It did not start out well. The installer kept giving up at 51%. The support site suggested that there was damage to the pristine disk that had not touched any surface but the interior of its own envelope and the tray of the DVD drive. It had a solution to this exact problem all worked out, telling people to copy all the files from the disk to the computer and try to install it directly that way. After several false starts, such as the game's insistence on trying to connect on-line with Mozilla, which I had never used on my computer, and which was not even the default browser, it finally installed itself, and immediately downloaded a patch without my permission. My machines are my slaves. I strongly disapprove of initiative on their part (the Mac/PC commercials with the hipster and the stuffy old bland guy actually make PCs appeal more to me), since you never know exactly what the first steps on the road to HAL, Skynet and the Matrix might be. The fact that there were such unique problems for which Blizzard was already posting very specific solutions on their support page, and that it needed a patch on the very day the damn thing was released did not bode well in my eyes.

Now there are things I really, really hate when they happen in video games.

- Required internet connection to install/activate: bad. Required internet connection to save or load your game: VERY bad.
Required internet connection to actually play the damn thing: I get my money back if I have to ram my copy of the game down the store manager's throat.

- Emphasis on story over gameplay. Blizzard RTS games are really bad about this, IMO. I loathed the stages in Warcraft 2 where you had to escort a death knight or paladin to the stupid magic circle with a finite force. That isn't WARcraft, it's fellowship-of-the-ring-craft. If I WANTED to play a fantasy RPG adventure party game, I'd BUY one! I played Warcraft to simulate military action between orcs and humans, and I played Starcraft to fight space battles against aliens, not to act out a sci-fi movie. In the original Starcraft, my least favorite missions were the ones where you wandered through hallways to activate beacons and rescue prisoners and place a device for lord-knows-what-convoluted-and-uninteresting-reason that you can't even care about because in a few stages you will fighting to achieve the opposite of whatever your objective was in this mission anyway. There are vastly superior media for telling stories, such as Books and Films and Television, which we would partake of if we wanted a F***ing story! A badly rendered cartoon is not made more enjoyable because you are being forced to make it happen in order to be allowed to the play the game you wanted when you chose a STRATEGY game. Not to mention, having your soldiers wandering around hosing down each enemy with about 800 bullets each from a thunderous-sounding machine gun, kind of detracted from the commando-stealth-infiltration feel the nerds who designed the game seem to be going for.

- I hate the farce of choosing missions by clicking on one icon or another, when all you are really doing is choosing what order you will play each of them in anyway.

- I hate collecting items. There is a reason why Diablo & Warcraft are two different games!

- I hate having to buy things out of the game and equip my men and units and treat them like individuals, rather than anonymous cannon fodder whose lives I conserve only because of the materiel cost and time it takes to replace them or because I feel like wreaking havoc in a more artful fashion than normal. If I ever meet someone from THQ or Relic, he's going to end up swallowing my disk for Dawn of War 2. And as far as the story that the nerds who program this stuff all think is so important - giving the player a vested interest in his men by forcing him to equip them and spend resources on them is contrary to the spirit of the dystopian societies presented in Starcraft or Dawn of War, IMO.

Starcraft 2 does ALL of these things, BUT, they do them right! The irreplaceable team stages are kept to a minimum and are in the very beginning when the game play is already annoying because of the hand-holding narration and gradual-teaching pace of the plot (why do they put tutorials in a game when the first stage is just going to walk us through it anyway? Do people REALLY need a tutorial to figure out "click on it"? ).

The between-stages shopping is entirely voluntary, the funds to pay for it are rewards for completing a mission, meaning you don't have to worry about looking for stuff or smashing every crate you see in case there is a potion or fragment of a stone or whatever, or divert funds from your hard-mined treasury that means you can't get another tank just yet. In addition, it fits in seamlessly with the story, and the in-game explanation for your shopping and equipping actually makes sense. Rather than fully upgrade all your equipment and base and technical capabilities in one stage, only to start out the next stage with Siege tanks that can't change modes, Wraiths that can't cloak, Vultures that don't have spider mines and so on, the special abilities of your units and structures are what you purchase inbetween stages. The item-finding aspect is simply locating an obvious object on the map and touching it with a ground unit. This gives you one point of Zerg or Protoss research, and every five points, your tech people have figured out a couple of new units or upgrades or capabilities, of which you can select one, and now is your permanent ability. For instance, by gathering enough zerg biological samples or specimens, your nerd can develop an organic metal that will allow your vehicles and buildings to regenerate like the zerg do, or weapon that is well-suited to fighting zerg.

