Starcraft II Multiplayer Beta

Starcraft II is possibly the most long awaited sequel for a real-time strategy. The multiplayer beta was released a couple of days ago and NoobFeed wouldn’t miss the chance to have a close look on it and present it to you.

First of all, these are the PC Minimum Requirements (for now) and it’s quite possible that Blizzard may change these, especially if you think that the game is still under development. Therefore, what you will read and see in the article to follow, isn’t the final product but it’s definitely close to that.

•    Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7
•    2.2 Ghz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
•    1 GB system RAM/1.5 GB for Vista and Windows 7
•    128 MB NVidia GeForce 6600 GT/ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card
•    1024x768 minimum display resolution
•    4 GB free hard space (Beta)
•    Broadband connection

The first picture we came across was this

 

 
And then this

 

You see that «Wings of Liberty»? This will be the core game and you will be able to play as the Terrans (the humans’ faction). Additionally the Heart of the Swarm (Zerg) and Legacy of the Void (Protoss) will be released separately but this is not something we will look into it now.

 

After the completion of the installation process and the patch, the time to log in has come. The music intro is simply epic. It really prepares you on what will follow and really lets the game get into you before even starting. Later on we realised that there’s a different theme for each faction, something of unique quality we may add.

 

 

Then our base of operations appeared, a.k.a. interface.

 

 
As you can see, only the multiplayer mode is available, while there are options/links for the beta website, patch notes etc. On the top left hand corner are more options available.

Second from the left is the button which leads us to all of our previously recorded missions, something very useful because we can see what we did wrong and the opponent nailed us.

Next is the general options button, where you can play about with the graphics resolution, sound and voice settings etc.

Where we will focus for now is the second to last button, the Profile Summary.

 

 

Even though all options are not available yet, we get a pretty good idea of what will be able to have access to. On the left hand column we can gain access to our Achievements, Statistics, Match History, Player Maps, Replays and Ladders. For those who may ask, Ladders is a cool feature which tracks your overall records and guides you to play with other players of the same skill with you, offering much more challenge to the multiplayer mode. It’s not obligatory but it’s always nice to know what options you have.

In the middle we can see our statistics and match history, while on the right hand side, there will be our overall statistics/achievements, both in single player and multiplayer. Though it may not be operative yet, it’s definite that there will be ranks and points gained for every win.

That and Portrait are the only accessible buttons for now, so we tried it and we saw a good variety of icons which we may use as avatars for our profile image.

 

 

Time for action… As you can see, we can either play with all three factions on a 1v1 or 2v2, with the option (not available yet) to even play 3v3 or 4v4. Another thing that gamers may notice on the right hand side is the co-op v A.I., something that unfortunately is not available yet.

 

Here you can see the very heart of how a Terran, Protoss and Zerg base looks like when is under development.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Gameplay/New features: The general idea remains the same. You must gather resources through crystals (blue are the normal ones, yellow are richer) in order to build more structures, upgrades. In other words, gather, build and destroy. The concept is pretty much the same, so the ones that have played the original Starcraft won’t any problem at all to get used to it. The names of the structures, troops and vehicles are similar to the old Starcraft too, with some small changes (e.g. Thor is a «new» Terran vehicle, but it’s actually an improved version of the old Goliath).

The map is also larger than before, while blockades have been added, thankfully they can be destroyed. We also came across to Sensor Towers, another new addition where you could place one of your units next to it and will reveal a small area around it.

In terms of structures, a new added feature is that the Terran buildings can lower (if ordered) so that units can pass over them, in case they are trapped.

Also the Terran barracks are able to train 2 marines at the same time, should we choose to enhance them with the relevant upgrade.

Remember the unit cap? Well, it’s still there but as far as Terrans are concerned, apart from builging new Supply Depots again and again, you can upgrade the cap of your Supply Depot which is cheaper, easier and faster to do.

Needless to even speak about them, the 3D graphics make a huge difference compared to the original game.

General: The good thing in the current beta is the fact it runs smoothly and gave us the impression we had access to all the buildings and units straight away. There are certainly more options to be added and no doubt, Blizzard has a lot to work on in the months to come, unless they want to give us a small step by step taste of the game. It is yet unsure whether gamers from different regions will be able to play each other. What is certain is that there is no official release date by Blizzard, but we would expect Starcraft II sometime this year.

I hope we covered a pretty good variety of the game and we honestly consider ourselves very lucky to have this masterpiece in our hands. We are open to questions, so feel free to add them in your comments and I’ll sum the entire up and make sure no one gets unanswered.

 

Ilias Tsetsekos, NoobFeed