Starcraft 2 Gameplay

Terrain Gameplay

Starcraft 2 Official In-Game Demo

According to its creators, StarCraft II is designed to be the "ultimate competitive real-time strategy game", building on the successes enjoyed by its predecessor, StarCraft. It will feature the return of the three races from the original game — Protoss, Terran, and Zerg; Blizzard states these will be the only playable races in the game.StarCraft II is also designed to focus more heavily on the multiplayer aspect, when compared to the original StarCraft. The changes include overall improvement in Battle.net, a new competitive "ladder" system for ranked games, and new matchmaking mechanics – designed to "match-up" players of equal skill levels. In addition, the replay function, which allows players to record and review past games, will be improved. Blizzard has also stated they are monitoring fan feedback to the game's revealed features and are taking such feedback into consideration, which has already led to some features being altered, and has even led to some units being removed entirely.

StarCraft II will continue its predecessor's use of cinematic cut scenes (pre-rendered, high-quality CGI movies) between levels to advance the plot, while also improving the quality of in-game cut scenes (rendered on-the-fly using the same game engine as the graphics in the game proper) within the levels themselves. Blizzard states that with the new graphics engine that StarCraft II uses to render the gameplay, they "can actually create in-game cut-scenes of near-cinematic quality".

Most Protoss and Terran units, and some Zerg units have been shown on the StarCraft II official website, and in several video demonstrations held by Blizzard. Improvements included advanced scenery allocation and more detailed and involved space terrain, such as floating space platforms with planets and asteroids in the background. Small cliffs, extensions, and even advertising signs were shown to have been improved and refined.

The single-player aspect of StarCraft II has also been altered substantially from the original game. The Terran campaign shown at BlizzCon 2007 replaced the original StarCraft briefing room with an interactive version of the battlecruiser Hyperion, with a bitter, hard-drinking Jim Raynor as the mercenary captain. In a departure from previous Blizzard games, the campaign is non-linear, with Raynor taking jobs for money and using that money to buy additional units and upgrades. Although each playthrough will vary, the end result will remain consistent so as to keep a linear storyline. Vice president Rob Pardo has stressed that the Zerg and Protoss campaigns will function very differently from the Terran campaign.

In addition to the single- and multi-player elements, StarCraft II will also ship with a sophisticated campaign editor. Following the enormous success of the StarEdit and Warcraft III's World Editor, the editor packaged with StarCraft II will allow the player even more freedom in creating custom maps and mods. Blizzard has stated that units from the original StarCraft that were removed in StarCraft II will be available in the editor, along with units that get scrapped during the development process.

 

source: Wikipedia