What the crap, I wrote a lot on this one.
7) Starcraft II: Wings Of Liberty (WoL), Heart of the Swarm (HotS), and why not- Legacy Of The Void! (LotV) {2010,2013,2015}Re-packaged Starcraft I it may be, this game did not disappoint for me. Starcraft1 very easily could actually be on this list, or at this ranking. It could be above SC2. I placed A LOT of mileage on SC1, both with the campaigns, and CO-OP Multiplayer with my brother. It is a revolutionary game, in that it took the RTS genre to new heights. I could debate that the game was even more important than World Of Warcraft, and very well could be the most popular global multi-player game of all time. Look no further than Korea, and that is what is shaping my opinion. So what did SC1 also do? The MOBA genre is huge apparently now, and is a successor of what Blizzard did with SC1, and by extension WOW in my view.
So then SC2. SC2 was like the bigger, badder in a good way sequel. Although this is debated, it keeps that insane balance between the three races. What works for one race strategy wise might not work for the other race. One race requires extreme attention to detail and rewards speed. Yet one race is really no better than the other all in all, although we all have our preferences (Protoss!). To me, SC1 and SC2 is like Terminator and Terminator 2. Apparently people love Terminator, and it did some cool stuff. Terminator 2 was the fully realized, fully spruced up awesome sequel that just nailed it on all fronts. While maintaining the same formula and feel.
Sc2 had a solid influence from more modern games. I will admit, I have not gotten thru the campaign on LotV yet. HotS was a little spotty, but overall the RPG like elements were an awesome addition for all the games. The ability to take different paths of upgrades based on your style is nice. Also, the achievement system kept me coming back for hours and hours. From what I understand, that is no doubt a Call Of Duty influence.
The campaign missions were a step up too. Stuff like the lava mission in WoL was awesome, and others of the sort. They clearly took their time with level design, and not just on the features and terrain of the map.
The voice acting was good as well. The actors, the best they could, added emotion to a rather flat story. That isn't a knock on the story, just that one race are giant insects, and another are mouth-less monks that are not far off the Jedi to me. The story isn’t a world beater, but it hits hard at times.
Even the mini-game Lost Viking is not bad. I sunk a lot of time in that when going for achievements, and I came out thinking it was not total time wasted. At first I did not really care for it though.
Shoot, the “expansion” packs were done well. Rather than DLC all within a few months, they spaced them out to give each one time. And they are more like half a game or more, rather than some extra missions or something. If any is the weakest link at this point IMO, it’s HotS. That one took the longest of the two. Then again, Zerg is my weakest race, so I’m biased!
And so the multiplayer- awesome to me. SC2 will probably go down as the game that messed too much with the formulas of races. For me, it’s a moot point because I don’t do Player vs Player really at all. But I understand why though. The battle.net overhaul for this game made things easier IMO. It has a ladder system, with again criticism angle people think is terrible or something. It matches based on skill as well. So this is modern day stuff, but the leap from SC1 to this was done superbly. LotV has some awesome multi-player additions. They added more probes/SCVs/drones to start. They also did these cool level up multiplayer missions in scenarios. My one gripe is I wish they would have expanded that. They also have Archon mode (I think it’s called), which allows you to have two players controlling one shared race.
So all in all, this game brings it hard. It is the sequel that SC1 deserved, and fired on nearly all levels without any issue. The shame about this is that SC2 very well will be the last one probably. The RTS has shifted to MMORPGs and MOBAs. That’s not a bad thing. I just have a huge place for Starcraft. I have always loved the SciFi theme, vs. my Warcraft days.
***Grab the double-barrel shotgun for one shot kills***