Starcraft 2

When I did a review of the Protoss Mothership in May, I did it based on the first gameplay video as well as the narration.

Now, Starcraft2.com has a dedicated page for the Protoss Mothership. You’ll be able to see video clips of all three mothership abilities in action: Cloak Field, Time Bomb, and Planet Cracker.

This is the follow-up to the Protoss tech tree that was exhibited at Blizzcon. Text comes from Gamespot.

Of course, basic units like the marine and the medic are back, though you’ll immediately notice the firebat is missing. Other units haven’t been completely removed so much as replaced by new, improved versions. The old goliath mech has given way to the new viking, which acts just like a goliath–until you research and enable its transformation ability, which turns it into a jet that can get it across otherwise impassable barriers. Another unit which has no respect for variable elevation is the reaper, which you hire from a bar with a female night elf dancing on top of it. These mercenaries build almost instantly, since you’re just hiring them instead of training them, and in addition to being able to jump up and down to higher and lower terrain, it can now throw a timed bomb and escape the area before it explodes. We saw a large group of these reapers all throw out bombs at the same time to do massive damage to an enemy base before beating a hasty retreat.

The terrans have quite a bit of air support in Starcraft II, at least as it stands right now. The predator is a new flyer that can only attack other aerial units, but it can also take on an intercept mode where it will attempt to shoot down incoming enemy fire (presumably things like missiles). Everyone’s favorite the battlecruiser is here again, but this time it won’t simply default to the incredibly powerful, single-shot Yamato cannon like it did in the first game. Sure, the Yamato is still here, but this time you’ll get to choose how to specialize each individual cruiser, between the Yamato and the new plasma turrets. The latter will produce a flurried cluster of beams that can decimate ground units, from what we saw of them.

This one surfaced at Blizzcon (to be followed by the Terran tech tree). Text descriptions by Gamespot.

New structures included the null circuit, dark obelisk, phase prism, and twilight council buildings which all tied into the new units. We tried our hand with as many of them as we could build and were intrigued by what we played. Null circuit buildings are one part of the equation to let you summon the observers to be constructed.

The dark obelisk allows you to make dark templars, and phase prisms let you do create the mighty colossus, a killer land unit shown previously. The twilight council lets you create immortals. In addition the stargates let you summon the new phoenix and warp ray craft as well as the old standby, the carrier.

Blizzcon first day is over but not before the Terran marines get their much awaited debut.

Personally, I’m not a Terran player. I’ve played Protoss for years and later switched to Zerg (to counter arguments that the Protoss were the “twinky”-est race of the three!). However, let me tell you – I’d love to sink my teeth into some prime Marine ribs. I meant if I were a zergling.

OK, besides the Marines, we have the whole Terran infantry marching: Marines, Reapers, and Ghosts. In the screenshot above there’s even the first infantry support vehicle – the Viking THOR. It’s an improvement of the Goliath (much needed one) and has a much more MECH feel to it.

Compared to the review of the Protoss units, the details are still a bit sketchy with things very much being subject to change. Nevertheless, I’ll try to review each of the new Terran units separately.

Here’s the same game play video (as below) – this time narrated by Chris Sigaty. Note that the current label for Starcraft 2 is “internal alpha”. He does mention it will be playable at Blizzcon though and also says there will be a beta (though it might not be a public one).

An amazing game play video with more info on the upcoming Protoss units. This is a bit better quality than the ones at Youtube but I hope Blizzard will upload an HD version to Starcraft2.com

Words fall short but here’s the gist of it:

1) Soul Hunter – his attacks get stronger the more units he destroys.

2) Phase Canon – you can now move them around the base.

3) Mass Tempests (previously known as Carriers) – now feature a shield that protects them from ground attacks. They’ll also cost less.

4) Twilight Archon – powerful infantry unit, doesn’t seem much different from its previous incarnation

Gamespot just released another bit of Starcraft 2 news. They do admit Blizzard are being too secretive because they do not to release info ahead of Blizzcon (remember a Starcraft 2 beta will be playable at Blizzcon).

