Why I Just Don't Care About StarCraft 2

StarCraft is among the most popular real time strategy games ever made - and to the great excitement of Blizzard fans, its sequel has been announced. The gaming world has been turned upside down by this revelation and as the release date inches closer, gamers continue to burst at the seams with excitement. After all, StarCraft as a pioneer in real time strategy game making, wasn't it? Well actually, no it wasn't. In terms of simple enjoyability in a single game, it ranks well below many other games of the time, and it brings very few things to the table that are "unique". In many ways, I found Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds to be more enjoyable than StarCraft, which found its calling more in the multiplayer than the singleplayer.

Which is what its sequel is being built around, Blizzard has revealed. The gaming empire known as Blizzard Entertainment has always spearheaded online gameplay with its versatile and well managed Battle.net. Coupled with relatively simple gameplay and a variety of customizable choices in strategies, StarCraft took off, so much so that it actually became a recognized sport in some countries.

But you know what? It can sit as comfortably as it want, neither it nor its upcoming sequel have ever enthused me in any great deal. The original StarCraft had an interesting and well-crafted back story in its game manual, which I found to be more enjoyable to read than to play the actual game. The graphics, like everything else Blizzard produces, are cartoony and uninspiring, the game play is frighteningly simple, and nothing particularly comes out and screams "play me".

Perhaps the only thing that attracted me to the game, save for the large community and easy online game play that allowed me to play it with friends, was the fact that it was one of the few sci-fi real time strategy games out there. Most real time strategy games were based in history or fantasy, neither really lending itself much to the idea of rockets, forts, and battleships.

But as everyone around me flocked to StarCraft, I was instead intrigued by Shogun: Total War and the remarkable realism it offered. Gone were the mindless units that fought to their doom regardless of the odds. Gone were the graphics that looked like they would eventually break out into a musical number and teach me basic mathematical skills. Gone was mindless harvesting and converting the harvested goods into hordes of units that I essentially carelessly threw at the enemy, not caring in the least where the consequences. It didn't feel like strategy, it felt like a harvest race - whoever mined the fastest in most real time strategy games, won by simple merit of being able to produce units and defenses faster.

Therefore I became engrossed in the Total War series, where I found myself much more inclined to enjoy the massive empire building, the units who would not stand around to deal with hopeless battles, and more importantly, actual strategic and tactical requirements to win.

I always kept up with StarCraft though - after all, it was just that popular, and sometimes I just wanted to go blow things up with my friends.

Then the sequel was announced, and the mental image I got was Company of Heroes in a sci-fi setting with intense unit battles and potentially very realistic, next gen graphics. As I look over the graphics for the new StarCraft though, they're all pretty much the same. In fact, the more I look over them, the less and less interested in the game I become, as in many cases I actually struggle to tell the difference between the two games.

Blizzard promises the game will have a strong focus on multiplayer - in most of their press releases it has almost seemed as though singleplayer is going to be an afterthought, making it essentially a free MMORTS - something that just downright doesn't appeal to me. I've played on battle.net before, I frequently play a player made modification of WarCraft III called Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), and frankly the maturity level of anyone online is not something that encourages me to leap into a social environment. The learning curve for online games is enhanced triple fold in competitive multiplayer games as you simply don't feel like playing due to the onslaughts of "you suck" "you noob" "no one likes you" and as many other things as can barrage your screen with far inferior grammar.

Fundamentally, StarCraft 2 appears to be little more than a remake of the original utilizing new techniques for video game artwork, but not actually enhancing said art. Meanwhile, the only thing it appears to actually add are new units - but if the game isn't going to do a massive overhaul of its origins, it appears to simply be a lazy attempt at milking the StarCraft franchise.

Something "new" has to be added to a real time strategy game for it to really pique my interest - the title Blizzard may attract millions of players without a doubt, but if there's one thing the game industry has taught me, its that success does not necessarily go to the games that deserve it.

And this new StarCraft won't be an exception.