StarCraft II unveiled

By Tom Bramwell Published 21 May, 2007

In development since 2003.

Blizzard unveiled StarCraft II on Saturday in Korea, revealing that the long-awaited PC real-time strategy sequel has been in development since 2003.

The developer says that it is "very far along", but it doesn't plan to release anything until "it's ready".

The new game continues to focus on the three factions of the '98 original - the Protoss, Zerg and Terrans - but introduces a range of new units and gameplay tweaks that should enhance and broaden the combat experience.

With the game so popular in Korea primarily because of its suitability for competitive multiplayer, Blizzard unsurprisingly chose to focus a lot of its reveal in this area, talking about how it expects to include numerous subtleties for high-end players to exploit, with the potential for a more divergent early-game technology tree to increase the range of possible "rush" strategies.

New units on the Terran side include siege tanks, which shell from distance, reapers, which are medium infantry with jetpacks, and battlecruisers, while the Zerg can mutate into suicide troops that explode and shower their enemies in acid.

Protoss saw the most reveals though - Immortals, heavy tanks with energy shields; prisms, which transport units across the battlefield; colossi, which are gigantic walkers with cutting lasers (and the ability to walk up and down cliffs) and vulnerability to air attacks; phoenix units, which can "overload" to eliminate squads of nearby airborne enemies at the cost of immobility for a short time; and motherships, which are "incredibly expensive" and can distort time to stop enemy gunfire reaching them and fire "planet cracker" lasers to wipe out whatever's below them.

Meanwhile, Protoss zealots can now close distance on Terran gunners more effectively, and stalkers gain the ability to "blink" jump to anywhere else on screen, described as being handy for pursuit.

Blizzard said fans can expect another game about large armies against large armies, with a mostly familiar feel but lots of changes that alter the gameplay in important ways.

Look out for more on StarCraft II soon.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (51) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Have_to_Speak_Up #1 5 years ago

    OOOh!

  • DrunKao #2 5 years ago

    So late it's not funny. But I guess you guys can't be expected to work 24/7

  • lemon #3 5 years ago

    Awesome! Too bad the game will be delayed at least three times.

  • Xerx3s #4 5 years ago

    '98? Jesus, has it been that long?! Blizzard you bunch of slackers!

  • matrim83 #5 5 years ago

    Korea rejoices.

    :D

  • Pirotic #6 5 years ago

    Can't wait.

    If you do a frame-by-frame on that intro video - somewhere in the 11th second you have a picture of all the blizzard development team partying with beers! I bet it's a big relief for them being able to announce it at long last.

    Thank god they went for an RTS and didn't just do the "lets use the Warcraft Engine and make 'World of Starcraft'" lazy option.

  • neuroniky #7 5 years ago

    Didn't like SC the first time it was out, but then I didn't like RTS at all... I'm curious to see how his one turns out after games such as Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander have been released...

  • DB2k #8 5 years ago

    used to love the Protoss.. although it was always hard in the first 20 minutes until you could get proper army sorted. I bet my PC will no-where be powerful enough to run this game tho :(

  • viper_h #9 5 years ago

    gg, only 2 days late eurogamer

  • RexRunti #10 5 years ago

    You know this is making me want to play brood wars again. I hope the single player campaign and plot is as good as the original. Leaving Kerrigan on the zerg infested planet was one of my 'moments of gaming'.

  • smoison #11 5 years ago

    GREAT NEWS!
    4 years development time means this could be out by next year!

    Lets hope they don't make heroes like Warcraft 3 that ruin every thing.

  • Rizzle #12 5 years ago

    "New units on the Terran side include siege tanks"... Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but, I've used those before, haven't I.


    Guess it's new-computer time, then?

  • Ryuken #13 5 years ago

    StarCraft 3D... ah well, a remake can be entertaining too I guess. Still wondering what's justifying that "II" part.

  • RexRunti #14 5 years ago

    Weren't there kinda heroes in the original? You know kerrigan, the guy on the bike, the dead protoss re-incarnated as a tank, etc.

