Tychus' attempt to kill her, shooting Tychus in the process. The closing scene shows Raynor carrying Sarah Kerrigan across the battlefield in his arms.[31]
Cast
The English language version of StarCraft II has Robert Clotworthy and James Harper reprising their roles from StarCraft as the voices of Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk. The rest of the cast including other returning characters are voiced by new actors. The voice director for the game was Andrea Romano.[32] Over 58 voice actors were hired for the game, some of whom voiced multiple characters.[33]
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