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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Games It's The Little Things

Posted by Earnest "Nex" Cavalli on Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 1:11 AM

In Space, Only The Dwarves Can Hear You Scream
  • In Space, Only The Dwarves Can Hear You Scream

In my upcoming review of StarCraft II for this here website's print analogue I talk a lot about the ingeniously fleshed out world Blizzard has created for the game. With good reason too; The game's singleplayer mode may not prove to have the staying power of the meticulously balanced multiplayer mode, but it is one of the most engrossing interactive gaming experiences I've ever had, chiefly because the setting is chock full of tiny details that all add up to the most engrossing, carefully designed fictional worlds this side of EVE Online.

I can go on and on about how I want to figuratively have sex with StarCraft II's fictional climes, but I thought sharing a few key screenshots might impress upon you all that sorta icky notion with fewer squishing noises and no pretty girls puking into their mouths.

Hit the jump for a pictorial tour of the future!

Before I start the show, I want to say that these images were taken from a very small portion of the game, namely your headquarters' armory (which can be seen in its entirety at the top of this post). In fact, the images themselves are essentially just a picture and a short description of a single unit.

Yet, the detail and care evident in these few images is shared with every other aspect of the game, and as a result should give a pretty solid idea of how fleshed out the entire game is. Imagine this sort of thing extrapolated over a few hundred hours of missions, all of which you're (nearly) entirely free to tackle when and how you want (or, at least, far more so than in any other strategy game I can remember), and you get an idea of what that $50 purchase price lets you take home.

As for technical details, these were all taken from within my copy of the game running on my MacBook Pro at the highest detail levels. I recommend clicking on them for some embiggening action, as the paltry 500 x Whatever thumbnail resolution just doesn't do these pics justice.

Now, on with the show:

The Viking: StarCraft IIs Resident Transformer/Robotech-style Mecha
  • The Viking: StarCraft II's Resident Transformer/Robotech-style Mecha

The Firebat: As Pyromaniacally Entertaining As Ever
  • The Firebat: As Pyromaniacally Entertaining As Ever

The Marauder: My Favorite New Unit -- Think Firebat + Massive Grenade Launcher
  • The Marauder: My Favorite New Unit — Think "Firebat + Massive Grenade Launcher"

Honestly I wanted to take similar Armory shots of all the game's units, but that would be telling. If you want more, buy the game.

You'll thank me.

 

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While it is just a game, I think it is interesting that they note that 53% of the Marauders operators have been to jail. This compares to the current military, where 12% of them have criminal records, (obviously not all of them served time,) but I have to imagine that where there is a truly desperate war going on, they might get pretty desperate for troops...

So in the interest of realism, do they show the Firebats killing an officer now and then? It happened all the time in Vietnam when there was a draft going on, although it happens less now, (or maybe they just don't get the press coverage.) When you mix the infantry in with the more senior units, do some of the more senior units sometime get damaged even with they aren't in combat? (I don't remember if they caused collateral damage in Starcraft 1 but the siege tanks did, however, I'm talking deliberate damage.)
Posted by Matthew D on July 29, 2010 at 12:11 PM · Report

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