Starcraft II , new screenshots, gameplay

[Modelworks]

Does it look really chaotic to anyone else ?
I'm looking forward to the game, but man it looks like a complete mess, during a battle.

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/51673

handful of new StarCraft II screenshots were today released by developer Blizzard.

In addition to showing off various chaotic attack scenarios, the images also provide evidence of a more gritty, refined artistic style than has been seen in previous builds of the game.

Check them out below, with commentary included from Blizzard community manager Karune.

 

[Fenixgoon]

how does it look like a mess?

any RTS with lots of units in battle on the screen is going to "look like a mess"

 

[HamburgerBoy]

The jungle and desert screenshots look like Warcraft 3 with Starcraft units thrown around. :thumbsdown:

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Prearranged movies/screenshots that are trying to show off as much as they can in the space they have is probably not indicative of how "messy" the game will be.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

I'm not that impressed with the game graphically, at least from what we've seen so far. It looks too much like Warcraft 3 with Starcraft units.

 

[skace]

Every screenshot I saw looked much more like Starcraft 1 than WC3. I can't comment on these new SS's yet, but anyone who thinks differently might want to reinstall SC1 and remind themselves what the game actually looks like.

 

[ja1484]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
I'm not that impressed with the game graphically, at least from what we've seen so far. It looks too much like Warcraft 3 with Starcraft units.

Agreed. What's all this crap about these shots being "gritty"? They still look very much like cartoons?

You want gritty? This is gritty. This is gritty.

A slightly updated WarCraft III engine is not gritty.


I still can't wait to play the game, but nothing so far makes me think it's going to be a graphical powerhouse.

 

[skace]

They said "more gritty", not the emo capital of the world aka Gears of War. Jesus if they made it look like that shit they'd be doing a disservice to their fans.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I don't see how this looks much less cartoony than previous Starcraft 2 screenshots. The buildings are a little less colorful, but they're still bubbly and the blood and explosions still don't look very serious.

EDIT: Hopefully they just nuke the whole original engine like they did with the first Starcraft.

 

[ja1484]

Originally posted by: skace
They said "more gritty", not the emo capital of the world aka Gears of War. Jesus if they made it look like that shit they'd be doing a disservice to their fans.

I failed to see anything Emo about gears of war. It's fault was that it tried way way wayyyy too hard to be macho, and came off like a teen male's idea of what Big People are like.

It also had an exceptionally grey art pallet. I haven't seen a title so monochrome since the original Quake.

That said, it still qualified on the grit level. It was in the trenches, and *everything* looked worn down and beaten.


I know they said "more gritty", not "grittiest"...my point is, they were still wrong. The accurate statement would've been "not gritty at all".

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Honestly, I'm not looking forward to it. It looks pretty and all, but it's on PC, so I expect that. I figured out that I'm really not any good at micro (my friend was able to zerg me and set a new world time record in the original) and Supreme Commander spoiled me with the queues, repeat button, and zoom.

 

[EvilComputer92]

I like chaotic games, but that just looks very cartoony.

It looks like a game from 2004, just an updated Warcraft III engine. Probably to scale with all the low end systems that will be playing this game.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
how does it look like a mess?

any RTS with lots of units in battle on the screen is going to "look like a mess"

Look at World in Conflict.
You can do lots of units but not make it look like something that is out of control.
The way the screenshots look its going to be easy to lose focus on units during a battle.

Maybe its just too early in the games development.
But there should be a lot more of an influence from terrain.
Its way too flat, making it appear almost 2d.

I was hoping the game would have graphics on par with something like world in conflict but with starcraft units.

 

[Fenixgoon]

graphically starcraft wasnt that impressive either at its time - but as 11 years of gameplay has proved, it's fun as hell. part of that is being able to get a community that's large enough in size to support the game for such a long time - even when WC3 came out it was playable on a *large* amount of machines, considering how the general public is well behind AT in terms of computing power

 

[Josh123]

Ya, looks like WC3 with units remodeled .

 

[Thraxen]

Meh... it may not be overly impressive, but it looks considerably better than WC3... Link vs Link.

