RTS Showdown: Starcraft 2 v's The Rest

Blizzard’s long-awaited Real-Time Strategy (RTS) videogame Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty is due for release on 27th July 2010. In keeping with the RTS formula the PC-based Starcraft 2 is all about gathering resources, making munitions and wiping out your enemies.

The first true RTS title, Dune, was a blend of storytelling, resource collection and warfare. The gameplay felt distinct from the resource-building and construction of ‘Sims’ and ‘God Games’, but players were uncomfortable with the frequent switches between cut scenes, resource gathering and, eventually, deploying troops.

Dune 2 switched the focus to the kind of sophisticated ‘military project management’ model seen in most RTS titles published since Dune 2. In doing so it turned counter-based tabletop wargames into slick military-industrial complex Sims.

There are plenty of alternative approaches to ‘empire-building’ videogaming out there, which don’t involve perpetual warfare and questionable morality. Zoo Tycoon 2 and Sims 3 come to mind, but it’s fair to say they lack some of the sense of urgency, even panic, felt when you’re caught-up in a frenzied arms race.

Starcraft 2 arrives at a time when RTS titles have moved in one of two directions. Some titles are focusing almost entirely on military operations, with predefined armies and relatively little resource gathering or research. Other titles, such as Tropico 3, have looked at redefining in-game conflict in terms of politics, diplomacy and political satire.

Judging by Blizzard’s Starcraft 2 beta their new offering tries to cover most of the obvious options. There’s a stockpile of glossy cut scenes, instant clustering of large number of units and intensive, diabolical research into new ways of annihilating your foes. The battles look particularly spectacular on a 24” screen and there’s many hours of single and multiplayer gameplay on offer, including options for designing and even selling your own ‘maps’.

The gameplay is pleasantly streamlined for strategists, but tactical micro-managers won’t take long to uncover the, (deliberate and inadvertent), tactical nuances required to gain success in online games. This accessibility on different levels is the game’s key strength, as it brings together the best of what’s gone before and wraps it up in a responsive interface.

Where the game does seem to disappoint is in delivering anything genuinely novel. Players are put on the RTS ‘rails’ and taken on a ‘by the numbers’ tour of how to put together a well-made, but very traditional, RTS. Everything feels just as it should be. Perhaps a little too just as it should be.

As a result, it’s easy to recommend Starcraft 2 to Starcraft fans and RTS fans with plenty of cash to spare. Otherwise, there are alternative options which can offer much the same gameplay at little or no cost.

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

Touch tablets are ideal for controlling large numbers of units with a few gestures and most elements of a military research and battlefield management game are suited to rapid ‘touch, drag and drop’ operations. The iPad already has the somewhat dated Command and Conquer: Red Alert available as an App and it won’t be long before Android and Chrome users have similar options.

For those without cash to spare Starcraft 2′s main competition offers a cash free alternative. Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun and the Tiberian Sun: Firestorm Expansion Pack have been made available as free downloads to promote the recent battlefield-focused RTS Tiberian Sun: Twilight. The download is HERE. Please note that the Tiberian Sun Game.exe and SUN.EXE files have to be set for Win 98/ ME. Everything works, providing you don’t mind the 800 x 600 resolution in 16 colours. The Tiberian Sun: Twilight samples on the same page look a lot better but you don’t get access to the full game.

What does seem certain is that the next generation of RTS titles needs a major overhaul. Whether that involves the kind of originality and caustic humour found in a title like Tropico 3 or even larger 3D battles, (using touch tables and personal projectors), remains to be seen. Clearly, the Tropico 3 approach would be more imaginative and welcome. Just don’t be surprised if you see a 3D RTS getting rolled out shortly after the release of Nintendo’s 3DS.