    Oh neuronicky considering how a lot of people still prefer StarCraft 1 to the Supreme Commanders and CC3s of this world. You can understand why people are getting excited.

  • dcangel #15 5 years ago

    Is anyone really that surprised by this news? I mean, really?

    Anyway. Starcraft didn't do much for me either, though the story and characters were at least more involving and interesting than some other games that purported to have an involving story and interesting characters - so I'll just sit this one out.

  • hjarg #16 5 years ago

    Yay, StarCraft 2 and it's not a MMORPG! Jubilations!

  • Freelancepolice #17 5 years ago

    They were heroes but they didn't have silly overpowered moves (IIRC)

  • AcidSnake #18 5 years ago

    With the protoss I just built as much carriers as I could...
    Saw me through just about every battle...
    When you see a squad of those babies coming up with 8 tinier drones flying out it's time to run...

  • absolutezero #19 5 years ago

    If only the comments section allowed pictures so I could post slowpoke.

  • ProtoformX #20 5 years ago

    Siege Tanks and Battlecruisers aren't new - they were in the first game. Loving the sound of the new units though. Anything that has a "Planet Cracker" laser is OK by me. I hope Blizz release the system specs for this soon - I'll need time to save for a new system if my current one won't meet the specs.

  • Macross #21 5 years ago

    YAaaaAaaaAAaaaayyy!!!

  • Pirotic #22 5 years ago

    Right, anybody who is insulting the Heroes in Warcraft III - bugger off and play your generic C&C games instead. The heroes are a clever little gameplay device to encourage attacking the random mobs and so offering an alternative to rushing the opponent and countering one of complaints of Starcraft. If you removed the heroes and the level 6 specials, you would end up with twice as many peon rushs.

    for shame!

  • DB2k #23 5 years ago

    @Pirotic - what the geeking hell are you gibbering about...? Honestly.

  • rudedudejude #24 5 years ago

    wOOHOO, more rushers!

    15 minutes to set a game up with people online
    3.4 mintues until you get rushed and its back to the lobby.

  • RexRunti #25 5 years ago

    I think the true success of Starcraft was to have 3 very different races which required 3 different play styles and keep them balanced. Most RTSs the different factions are almost identical with just the odd unique unit. SC made each race completly different yet the number of people complaing race A is vastly superior to race B is very small... and they rarely agree.

  • Hugundo #26 5 years ago

    "StarCraft II unveiled"

    Meh
    Edited by Hugundo at 21/05/07 @ 19:33

  • Katsumoto #27 5 years ago

    !! how dare Eurogamer not work over the weekend just so you can hear news you already knew! damn them!

  • Kiigan #28 5 years ago

    Siege Tanks and Battlecruisers aren't new units - they were in the original Starcraft too.

    And this is the biggest and best gaming news I've heard in a long time! Bring on SC2!

  • Hugundo #29 5 years ago

    @Katsumoto

    Took the words right out of my mouth.

  • Jigglybean #30 5 years ago

    I'm not sure why everyone is getting so excited. Blizzard have said that they will only polish and tweak the game, with nothing really new. Acceptable after a 10 year wait? No!

    The launch of this will probably make way for a Starcraft MMO

  • Goffee #31 5 years ago

    /\ /\ /\ Walks off to shop to buy Starcraft for a Fiver so I can scrape the rust off my armour...

  • Kiigan #32 5 years ago

    Jigglybean said:
    "I'm not sure why everyone is getting so excited"

    Er, because many people fucking love Starcraft perhaps?

    Starcraft remains damn near perfect to this day. It doesn't need a massive overhaul or huge changes. A modern engine, a few new strategies and unit types... that would MORE than satisfy the legions of Starcraft fans who quite frankly are still very happy with the original and wouldn't want the sequel to be too much of a departure.
    Edited by Kiigan at 21/05/07 @ 11:54

  • Freelancepolice #33 5 years ago

    Where did they say they were only polishing and tweaking the game with nothing really new?

