These idle screens will also give you a few easter eggs as well, especially exciting for those that grew up with Blizzards works. There’s throwbacks to Diablo and Warcraft as well as other games. In the cantina there is an arcade system loaded up with a game titled Lost Vikings. Though it isn’t the official Lost Vikings, an old school plat forming co-op game, it is a neat vertical scrolling shoot ‘em up to play if the strategy time gets a bit too rough. The game is more or less to show off the power of the StarCraft II “map” editor to create custom content for the game.
To say this is one third of a game because it doesn’t have all three races in individual full campaigns is a bit of an erroneous statement. There’s A LOT of content here. There may not be three separate campaigns like we’d seen in StarCraft, but there are more machines and a greater variety of them. Whether the missions focus on Zerg, Protoss, or Terran specific goals - they all tie in nicely with the story. There is even a section of the game devoted to uncovering a truth from a long-lost friend where you’ll take control of Protoss units for a variety of missions, earning new upgrades and intel along the way.
For those that didn’t want to see any of their beloved StarCraft changed, don’t worry. It’s still Blizzard. They give you plenty of the things you love. Quirky characters are still present, a variety of units and tactics are there. Even the hotkeys for building and commanding units are the same (a few changed for efficiency, but most are the same). They did remove the great codes though, so no more PowerOverwhelming, or ShowMeTheMoney if you want to beef up the difficulty and wing it.
Another new change is the music, largely channeling the outlaw space western style of Firefly which people seem to enjoy quite a bit. The cut scenes are also enhanced, though most are no longer pre-rendered, showing off more of the battles up close and personal. To add a lot of replay value to the campaign, you’ll be forced to make decisions that will forge allies, make enemies, unlock certain units, or change the outcome of the final battle. No two play-throughs have to be exactly the same if you change your decisions. Not necessarily changed, but still newer to StarCraft is the zooming angle, as well as the detail in the environments.
The story does seem to leave the ending open, but we’re also, as gamers, under the impression that there are still 2 more parts to this particular game. Whether these campaigns come out in expansions (preferred), or as independent games isn’t yet decided, but I am really itching for some more StarCraft. Which brings me to the multiplayer, which will extend those hours of gameplay as long as you have the right friends - or, are a hardcore StarCraft playing Korean.