Or, one gamers odyssey in the woods.
Look, we’ll be honest.
We haven’t really downloaded the SCII client.
We were on vacation.
Camping, actually.
In the woods.
We cried a little when the “3G” icon disappeared from our phone as we headed into the hinterlands, but once we realized we were well and truly alone in the wilderness (so to speak) and had several beer in us, things didn’t look so bad.
Sometimes, it’s good to get away.
After about four days, we were devising strategies to expand into other campsites using classic Terran rush tactics. With an elite force of half-drunk Granolas, we could easily conquer the tent-trailer next to us, taking their valuable Hot Dog and Firewood resources. This would allow us to strength our army to press on to the ultimate goal – that dude at the end of the row with a keg.
Needless to say, our campaign wasn’t successful, or actual, but we did spend a good deal of time thinking about just what the real SCII campaign was going to look like, and how it was going to stack up against our expectations.
Upon our arrival back in the land of the linked, we noted that the game had sold over 1.5 million copies in two days, which spoke to us of great nerdy passion. Then, we started asking friends just what their experiences had been like with the game so far.
The results? Buy the damn thing.
Everyone we’ve spoken to has nothing but glowing praise for the campaign, with our SCII Beta partner telling us that the campaign was far more fun than she expected it to be. One friend who is new to the Starcraft world was concerned that his prowess at multiplayer was not up to snuff, and we told him of the “training” missions for the multiplayer that the game offers, much to his delight.
He also told us he was enjoying the campaign, and was determined to replay every mission until he achieved every objective and did everything perfectly.
Hmm…obsess much?
We blame Blizzard. Their games tend to be easy on the first go-round, but dastardly difficult to achieve perfection in, despite it appearing just out of reach.
We also asked about multiplayer, and were told that a group of friends (that’s right, more than two – it is actually possible in a geek world) got together and did a 6 v 2 with the AI. Apparently it was stupid-super-fun and broke the Battle.net servers.
Granted, it was two days after launch and severs might have been under stress, but still.
Overall, the impressions we’re getting from all over the Web and from inside sources report that the game is fun, fun, fun.
While we whined a bit about the campaign not including Zerg or Protoss, our real concern there lies with price, not with fun. Blizzard still hasn’t said what they’re going make consumers shell out for the next two installments, but we all hope to Metzen that it isn’t full price.
Mostly we hope this because we’d pay it.
Bah.
We’re going back to the woods.