These reward systems do not detract or divert from the military-strategy aspects of game play, and allow a certain degree of customization. You still have the general weapons and armor upgrades at your Engineering Bay, Armory or Protoss Forge, but at least they don't make you reinvent the wheel on every stage. Your ARMY has the technology. Screw the individual units. You can still send them to die in massed waves, because you'll still have all the stuff you paid for when it's done.

For the choosing missions issue, they tell you beforehand what resources are available in the mission. I.E., a 50,000 "credit" reward for completing it, up to 3 points of zerg research available, the new unit you get in the mission, etc. As far as that last goes, the order in which you carry out the missions determines what you will have available when you undertake each one, so the order can actually make a difference, particularly if you are the kind of player who depends heavily on a particular type of unit (i.e., bounding advance of Siege Cannons to methodically smash an enemy base is a bit tricky if you decide to go after the stage where you get Vultures first).

As far as the connecting to the internet to play, I didn't really notice. A lot of times, it seems like in these sorts of games, the single player game is an afterthought, or intended as a training course to get you up to speed for multiplayer. With SC2, once you log onto Battlenet, things go along rather smoothly, the game autosaves when you accomplish significant milestones in each stage and after beating each stage, so if your connection gets lost, you're good to resume almost where you left off. As far as the viability of the single-player campaign, this is one of those occasions where the nerds' love of sharing their fan-fiction-esque stories is the game's salvation - they want to tell their story so bad, they HAVE to give a lot of attention to the single-player campaign, and as a result, you have all the upgrading and choosing and mission-picking I mentioned above.

And finally, the story issues. You can skip the cut scenes if you want, which is good because there's a lot more conversations between CGI people whose teeth don't quite fill up their mouths, and whining and drinking. Aside from that, they seem to have finally developed the games to the point where the story can be incorporated into the game and made awesome. There is a stage where you are forced to utilize the mobility of Terran structures. Sure, you COULD float your Command Center to the next batch of minerals when they ran out, but who bothered, really? By the time a batch of minerals gave out, you were so freaking rich, it was less exasperating to just fly an SCV to the new spot and build a new Command Center there. In addition, in most stages, by the time you exhaust a mineral site, you should already have built additional bases on the other sites. In this stage, the world you are working on is being incinerated by its own sun, and you have to pack up and move your base to keep the implacable wall of fire from incinerating it. Building new bases is not really an option either, since the mineral deposits are all so small that you are running the op on a shoe-string. You have enough money to smash the protoss and build new add-ons or replacements for casulties, but not to fritter away 400 minerals on a new command center in each tiny patch of crystals. And it's a better reason for a time limit on the game than the creepy head-wire chick telling you that in exactly 30 minutes or 10 minutes, the world is going to blow up, or the enemy will arrive in indefeatable numbers or whatever (the less they do things that remind you that your enemy is not individual people with free will but actually the same computer program that controls your units as well, the better, IMO). In this stage, there is simply a giant wall of fire sweeping across the screen. Even if in practice it is no different than the clock, it is more satisfying and a better representation of an implacable and uncaring universe than numbers ticking down.

There is a stage where you have to defend 'X' until 'Y' happens, which in this case X = a giant laser and Y = descrating an ancient temple so you can pilfer a magic protoss rock. Normally these are annoying because they go to great lengths to explain why it is so important when they all boil down to: Build up defenses and a reserve force to destroy the increasingly powerful waves of protoss. It's okay. It's an objective. But stop trying to come up with reasons why THIS one is special or what have you. Except in the giant laser stage, the characters get sensible and do what any soldiers would when they see glowing energy beings staging up for an assault on their still-without-airsupport camp. THEY SHOOT THE GIANT LASER AT THEM! You actually get to utilize the McGuffin in a "defend the base for Z minutes" stage! It is a giant laser, with no recharge time, no energy level needed, no vespene or mineral cost to firing! The only limitations are entirely intuitive and non-arbitrary. Since it is a direct-fire weapon (i.e., points straight at what it wants to hit, as opposed to an orbital death ray, guided missile or ballistic trajectory projectile), so you have to have line of sight to the target, and any time the laser spends blasting Zealots to Protoss-Hell is time that it is not blasting at the game-winning objective. So the only "cost" to using the giant death laser is...more time to have fun with the giant death laser! That stage is as close to a satisfying virtual sex experience as you are likely to get without clipping things to your junk.

