Some things are just worth fighting for.
Before launch Blizzard received a lot of criticism for deciding to split StarCraft II's campaign into three separate campaigns: Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void - each catering specifically to one of the game's three distinct races: Terran, Zerg, and Protoss. It would be easy to cry foul to something such as this, especially when you consider that the original StarCraft and its expansion featured an overarching campaign that consisted of all three races. However, unlike the original game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty's campaign is a much more expansive and thorough campaign than any of its predecessors.
Focusing exclusively on the Terran faction, Wings of Liberty spans across a total of nearly thirty missions - which is essentially the combined total of all three of the campaigns in the original StarCraft. Being free from the constraints of having to focus on all three races at once, Blizzard has essentially been given the freedom to craft what can easily be considered the greatest real-time strategy campaign they've ever created. The original StarCraft's characters were very well done but for the most part you only had ten missions to get to know them and that was pretty much it. Later you'd occasionally witness their endeavors through the eyes of one of their enemies as you'd continue on with the other campaigns. However with StarCraft II the added campaign length gives significant breathing room for expanded character interaction and development. You'll really get to know these characters much better than you ever would have in the past.
Blizzard has a strong knack for storytelling and they've really put that on display here with StarCraft II. You'll take on the role of Jim Raynor and his ragtag group of rebels known as Raynor's Raiders as they attempt to overthrow Emperor Mengsk and his oppressive dictatorship that Jim Raynor himself unwittingly helped establish in the original StarCraft. Things don't always go according to plan however and you'll also find yourself partaking in numerous other missions. The campaign culminates toward the end in an epic battle against Kerrigan and the Zerg and last few hours of the campaign are easily the best moments in the entire game. It's easy to wish that the climax of the campaign lasted longer before the inevitable conclusion but the brevity makes the excellence of the final missions even that much more apparent. While Wings of Liberty is for the most part a self-contained story and doesn't necessarily end on a cliffhanger, it still leaves a lot of things left up in the air. Perhaps a little disappointing for people who have been waiting twelve years to see how the events of Brood War would play out only to have to wait once again, but Wings of Liberty's lengthy twenty hour campaign will more than likely satisfy all of your StarCraft II story needs.
Throughout your journey to overthrow Mengsk you'll encounter a wide variety of different characters that will offer up a lot of different missions that will shape how your adventure unfolds. Tychus Findlay in particular is a stand-out addition amongst the cast and gives the Terran faction a much-needed likable character who in many ways can't really be accurately described as a hero. It's amusing to see his rank in-game labeled as "Scoundrel" instead of an actual infantry rank. Matt Horner is another great addition and while he seemingly comes across as a bog-standard heroic character, there's a lot more to him than meets the eye. He serves as a great foil to Jim Raynor, the hero of this story who isn't always so heroic. He's an ever-loyal, optimistic voice that keeps Raynor going when the universe has him down. He's an infinitely likable character that anyone with a strong sense of justice can easily relate to.
The missions offered to you by the characters are presented in a non-linear format and can be tackled in any order you see fit. While everyone who plays Wings of Liberty will ultimately end up at the same predestined conclusion, the way in which you get there is entirely up to you. For the vast majority of the campaign missions will grant access to new units and upgrades, thus each person's playthrough of a specific mission will be different based entirely on the order they've gone through the campaign.
The mission's themselves are extremely varied and often focus on unique objectives that keep them fresh and unique. In many circumstances you will be required to do the traditional base building where you gather resources and acquire a formidable army, but missions scenarios are often much more interesting than simply wiping out your opponents base. One mission in particular will have you facing off against a horde of infested colonists during nighttime while attempting to neutralize the infection during daylight hours in a zombie apocalypse-like scenario. Another will have you racing against Zerg forces to reach orbital drop pod reinforcements before they're annihilated. There's even a train robbery mission which makes specific use of a campaign-only unit known as the diamondback which is one of the few rare units which can attack whilst simultaneously moving. In fact, many of the missions which grant access to new units (which is nearly all of them) make some sort of specific use of said unit being granted, often making for unique and interesting scenarios.
