StarCraft II
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Upcoming sequel to Sci-Fi RTS StarCraft, currently under development by Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II was announced on May, 19, 2007, at Blizzard's World Wide Invitational 2007.
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[edit] Announcement
StarCraft II was revealed to the general public during the opening ceremonies of Blizzard's World Wide Invitational 2007, in Seoul, South Korea. After a buildup of footage referencing hit titles produced by Blizzard over the last decade, new footage of a prisoner entering some sort of mechanistic lab rolled on the screen. This prisoner is soon revealed as Inmate 626, Tychus J Findlay, and the mechanistic lab whirs to life and bolts him into Terran Marine armor. Upon completion of the transformation, Findlay delivers the tag-line, "Hell, it's about time."
After the introductory video, lead-producer Dustin Browder was brought on stage to provide an in-game demo of the game so far. Browder took command of a Protoss base and proceeded to show new features, ranging from improved abilities for old units, to new units, to new graphical effects and a physics engine.
[edit] Details
The units revealed during the demo were almost exclusively Protoss, with a few exceptions.
[edit] Unit Changes
- Zealot
- The Protoss Zealot has been enhanced with a new ability that allows warriors trained with the new ability to charge in a blur across short distances to close upon ranged enemies. In the demo, several Zealots used this ability to rapidly close in on and destroy a near equal force of Terran Marines.
- Zergling
- Aside from what appears to be wings on the Zergling backside, the basic Zerg units now sports a cocoon transformation into the explosive Baneling.
[edit] New Units
- Baneling
- The Zerg Baneling is an evolution of the basic Zergling. Upon emerging from its cocoon state, the Baneling advances along the ground by rolling. Upon contact with an enemy, Banelings explode in a massive eruption of green, toxic liquid.
- Colossus
- The Protoss Colossus is a giant walker that fires a sweeping, orange beam of energy at ground targets. With Zealot support, the Colussi easily wipe out a huge number of Zerglings in the demo, only to be chased away by explosive Banelings and later destroyed by Mutalisks.
- Immortal
- The Protoss Immortal serves as a replacement for the Dragoon. According to Blizzard, the temple in which fallen warriors were implanted into Dragoon exoskeletons was lost to the Zerg along with Aiur, so the Immortal was created to fulfill the missing roll. The new unit sports a "hard shield" that activates when fired upon by heavy weapons, such as Terran Siege Tanks, deflecting most damage away from the Immortal. However, smaller weapons do not set off the shield, so Immortals lose this advantage against smaller units.
- Mothership
- The Protoss Mothership floats above the battlefield with an amazing arsenal of special abilities at its disposal. The first of these is a "Time Bomb" that places a disruptive field around the Mothership. Enemy units and projectiles within the field are slowed to a halt, and most projectiles eventually fall harmlessly to the ground, while the Mothership remains unhampered. Another ability, labeled the "Planet Cracker", reigns down massive lasers upon ground units comparable to the Protoss ship depicted in the opening movie scene for StarCraft. The final ability of the Mothership allows it to drop a "Black Hole", which sucks in all nearby enemy aircraft.
- Phase Prism
- The Protoss Phase Prism is a new flyer that sports the ability to deploy a power grid at arbitrary points on the battle field. This power grid is part of the Protoss network of Pylons and can be used to power structures or in a new special technique that allows reinforcements to be warped to any location within the a Pylon or Phase Prism generated power grid.
- Phoenix
- The Protoss Phoenix enters the skies as a new air-superiority fighter. Equipped with a small cannon, the basic Phoenix attack is bolstered by a special ability that allows it to fire at all nearby enemy air units simultaneously for a short period of time. After this "overload" wears off, the Phoenix must rest through a longer than normal cooldown, during which it cannot move or fire and is left helpless to enemy attack.
- Reaper
- The Terran Reaper is a new infantry unit equipped with a shoulder mounted jet pack and two pistols. The jump pack allows Reapers to move over terrain impassable to most land units, such as ridges, without difficulty.
- Stalker
- The Protoss Stalker servers a roll similar to the Immortal, only for fallen Dark Templar warriors instead of warriors of the Khala. Though packed with a relatively small weapon, the Stalker has a special ability that allows it to "blink" across short distances. In the demo, this ability was used first to hunt down fleeing Terran Reapers, and then to stall a flood of Zerglings.
- Warp Ray
- The Protoss Warp Ray is an air unit that fires a concentrated laser beam onto enemy targets. The longer the beam can focus on one target, the more damage the Warp Ray is capable of inflicting. This makes the Warp Ray particularly powerful against slow or stationary targets.
[edit] Old Units
Further units from StarCraft revealed in the demo include:
- Siege Tanks
- Battlecruisers
- Marines
- Nuclear Missiles
- Ghosts
[edit] Physics Engine
In the demo, debris from destroyed air units fell to the ground and reacted with the environment in a seemingly realistic manner. Broken pieces from several Warp Rays fell to the ground and slid down a ramp. In addition, Terran infantry units such as Marines and Ghosts appeared to fall realistically when killed by melee attacks such as Zealots or Zerglings. (However, when hit with high impact attacks such as the Mothership, they exploded in the familiar pool of blood.)