The point of all this rambling is, in this game, they found ways to warm their little nerd hearts by telling their story, without sacrificing the military/combat/tactical aspects of the game. The hoops they ask you to jump through are not as ridiculous, and the game-play and story are much more organic and seamlessly conjoined.

Similarities to, and Differences from the old game:
- I have heard that this game is only the Terran campaign and that you will need expansion packs to play the Protoss and Zerg campaigns. I don't know if this is true yet. However, I cannot recall the game ever offering me the option of choosing which campaign to play, and "Wings of Liberty" just does not scream "Protoss" or "Zerg" to me. I don't mind, because I overwhelmingly favor the Terran campaigns out of both specieistic chauvanism and the ideal mixture of simplicity and firepower. However, for those who like the Protoss, there is an optional campaign-within-a-campaign featuring Zeratul's quest to do some Protoss religious bullshit, and you get a taste of the new Protoss structures and units. You can play a stage in this, and go back to fighting Terran battles as long as you want, or play the Zeratul campaign out if you like. And the in-game explanation for this side campaign makes sense too, and it can affect your main campaign by giving you research points as well, so it's not a waste of Terran time.

- The look of the units is very similar for Terran and Protoss, with the structures all still recognizable, and most of the units returning. Though they have become more cartoony-looking in the inevitable Blizzard game series progression, it is not so great a change as it was from Warcraft 2 to 3.
The Terrans (as far as I have progressed) still have the SCV, Marine, Firebat & Medic. The Ghost also exists, though you can choose to use a variant of the Ghost that is still an invisible soldier with a powerful rifle that can target Nukes, but has different psychic powers. There is a new infantry unit (Marauder) similar to the Firebat, but which fires an anti-vehicle/structure weapon, rather than a close combat weapon. There is a light, fast scout unit with a powerful close combat attack called a Reaper, which has a jet pack that allows it to hop up and down cliffs without needing ramps. (Dawn of War players, beware! Despite superficial similarities, it is NOT akin to the Space Marine Raptors, and should not be tossed into the middle of a crowd of enemies to mix it up while the ranged units blast away from a distance - rather it is a recon/raiding unit that dies easily but still packs a punch). The old vehicles are all back as well. You have the siege tank (no need to buy the transformation upgrade either), the Goliath and the Vulture (you can buy an upgrade between stages that allows it to replenish the mines, which look better). There is also an anti-ground vehicle hovercraft (Diamondback), a dunebuggy with a flamethrower (Hellion), and maybe a big walker thing that I have not yet unlocked.
The air/space units include the Wraith (no need to buy cloaking ability), and apparently the Battlecruiser (I have not yet unlocked it, but I have fought them). The Dropship has been replaced by an identical-looking ship called a Medevac with, I believe, two more slots for transportation, which also has the power of a Medic - it automatically heals infantry units! The Science Vessel must be unlocked by accumulating Protoss research points, and you must choose whether your force will use the Science Vessel (it seems to have the same abilities, but I choose the other option so I am not sure) or a new thing that looks like a Protoss Arbiter, called the Raven. It is a detector unit too, and deploys little temporary defensive units, like an auto-turret. The Valkyrie from the Brood War expansion is gone, and not missed. Instead there is the Viking, which can switch between air-to-air (very slow) fighter mode (two of them killed a Protoss Carrier, though dying themselves, in what I thought would be a sacrificial delaying attack) and surface-to-surface walker mode. There is also a plane called the Banshee which is basically a Terran version of the Zerg Guardian. The only difference is, it is faster, having comparable speed to other air units, and lacks range, so you can't sit outside the range of Photon Cannons and blast them at your leisure, but it probably makes for better balance.
The buildings are basically the same, but each main structure has a choice of add-ons. The tech-lab unlocks most of the structure's repetoire, while the reactor add-on allows you to build two units in you queue simulatneously (you have to pay for both, you just get them faster). So essentially, you can either have a barracks that will make every kind of infantry, or one that will only make Marines, but makes them really fast. Or a starport that makes all your ships, or one that only produces Valkyries, and so on. The bunkers can be sold back when you don't need to defend a location anymore, and can be upgraded in the research tree and with the armory. I'm about 10 stages or so in, and my bunkers hold six slots (which is necessary because Firebats now take up 2 slots), units inside them have increased range, and there is a gun on top, that fights even if no one is inside. There are flamethrower turrets you can build that burrow underground and pop-up when enemies come in range. You can also build a mercenary HQ similar to the nuetral shops in Warcraft 3, where you can unlock certain types of units between stages and then purchase them in the game from this building. They appear instantly and are slightly bulkier-appearing versions of the standard units, with enhanced capabilities.

