The RTS that got me into RTS games, this is a masterpiece of its time, and completely blew its predecessor away.
First off, the game looks great, there are a handful of environments all looking quite unique. The animations are fairly fluid and each unit looks fantastic. Watching two armies clash in this game is absolute bliss. For its time, this has to be one of the best looking RTS games. The cutscenes also look fantastic for its time, but are slightly flawed with akward models and content that generally has absolutely nothing to do with the current story.
The sound, on the other hand, is flawless. The music is very appropriate and sounds fantastic (you will not forget these tunes), and actually adds character to each of the two factions. The sound effects of each unit are amusing, well acted and generally appropriate. The battle effects are absolutely great. As far as the sound goes, I have absolutely nothing to complain about.
Now the controls are a major improvement. First of all, you can click and drag to select multiple units. The maximum unit number for a group is now 9. To make it even better you can program a group to a number on the keyboard (0-9) to make a maximum of 10 groups of 9. That means you can effectively control 90 units at a time. Also, right-click is now used for movement/attacking and left clicking is used for selecting now. Both buttons to serve the same funciton like in the original. The controls are much more optimized and the only complaint I have is that using spells can be a little difficult in the heat of battle since you have to individually select your unit to use the spell (I'm used to Warcraft III's controls now). Still, this is a major improvement over the original. The game is actually playable this time around.
There are two factions again: the Orcs and the Humans. Each factions tells the story through its own unique perspective, and the story starts to get quite a bit more deep in comparison to the original. Each factions is nearly identical though, with minor differences in some spells only. This means that really you are choosing to play as whichever faction you like better through looks only. Still, since the game is balanced, you will find every match to be a match of fast-paced and violent chess. The best thing I like is that roads have now been removed, giving you MUCH more freedom in building. Also, there are many new units, and there is a whole new naval aspect that makes things VERY interesting.
The campaign mode for each faction is easy and gentle for the first 7 missions. Then the last 7 missions put you into absolutely difficult situations that require you make complete use of all the tactics you have used. Sometimes it can be brutally difficult, but with some thinking over tactics, everything is manageable. I was a little dissapointed that the cave missions were removed in this game (where you are given a certain number of units and you must get through an enemy-filled dungeon and survive), but I suppose Blizzard used that opportunity to make a whole game based around that concept: Diablo. On the bright side it does come back in the future. So there are a total of 28 missions, 14 being extremely difficult and 14 being fairly easy. The sudden change in difficulty can be a little frustrating at first but you get over it quite quickly.
One of the best things about this game is the multiplayer. There are a good number of varied maps that are included and this game is much more fun to play with friends than the previous installment. You will find that you will be playing this game long after you have completed the content if not for the multiplayer, than at least for the skirmishes and the unique scenarios that the game includes.
This is one of the best RTS games even to this day. Granted, so many newer games offer so much better content and optimization, but for its time and what this offers, you can't find a better RTS. This has to be one of Blizzard's best works (my personal favorite being Warcraft III). Enjoy.
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Value: 9/10
OVERALL: 9.0/10.0