After playing Starcraft 2 for a bit more today, I think I can review the campaign mode so far. There are several other game modes, and I haven’t even touched the online play yet, but I can safely review and talk about the Starcraft 2 Campaign Mode.

The campaign mode starts you off as Raynor, the familiar hero from the first game. But the gameplay is much different. Between the missions is this new interface where on your ship, the Hyperion, you have several different places to go inside the ship. For example, when you goto the Armory, you can purchase upgrades for your units that carry over throughout missions, with credits you earn completing the missions. In the Laboratory, you can research new upgrades based on Protoss and Zerg artifacts that you pick up that give you points to spend on research items, such as a turret you can attach to the bunker, or expanded missile launchers in the defense tower.

You can also speak to the other characters that you pick up along the way like Horner, Tychus and the attractive female Doctor, Ariel. Not sure if the conversation helps advance the story line or anything, but it definitely builds more background to the story and the characters. Between missions, there is a cutscene related to whatever had just happened, advancing the story line.

The gameplay during missions is just like Starcraft – different units are good at different functions and you cannot simply “tank rush” and expect to win. You need to maintain the mix of units and strategies. There are a lot of new units from the new Marauder infantry to the Hellion scout tank. Each mission has bonus objectives that give you more credits if you complete them.

So far, the game is great. As I play more, I can write more about it. The only bad part is the difficulty level – I found hard too hard but normal too easy and have not been able to find a balance unfortunately.

Jay Booshay