More SC2
Argh, I can't stop thinking about Starcraft 2. The graphics look great and the gameplay looks real exciting. Gone are the smaller armies, heroes and RPG elements of Warcraft 3. Instead, we have a return to the fast-paced action and massive armies of the original Starcraft, which is what I preferred.
The new unit abilities are also pretty interesting. The Zealot makes a return and this time he comes equipped with a charge that automatically kicks in when approaching an enemy. Very cool. Dragoons seem to be replaced with Immortals, who have an impenetrable shield that takes effect whenever it's under heavy fire. Key word: heavy. The video had a group of Immortals happily crawling towards some siege tanks taking practically zero damage and immediately proceeded to reduce them to scrap. Then some marines appeared and promptly made quick work of the Immortals, as their individual damage was presumably too low for the shield to take effect.
Some other new Protoss units were also unveiled. There ws the Colossus, which looked very War of the Worlds-ish and has 2 really powerful lasers and can ignore terrain. The Warp Ray has a continuous laser that gets stronger and stronger as it continues firing. 4 Warp Rays destroyed a Terran Battlecruiser with ease in the video. Another new airborne unit is the Phoenix. (I still can't believe that IGN spelled it as "Pheonix". What the hell?) It can activate an ability that releases a huge barrage of lasers to all nearby enemy units but leaves it unable to act for a few minutes after that. The Protoss Stalker has a quick-recharging blink ability.
And finally, we have (literally) the mother of all Protoss units: the Mothership. There can only be one of these and it's insanely powerful. 4 lasers as standard armament. The ability to create a shield that literally stops every incoming missile in its tracks. (I stress again. Literally. The missiles just hang there and when the shield goes down, they drop to the ground. Fucking awesome.) The ability to call down 3 additional huge lasers that damage anything below it. And also the ability to create a black hole that sucks in anything near it. Interestingly, the Zerg and the Terrans don't have an equivalent unit to the Mothership.
The Terrans also have some new tricks, including a soldier with jumpjets that can ignore terrain. The Zerg Mutalisks make a return, as do the Zerglings which can now morph into little green rolling suicide bombs. Woo. The Zerg also seem to have a new mode of transporting units around, where a giant worm-like creature bursts out of the ground promptly regurgitates little Zerglings from its mouth.
Gah, can't wait. I estimate it to be released around late 2008 and I think that's a fairly generous estimate given that it's Blizzard we're talking about here, haha.
en taro tassadar