OXCGN’s Steal it For 360?

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty (PC)

Would the definitive RTS game be welcomed on the 360 console?

by Shadow Wave

© 2010 Ben Cadwallader

So Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty has been out for a little while now and is proving to be immensely popular. But sadly this title is only being enjoyed by the happy millions of PC gamers out there, while us console gamers are stuck with playing shooter games like Halo: Reach or Medal of Honor.

There are many of us that would like to see a Real Time Strategy (RTS) successor to the successful Halo Wars which proved RTS can work on a console.

Is Starcraft 2 something the Xbox 360 owners should have had?

The Campaign:

The campaign continues the Starcraft story of the Terran, Protoss and Zerg.  Wings of Liberty focuses solely on telling the narrative of the Terran, while the other races’ campaigns will come in future expansions or episodes to the game in the years to come.

The campaign is split into two separate game play sequences,  the main one of course is the RTS gameplay we know and love. But in between missions you play as the protagonist Jim Raynor in a kind of point-n-click style where you get to explore his ship, talk to crew members, purchase upgrades and plan your upcoming missions. This is where most of the story unfolds.

Frequent cut scenes will occur while you are venturing on your ship. Generally after each mission someone will have something to say or something dramatic will happen. Sadly some of these cut scenes are quite taxing on your PC hardware and are a little buggy.

They also feel a little cheaper when compared to the original Starcraft where every cut scene was shown as a CGI quality movie. Due to this change CGI scenes are very infrequent. It would have nicer to have a more balanced blend of real time and CGI scenes.

The story is also a little slow and not interesting enough. The story just takes too long to get where it’s going and also falls prey to quite a predictable nearly clichéd narrative. However, that’s not to say the story doesn’t work, as it does keep you quite engaged, it’s just not enough compared to the standards that were set during the original game.

Controls in this area are incredibly basic and the character doesn’t even move. You just click on what you want to interact with and it will happen. Therefore there is no doubt the 360 or any console could handle this section of the game performance wise. Even on max settings the game looks great and occasionally hiccups, but with optimised settings for consoles I’m sure those problems would be non evident.

But the RTS battlefield is where the action really happens in Starcraft 2. After choosing a mission players are then dropped into a bird’s eye view of the battlefield where they can play classic Starcraft with some new things thrown in as well.

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Campaign missions are incredibly varied when compared to the original game. Think more like Warcraft 3 – where every mission had its own little twist to make each mission feel fresh.  For example one mission has you defending against wave after wave of Zerg until you can hold out no longer, and another has you stopping  supply trains before they get to their destination. But don’t get me wrong- there are also quite a few traditional missions as well.

During the campaign side of the game, players are also treated to a much greater range of unit and building choices compared to the multiplayer side. Combine that with purchasable upgrades for your units and you suddenly have yourself a completely different game when compared to the multiplayer side.

This makes both sides of the game feel quite fresh, but also makes it harder to bring your strategies from one side to the other.  Either way it’s great to see units such as the Firebat‘s  in the campaign, as they were removed from multiplayer.

And this is probably where console gamers would most welcome Starcraft 2 were it ever to become a console game. In the campaign you can scale the difficulty, things are much slower paced (with the exception of insane difficulty).  This means players could quite easily control the game with a console controller without stressing themselves out. Though it could never match the speed and precision that the PC can dish out, it could work as a healthy compromise.

The campaign itself runs at a pretty long pace, but after that there is still so much more to be seen in the game outside of multiplayer.  Players can play challenges which helps you train to know unit strengths and weaknesses and there are custom games where you can play against one or many NPC players in a multiplayer map.

You can also watch replays, save videos, create your own maps, and download user-created maps – there is so much depth in Wings of Liberty.

The Multiplayer:

Sadly, Starcraft’s multiplayer on a console could never match the speed, tactics and precision compared to that on the PC. And this is where the large turn off begins.  To be successful in the intense multiplayer arena requires you to develop extreme management skills, combining quick mouse button clicks with short cut keys allocated all over the keyboard to minimize downtime during each game.

This is often called ‘Actions Per Minute‘ (see video below of some professional players playing Starcraft). It’s surprising how just one second or one minor slip up can be a game decider. And sadly it becomes quite obvious that a game controller simply could not handle that requirement. But I say that doesn’t mean it couldn’t work.