    Kiigans got it spot on tbh

  • RexRunti #34 5 years ago

    @Kiigan
    +1

    Also rember you can buy Starcraft crisps and cola in Korea. The games HUGE.

  • MAD_OLA #35 5 years ago

    A couple of amusing posts here indeed. The ones complaining about rushs especially. Seriously, you must have been inexperienced player at the game if you could not survive a zergling rush, even as protoss.
    It's a tactic just like every other, and if you fail the rush you are terribly behind your opponent. In the high lvl of playing you can see zerg rushing is not common at all because it's easy to counter and forsee.

  • Jigglybean #36 5 years ago

    http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/11671 direct in game footage

  • mingster #37 5 years ago

    In Game footage looks cool..
    Will need a new PC to get it looking like that tho

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #38 5 years ago

    Nonsense, Blizzard have always, deliberately, punched low with minimum tech requirements.

    That video looks like the engine doesn't have any more bells and whistles than the years-old Warcraft 3. Especially if they're aiming it at markets like Korea, where folk still play Starcraft, Lineage and stuff partly because of its low PC requirements, Starcraft 2 should look and play very well on an extremely average PC.
    Edited by MENTAL1ST at 21/05/07 @ 13:22

  • reality_cheque #39 5 years ago

    I need a new category for "most wanted" - 'Would be happy if this was the only game I ever played again" :)

    @AcidSnake - those carriers would never get passed my 4-deep line of bunkers interwoved with detector towers and Goliaths :p

  • AcidSnake #40 5 years ago

    @reality_cheque:
    I repeat: just about... :)

    Damn you and your goliaths...

  • spongebob #41 5 years ago

    Nice news for everyone who loves StarCraft. I am not one of those people. I think it's the Halo of RTS gaming :)

  • Amazing Bryan #42 5 years ago

    This is my most anticapted sequel in the history of computer games. The amount of negative anal comments is amazing. "I don't like StarCraft, so I'm not going to like this."

    I love StarCraft and consider it the greatest RTS game ever, due to it having 3 excellent races, a great story, unique units and a balanced multiplayer.

    If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

  • RexRunti #43 5 years ago

    @Ja_Long

    I was just wondering if the Zerg were slightly weaker than the other races. A few people sometimes think one race is more powerful than another... but these people rarely agree. This is the sign of a balanced game along the equal but different mold (see also Soul Calibur).

  • Waldo #44 5 years ago

    !! how dare Eurogamer not work over the weekend just so you can hear news you already knew! damn them!

    And damn Blizzard for just springing this on everyone with no advance notice.

  • malloc #45 5 years ago

    "And damn Blizzard for just springing this on everyone with no advance notice."

    Well there had been rumours for a few days beforehand, so wasn't a complete surprise.

    Good to hear the news, no point re-inventing the wheel. Glad to hear it's almost done. I've been waiting for an excuse to get a new PC for a while and here it is!

  • Schiraman #46 5 years ago

    Starcraft was an incredible RTS when it first came out all those years ago, but the genre has moved on a lot since then. Sadly it looks as if SC 2 is basically just a graphical upgrade with a handful of new units added, which is incredibly disappointing after such a long wait. :(

  • hjarg #47 5 years ago

    Schiraman, just wondering- what did you expect then?

  • MAD_OLA #48 5 years ago

    Im very happy that they still keep the old concept of gathering resources. I can't stand the capture-a-point and hold these X spots spread around the entire freakin map to get money.

  • MaxiSleep #49 5 years ago

    Its funny the level of converge for the half life expansion pack compared to this. Ah well......

  • UncleLou #50 5 years ago

    Meh.

    Played Starcraft a while ago after seeing it recommended numerous times.

    Bit shit in my opinion. The zerg where massively overpowered so it wasn't that much fun to play either as them or against them.

    Over-rated. Meh.

    Yeah, it's still one of the, if not the most played RTS (online) after 9 years because one race is massively overpowered, which you had diagnosed after how many minutes?

  • zendragon #51 5 years ago

    it's not good really, it's great!