For the Protoss, you still have the Zealots, Dark Templar, High Templar, Archon, Observer, Scout, Carrier and probes. The Dragoon appears to have been replaced by a similar blue thing that can teleport short distances. There is no sign of Reaver, but you get this big-ass walker unit called a Colossus that is so tall it can step up and down cliffs without using the ramps, but is vulnerable to anti-air weapons. When fighting the Protoss, in one stage they have this thing that more or less acts like the alien ships in Independence Day - it slowly flies over the enemy location and blasts the living hell out of it. I don't know if you ever get them as the Protoss. I don't know if you will eventually be able to combine Dark Templar to make the red, mind-control Archon. There are a bunch of other aircraft that are kind of hard to tell if they are new versions of Corsairs and Arbiters when you are playing against them, and there are little glowing round things on the ground that I don't know what they do, but they blow up real nice. And Zeratul can teleport. And the non-Zeratul protoss are still D-bags.

I don't know if the same sort of upgrading system is going to work for the Protoss as it does with the humans. Part of the specific traits of the humans is their versatility and adaptability, so the idea of buying technical upgrades and engineering new technologies by studying captured alien stuff makes sense. But the Protoss tech is so super-advanced they can't even effect field construction or repairs - they teleport the finished product in from somewhere else, and they are supposed to be an ancient race of vast knowledge and power. Doesn't make sense for a group like that to find bits of human junk and go "Aha! I see now how to make our super-tech even better." I would imagine the Zerg could call it targeted mutations or something, but I think to keep maintain the same level of quality and verisimilitude for the Protoss, they need to keep the features similar but difference enough to reinforce that these are aliens who don't think or progress as we do.

Finally, regarding the Zerg, Kerrigan is back, looks hotter (and is hotter in the flashbacks to her human days too) but has the same ridiculous claw/spine things on her foot which Angelina Jolie had in Beowolf, that effectively serve as high-heels. But so what. Also, the Overmind appears to be getting a ret-con rehabilitation. As yet, there is no zerg sample campaign, so I can't attest to any changes in them. The Zerglings, Hydralisks, Mutalisks and Ultralisks are still there (the latter of which you can actually see well enough to figure out what they look like - I thought the old ones were a kind of trunk-less elephant), as well as the same old Drone worker-units, and Overlord flying detector units (this game is considerate enough to show you the circumference of the detection range for Overlords and Missile Turrets), and things that look like Scourge. There is still the creep, but it now seems generated by little purple pustules called Creep Tumors. The Nydus Canal is more of a living organism, that pops up on its own like the asteroid worm in Empire Strikes Back, and tries to bite you before spewing out the transported units. There is something that looks like the Spire for air units, and the HQ is still called a Hatchery, and has larva crawling around it. The infested humans come in different varieties now, and some of them shoot you. I don't know if any of them are suicide bombers, but there is something called a Baneling that does that. Another new feature of the zerg is that when you destroy certain structures, a bunch of little broodling-like critters comes swarming out of the burst wreckage. The sunken colonies seem to have been replaced by a snake-like think in a round base (think of the Naga base defenses in Warcraft 3) that streches out an bites intruders, and the spore colonies can now walk around. Beyond that, I don't know if the old critters are still there, but different looking (the Overlords seemed more threatening - at first I thought they were the new Devourers). There is at least one new ground unit called a Roach, which I think spits poison or acid, but I don't know for sure what it can or can't do.

All in all, a pretty good game. The only thing I question is the separation of the races into different games (if that is what they did), but that mostly depends on how fast they release them. If they are just saving them for Christmas shoppers, fine. If they are going to release them one each year, that's just a dick move for a sequel ten+ years later.