• APM Demonstration Video – Japanese – English Subtitled

To be successful you’ll slowly have to learn to build your ‘actions per minute’ up as well as learning all the benefits and weaknesses of each unit. It has a very big learning curve, and it’s even harder when you are fighting players who might have been playing Starcraft since the original game. But eventually you’ll start to connect your dots and work your way up the ranks and ladders and really start to enjoy yourself.

There is a bit of a downside though if you are a casual player like me, you’ll find it very difficult to rank up the multiplayer ranks and reach the Silver, Gold, Diamond or Platinum league. The game requires consistent playing. If you play one or two games a day or a few times a week you’ll find yourself probably hovering at around the same rank the whole time, because while you are away players will be bettering your rank and pushing you back down.

If you start to get tired of playing traditional league matches, you can start to dip into the user-created custom maps, which are a blast to play. There are your classics such as Defense of the Ancients and a huge variety of Tower Defence games as well as many more to keep you entertained.

Blizzards Battle.net has also become a bit more of an unsocial place for Starcraft 2: they have removed lobby chat, so unless you have some friends that play online you’ll find it very quiet… And it’s unlikely that players you beat or lose to will want to be friends of course. So I suggest hopping onto a local gaming forum and make some good Starcraft 2 buddies to have some fun with.

The Beauty of Starcraft:

Wings of Liberty’s presentation is amazing to say the least.  The game itself looks simple but fantastic. What really stands out though is how many units there can be on the screen at once. Your whole screen could be full of hundreds of units all battling it out among explosions, slime and energy beams.

To see one of these moments in-game is nothing short of memorable. Some of the more fancy units particularly with Protoss look awesome ­– Void Rays, Motherships and Colossus’ just look great as they unleash destruction.  However what is just as impressive is watching hundreds of Zerglings launch into attack.

Outside of the game play, the game looks near photo realistic in the intermission point-n-click areas and cut scenes often stand out as having some very special effects and incredible detail, although there are some let downs such as the lack of facial expressions, square fingers and glitchy shadows etc.

Even the menus are well set out and easy to use, and keep true to the Terran blue colour scheme. In the background a Terran battle cruiser flies over the top of a planet and looks awesome, it just adds to the Blizzard quality seal you get from their games.

Audio is fantastic: from explosions and weapon noises all the way to dialogue and music. The music especially is worth noting, where it takes a strong influence from the original game and gives it a modern twist. It’s a great feeling when you first turn the game on and hear that classic Starcraft tune kick in.

The audio also plays during custom matches and has a tendency to make games seem even more intense, sparking your emotions just at the right time.  However it’s a little disappointing to have the classic distinct mining noises and a few other classic sound effects missing from the sequel. Besides that, the music and all audio in the game is top quality.

The Compromise:

Sure, the console version could never rival the PC father, but think of how much wider the audience would be for the game.  Many players who don’t have access to a PC gaming computer would probably appreciate the game in their hands in any form, even if it’s not the definitive version.

Improvements could be made: Why not implement the Xbox 360′s chat pad for use within the game and suddenly the game has access to almost all the same hotkeys the PC players do. Take a few things from Halo Wars such as the quick selection tool and simplified interface and suddenly the game feels like it could work.

Instead of picking and choosing a building from the bottom of the user interface, perhaps players can pick a spot of ground with the mouse and the building selection panel will pop up right there for them.

It might not match the PC version but a console version could take off even with the knowledge that it would be a slower paced and less intense multiplayer experience. Some PC players could even appreciate the potential slower pace as some multiplayer matches are incredibly extreme, where you come out of the battle with the heart racing, blood pumping and the dire need for a drink.

And as for the Campaign I really feel like the console gamers could appreciate the game; the missions are varied, they’re fun and the story is pretty entertaining.  But either way this is a Blizzard game. And not only that, it’s a Starcraft game. It would be awesome to dream about seeing a console version again (after the Nintendo 64 version of the original way back), even if the dream has no chance of ever getting off the ground.

But it is nonetheless a nice dream to think about.

Would we steal this title for the 360?

Steal It? YES!

© 2010 Ben Cadwallader

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