Troll and Toad's StarCraft II Multiplayer Review
When StarCraft was originally released in 1998, it was heralded as a benchmark for RTS for its depth, balanced races, and intense gameplay. After the expansion, Brood War, and several patches however the world eagerly awaited a sequel. So in 2007 the phrase "Hell, it's about time." became the tagline for the long awaited return of the Protoss, Zerg, and Terran. While the single player game is still several weeks away, the multiplayer game is already shaping up to not only live up to the bar set by the original, but surpass it.
For the most part, the basic formula translate from StarCraft to StarCraft II. You use workers(SCVs,Drones, and Probes) to harvest minerals and vespene gas so you can construct buildings and units. There are now two different types of minerals. The normal "blue" kind as well as a rich "yellow" mineral field. Workers harvest from these locations at a faster rate and also get more minerals per "trip"(7 instead of the normal 5, mind these numbers can change due to a patch).
Buildings are quite similar to before, though with enough changes to make it fresh and exciting. Most of the Terran buildings can still lift off and fly, however they also have new add-ons than before. You can attach a tech lab to your Barracks to produce the more advanced infantry, or add a Reactor so you can build two Marines at the same time. They also sport the new Sensor Tower which detects movement in a large radius of the map. While it doesn't detect cloaked or burrowed units, you'll know ahead of time if someone is trying to sneak units behind you.
The Protoss, just like the Terran, are a mix of the old and the new. The Nexus can now give a temporary power to buildings called Chrono Boost. This ability makes that that building product units/upgrade 50% faster. Gateways can turn into Warp Gates, which can teleport units anywhere there is a psi crystal.
Last we have the Zerg, which is the least changed of all the races in terms of both buildings and units. The largest difference is the new Roach Nest, Baneling Nest, and the improved Nydus Canal. Instead of having a new Nydus Canal each time you want to add an additional point, you can simply build an exit tunnel anywhere you have vision on the map.
Units, not surprising, are the most changed however. While some popular units didn't make the transition(Corsairs, Lurkers, Dark Archons, and others), several new units add a whole new layer of strategy to the game. With several units able to simply move over different levels of terrain such as Reapers(Terran Guerrilla fighters)and Colossi(A War of Worlds-ish Protoss unit), you have to constantly look out for people sneaking in your base and destroying your workers. While Zerg lack a unit that can move across terrain, they do have Roaches which can move while burrowed. However each races staples return such as Zerglings, Hydralisks, Battlecruisers, Carriers, Zealots, and much more.
StarCraft II is just that, a sequel that holds true to the original game and doesn't try to fix something that isn't broken while still having enough changes to make it new. With several new mechanics, units, a graphic overhaul that looks good even on the lowest settings, and a better user interface it's hard to say anything bad about StarCraft II. I highly recommend it for any RTS fan, as it does to the genre exactly what it's predecessor did 12 years ago.