Before and after each mission you'll navigate the Hyperion - Jim Raynor's battlecruiser that he acquired during his exploits in the original game. Navigation of the Hyperion operates much like a point-and-click adventure game, where you'll be able to talk to other characters, and click on objects in the environment to examine them in further detail. There are several areas of the Hyperion with each one focusing on a different aspect of gameplay. Each mission rewards the player with cash, so you can visit the armory on the Hyperion to spend it on permanent individual unit upgrades such as stimpacks and combat shields for marines. Likewise you can also tackle optional mission objectives during missions that provide research opportunities that can be advanced in the ship's laboratory. You'll have access to both a Zerg and Protoss research tree where you can choose between various different upgrades. Each level of research will require you to choose between one of two upgrades, such as being able to create a planetary fortress (weapon-fitted command center) or being able to build perdition flamethrower turrets that conceal themselves in the ground when not being used. Wings of Liberty even consists of a few key moments that require you to make a choice between two things presented to you by different characters that will change the way a part of the story plays out. These choices do not affect the overall storyline but they add a nice dimension to the campaign that also provides even further replayability. There's no real right or wrong choice either as no matter what you choose the event's aftermath will always justify your decision.
Not only does StarCraft II come with an absurdly complete and feature-packed campaign, but it also comes with its widely most sought-after aspect: multiplayer. StarCraft II's multiplayer mode is a completely different animal from its single-player sibling, featuring tightly balanced and highly competitive gameplay. Thankfully StarCraft II's multiplayer has been designed with a lot of improvements with the new battle.net service in mind. No longer will anyone be too intimidated to venture online, as the new battle.net will gauge your skill level through a series of placement matches and then match you up with a league of similarly skilled players. Battle.net consistently monitors your progress, so even if you place in the lowly bronze league you can eventually climb your way out of it with a bit of hard work. It's a great system that encourages players of all skill levels to play and compete. People of lesser skill will no longer be alienated out of fear of being continuously dominated by high-level players. The only regret is that there is currently no support for viewing online replays with your friends, so you'll unfortunately have to save your replays and send them to your friends manually if you want to share them.
As with all Blizzard games, StarCraft II's audiovisual presentation is astounding. It's easily Blizzard's most graphically intensive and best-looking game to date. With a powerful PC the in-game cinematics are almost CG quality, but the game is also highly scalable to a wide variety of configurations, so people with less powerful machines will still be able to play and enjoy a fantastic-looking game. Even on the lower settings StarCraft II still looks great thanks to its magnificent artistic design - a staple of every Blizzard game.
Purists will be glad to know that StarCraft II's soundtrack remains faithful to the original game. Several motifs that will be instantly recognizable to longtime fans return and the general feeling and atmosphere of the soundtrack is very similar to the original game. Longtime fans are bound to get a great sense of nostalgia as they hear familiar Terran, Zerg, and Protoss themes as they play. The voice acting is some of the best in the business, with quite a few of the original actors reprising their roles, such as Robert Clotworthy as Jim Raynor. Unfortunately some of the original voice actors do not return due to various circumstances. The original voice actor of Zeratul passed away during the time between StarCraft and its sequel, but thankfully replacements do a good job for the most part. The feeling of unfamiliarity with some of the newer voices may irk some at first, but given enough time you'll come to see them as respectable performances in their own right.
Twelve years is a long time to ask anyone to wait for a sequel - and it's doubtful that Blizzard ever intended for a StarCraft sequel to actually take such a ridiculous amount of time to ever be released. It's hard to believe that Blizzard actually managed to take a franchise with such a legendary reputation and dedicated fanbase and actually craft a sequel that truly lives up to its name. StarCraft II is an absolutely magnificent game with almost absurd replay value and an extraordinarily immersive campaign. StarCraft II doesn't live in the shadow of its predecessor or bank on its past success to pave its way; there's enough changes both significant and subtle that make StarCraft II stand on its own legs as both an amazing sequel and an incredible stand-alone game. While it's true that StarCraft II's significance is probably not anywhere near as profound as its forebear, it's still safe to say that twelve years from now StarCraft II will more than likely be just as legendary.
"After everything we've been through... past all the fire and fury... the one thing I know - is that we can count on each other to get the job done. Or die trying, if that's what it takes... because some things are just worth fighting for."