It’s mostly about new Protoss units…

While Pardo affirmed that previously discussed units such as the zealot infantry and immortal battle tank are still on the table, we were also introduced to several new units that hadn’t been shown at Blizzard’s previous event in May.

These include the soul hunter, a hovering ground unit that can attack both air and ground opponents. Another new unit is the phase cannon, a stationary turret that can be changed into a hovering energy ball that can move like a normal unit, reminiscent of Warcraft III’s wisp units, as long as it remains within range of the Protoss power grid. They can then be redeployed as stationary turrets to act as roadblocks or as forward firing lines.

Other units include the tempest, a flying troop transport with an underside energy shield that protects against ground-to-air fire, but leaves the unit vulnerable to air-to-air attacks, and the return of the dark templar (which still has stealth abilities) and the high templar (which still possesses the devastating psi-storm ability) units. As before, templars can be merged to form archons, known as twilight archons in Starcraft II, which act as exceptionally powerful infantry units.

Note that while all these units sound promising and offer intriguing new strategies, none of them are final. A completely different set of units may end up in the final game.

Despite what Rob Pardo said about the game not being launched this year, there’s plenty of evidence that a Starcraft 2 beta will make an appearance at Blizzcon.

Here’s the gist from WoWInsider:

In case you needed any more reasons to want to go to BlizzCon, they’ve just announced that convention-goers will be treated to a playable demo of StarCraft II. Of course, who knows how much “playable demo” there is to the game yet, but but Blizzard tells us that “attendees can sample the new units and gameplay elements for themselves in multiplayer battles.”

PCGamer has done an extensive preview of Starcraft 2 – 9 pages in total. There’s quite a bit of new information that has surfaced.

For starters, the article confirmed that there will be NO HEROES in Starcraft 2. So if you think the marine in the trailer is some kind of a hero unit, you’re wrong. Though you could be right when it comes to the Starcraft 2 single-player.

Another interesting bit comes in the form of a screenshot (blurry, I know). Remember when I discussed the Protoss Colossus? I said it likely substitutes the reaver. As you can see in the screenshot, reavers are alive and kicking butt. So no substitutions.

In addition to the new Protoss units announced, I see that my favorite caster is here to stay: the High Templar with its Psionic Storm. In addition, he’ll bring a new spell that will create a force field to trap enemy units and create barriers.

There’s one unit that I haven’t seen before – the Protoss Tempest. This “dark” carrier will have use fighters to attack targets and its special is a force shield that will only activate when hit from the ground.

The Protoss Colossus is probably one of the most recognizable of the new Protoss units in Starcraft 2. It bares a close resemblance to the aliens in War of Worlds. It’s a huge walker, so in this respect it has a reference to The Empire Strikes Back.

Trivia aside, the Protoss Colussus looks like a replacement to the Reaver. The Reaver has a splash attack (scarabs) and apart from it’s obvious role as a ground support for Zealots, it is often used in hit-and-run missions on enemy bases. The shuttle carrying a reaver and support troops is definitely one of the better weapons in the Protoss arsenal, especially against Zerg expansions.

See the Protoss Colossus in a gameplay video and you’ll see it shares some of the Reaver characterstics.

Now, all the hit-and-run missions aside, the Reaver was definitely one of the LEAST utilized Protoss units. Its slow speed combined with the AI of the scarabs meant its usefulness was limited.

So what have changed in Starcraft 2? For one, the colossus still makes an excellent raider (see screenshot).

The Colossus has kept the splash attack but this time it’s not easy to evade it or mis-direct it with a few dancing Zerglings. In addition, you don’t need a shuttle to move it to higher/lower ground.

Going back to rock-paper-scissors, the Protoss Colossus looks like a hard counter to mid-game Zergling drops and Terran marine-medic push. It has to be a tier 2 Protoss unit in order to have a chance to counter the above. I’ll be extremely surprised if it turns out it has an air attack as well. So while the Colossus is the ultimate ground weapon, the Protoss Mothership still rules supreme in the air.