Today, Blizzard lifted the embargo on Starcraft II single-player coverage, as you can see.

In short, it’s Starcraft– but with an added Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries / Wing Commander: Privateer gameplay style that was so popular in the nineties.  It’s all there: the adventure game “click on me to advance the conversation” bar area, list of missions you can run for cash, and tech upgrade and mercenary hiring for help with upcoming missions.

I loved Mercenaries, and I loved Privateer.  Between the release of those games and now, though, GTA3 happened– and Oblivion and Assassin’s Creed and, hell, The Simpsons Game.  Mass Effect’s Normandy felt primitive, and Starcraft II doesn’t even go that far.  Don’t we expect a bit more from our AAA titles nowadays?  2-D games with designs solved in the 1990′s feel like the domain of the small, independent developer at this point.  From a top-tier publisher, I expect huge worlds, technical feats, features that blow me away at first glance.  (Who didn’t feel a bit of awe when first playing Oblivion or Assassin’s Creed?  Or World of Warcraft?  Who expects to feel that with Starcraft 2?)

What should I have expected from Starcraft 2?  A break from the simply encapsulated, object-based missions on a rectangular map.  A world that responds to my presence, but persists regardless.  Characters that do more than simply unlock a new dialog resource when I complete my next mission.  Gameplay beyond what I saw on the prequel over 10 years ago.  Exciting, immersive, shocking moments that may not even be possible in a top-down game.

Am I asking too much from Starcraft 2?  Probably.  Start with Blizzard’s essentially conservative design philosophy, and add an existing fan base so hard-core that Starcraft II’s designers are practically imprisoned.  And the PC– we’re talking about a platform that makes technological advance prohibitively difficult.  That fragmented 5400 RPM hard drive will give you crap streaming speed; the integrated video card will surprise you if it surpasses original XBox capabilities.  Anything next-gen is a huge technical risk.

Still, I can’t say that I’m not looking forward to Starcraft II.  Reading those previews makes me nostalgic for Privateer.  Starcraft II already feels like a cozy, comforting game that doesn’t demand too much– something I’ll play well into the night, when I’m past tired, one more level after one more level.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Game Discussion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.