*** Skybuck's final verdict on Starcraft 2: 6.41 out of 10 (or: 3 out of 5 stars) ***

Ok,

I just finished playing a protoss skirmish game with 8 other hard ai players
and I totally won it.

I build lot's of defensive cannons to survive being double teamed... after
that it was easy (on the 8 star map...)

There was a choking point so maybe the map a bit too easy but ok.

I am gonna give my final verdict anyway, since most of the battles seem to
be one massive army against another massive army
that's at least how the ai plays... it seems to be pretty dumb... no
invasions via the air... such a thing would suck anyway.

Kinda frustrating if that would happen... but I guess with human beings that
would happen... could be fun and interesting too
but probably annoying too.

Before I give my final verdict I wanna give a bit critique:

1. The resource gathering is too slow.

2. The unit building time is too slow.

^ Why so slow ? Kinda ruins the game.

3. The units dieing is too fast.

4. The units move a bit too fast, which could be regulated by game speed.

These points of critique make Starcraft 2 in my oppinion a bit strategy
game... the start of a multiplayer game is pretty boring but kinda
interesting too.. if you survive that you have a chance to win.

The battles are way too massive... it's just wait and build big army and go
against another big army... pretty simple... might be nice for little kids
of 5 year old
and newbies... but noting true strategy fans gonna get war for... though I
hope some players out there find more interesting uses for this game

The units dieing too fast makes it pretty impossible to alter strategies
once it happens... a bit boring... retreat almost not possible since
everything seems
to move at same speed.

I had no time to micro manage anything which makes the special abilities
pretty useless.

The cloacking of protoss seems way over powered... once units in cloack they
cannot be counter attacked ?!? that seems kinda strange to me... c&c would
decloack units once attacked... a much better gameplay element me thinks.

So for strategy this game gets a 2 out 10 very weak. I give it one extra
point for the siege tank which is kinda nice... artillery from far away


Graphics I am gonna split this one up:

Menu's 10 out of 10 couldn't be better.
Game graphics 9 out of 10 some others had critique... it might not be the
best of the best but for a strategy game it's pretty good.

Sound I am gonna split this one up as well:
Voices in single player: 10 out of 10 couldn't be better.
Voices in game itself: 9 out of 10 could be a bit better, more screaming
would be nice, more dieing sounds.
Explosions/weapon fire in game itself: 7 out of 10, the game falls a bit
short here... not diverse enough strangely enough... it all sounds like one
big laser show.
(scenes had actually better weapon sounsd ?! wow go figure ! like laser
from shadow dude and gun from girl).
Music: 5 out of 10 here the game clearly falls short... some nice music here
and there but too little and too weak. It's definetly not a C&C which had
awesome soundtrack. Definetly a weak point for Starcraft 2.

Story: I like it, it's probably subjective... but I found it nice... I am
gonna give it a 8 out of 10... the betrayal of the blue suited guy was a bit
predictable.. something to look forward to though... but still I am gonna
give the game a -1 for that But still a well deserved 8.

Scene animations + sound + music: 9.5 out of 10. The pre-rendered scenes are
fabulous. Some scenes are real time though it gets -0.5 points for that. So
almost perfect 10.

Installation: 10 out of 10 I had no problems with it...

Tutorial: 10 out of 10 good enough... no camera turning around... bit
disappointing but ok.

Help files and hints: 10 out of 10 no complaints here.

So let's see I am going to give certain factors to what I find important.

I find the strategy/tactic element very import so I am going to multiply
that with a 10x because that's what I would like to be coming back for.
The rest don't matter that much... I am gonna give all the in game elements
a multiplication of 5x because that's pretty important as well for such an
expensive game.
The scenes and story for single player are real nice as well I am gonna give
that a factor of 2x
The rest will get a facotr of 1x.

So here goes:

Strategy: 10x2 out of 10: 20 out of 100 points
Graphics:
+ Menu's: 1x10 out of 10: 10 out of 10 points
+ In-game: 5x9 out of 10: 45 out of 50 points
Sound:
+ Voices single player: 1x 10 out of 10 = 10 points.
+ Voices in game: 5x 9 out of 10 = 45 out of 50 points.
+ Explosions/weapon fi 5x 7 out of 10 = 35 out of 50 points.
+ Music: 5x 5 out of 10 = 25 out of 50 points.
Story: 1x 8 out of 10 = 8 points.
Scenes: 1x 9.5 out of 10 = 9.5 points.
Installation:1x 10 out of 10 = 10 points.
Tutorial: 1x 10 out of 10 = 10 points.
Help/hints: 1x 10 out of 10 = 10 points.

Total points earnable: 100 + 10 + 50 + 10 + 50 + 50 + 50 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10
+ 10 = 370 points.
Total points earned: 20 + 10 + 45 + 10 + 45 + 35 + 25 + 8 + 9.5 + 10 +
10 + 10 = 237.5 points.

Final figu (237.5 / 370) * 10 = 6.41 out of 10

Converting this to x out of 5 is (/2):
3 out of 5 stars !

(It's been a while since I did a thorough analysis/point system... but this
is it people... Starcraft 2 deserves it... especially because of the
buzz/hype... )

3 out of 5 stars is kinda weak... there are better games out there.. but if
you already played those... than Starcraft 2 is nice for a couple of days


Bye,
Skybuck =D