And God forbid they use bright colors... any game with bright colors just can't be "serious", right? They should have stuck with the generic browns and greys that are the blight of so many games right now.

 

[Eeezee]

I'm really worried that the game won't come close to matching the hype. It's going to be tough, too... I think Starcraft 2 could very easily be Blizzard's first catastrophic failure. I really hope it's not, but it almost feels like Blizzard is bound to screw up sometime (I don't count Ghost since it never got released)

 

[TBSN]

Originally posted by: Eeezee I think Starcraft 2 could very easily be Blizzard's first catastrophic failure.

Why would it be a failure at all?! Its not even close to being out yet and I think the people at Blizzard know what they're doing.

I agree that those screenshots don't look that great graphically (looks like theres no AA turned on as well), but I wouldn't judge the final game's appearance on it. And make sure you check out the gameplay videos that are out, because the game looks a lot better in those.

BTW, did anyone notice the neon sign for a bar in the Terran Base? lol screenshot

 

[Flammable]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I'm really worried that the game won't come close to matching the hype. It's going to be tough, too... I think Starcraft 2 could very easily be Blizzard's first catastrophic failure. I really hope it's not, but it almost feels like Blizzard is bound to screw up sometime (I don't count Ghost since it never got released)

yes, whatever happened to ghost?

 

[invidia]

Originally posted by: Flammable

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I'm really worried that the game won't come close to matching the hype. It's going to be tough, too... I think Starcraft 2 could very easily be Blizzard's first catastrophic failure. I really hope it's not, but it almost feels like Blizzard is bound to screw up sometime (I don't count Ghost since it never got released)

yes, whatever happened to ghost?

It was permanently put on cancel/hold.

 

[Piuc2020]

Gears of War was a complete disaster in terms of style and artistic appeal, so bad that it didn't make the UE3 engine stand out.

I think the game looks pretty great, I'm not that excited for it since it looks to be an Starcraft I remake with 3D graphics but the graphics look pretty nice and pretty accessible (remember not everyone has Core 2 Quad's and 8800 Ultra's :roll which has always been a trademark of Blizzard games, technically non-demanding games with incredible amounts of artistic appeal and personality to compensate.

 

[Schfifty Five]

MFL

 

[ja1484]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
how does it look like a mess?

any RTS with lots of units in battle on the screen is going to "look like a mess"

The way the screenshots look its going to be easy to lose focus on units during a battle.

Well, this is very true of WarCraft III already. That's what hotkey bindings are for.

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
Gears of War was a complete disaster in terms of style and artistic appeal, so bad that it didn't make the UE3 engine stand out.

I dunno. I didn't like the art style, but it was hard to hide that a powerful engine was pushing it. The character detail and lighting are still some of the best out there. I'm honestly more excited to see what BioWare did with it here in a couple months when we get Mass Effect on the platform it should've launched on anyway.

 

[Fenixgoon]

i just have to lol at the people claiming "failure" from a couple of screens.

1) for an RTS, the game looks great. this isn't crysis, and people shouldn't be expecting it either. not to mention that more people will be able to play this than say.. supreme commander.

2) starcraft didn't (and doesn't) look that great - but the gameplay is top notch. 11+ years as *THE* preeminent RTS? i think they got SOMETHING right there.

3) one of the best things about starcraft is balance - it's damn near perfect, and blizzard is trying to keep that with SC2 while introducing new units. if you look at warhammerOW.. some things are so horribly imbalanced that it's unbelievable (flayed ones, krootox, hammerhead, etc). the squad gameplay is nice, but i prefer single unit control.

point being - blizzard is taking their time and making sure this game is DAMN good. i wouldn't be surprised if it suffered simply because it's such a high profile release, and nothing could possibly meet the "OMG greatest game ever, 100% perfect" expectations that people have setup for themselves.

 

[Chronoshock]

http://kotaku.com/365716/first...k-at-starcraft-ii-zerg

New trailer featuring the zerg. Can't wait until they reveal some of their units