I won’t spoil anything about StarCraft II for you. Nothing about the story or the campaign mode or about how Blizzard is going to make you buy a whole more StarCraft II expansion packs in the near future. Nope. None of that kind of stuff.

This is just a straight forward, nothin’ fancy review.

You should know, I’m a StarCraft guy. I never got into WarCraft 1 or 2 until after StarCraft. I can’t really explain it, but I have nothing but good memories of getting my butt kicked in multi-hour sessions of LAN gaming with my buds. (That’s sort of out with StarCraft II)

The reviews are StarCraft II are mixed to say the least. Some like it and other self-called “purists” totally hate it. Maybe our expectations for the game was too high, but I like it. Graphically, it’s not as pretty as a current-gen RTS. You’ll find a lot more graphically in other games like End Of Nations or anything in that class.

Sound and gameplay are all intact if not better in a way that I can’t really describe. Blizzard’s RTS games have always maintained a certain level of simplicity with a depth of complexity all at once. It’s this perfect balance in all of Blizzard’s RTS titles (StarCraft, WarCraft series and so on) that appeal to so many gamers.

At least, that’s the way it is for me.

StarCraft II delivers on a whole bunch of fronts to me. Updated gameplay, graphics, strategy, everything is better. Maybe not leaps and bounds better considering the years of waiting StarCraft fans have drooled for this, but it is better.

Blizzard’s struck a mix that’s one part old-school StarCraft (units from the previous game return with an upgraded, yet really familiar look and feel) and another part modern RTS.

The purists claim they can get more control and better graphics from other RTS games and I think that’s okay with Blizzard. If you’re a fan of StarCraft, there’s enough here to make you happy, but I don’t need to tell you that. You’ve got it already.

If you’re new to StarCraft, you’ll equally enjoy this title as you’re getting a look at elements that set the stage for today’s RTS genre.

In the end though, I liken the criticism of SC2 to that of all the heaps of love and hate thrust upon the Star Wars prequels. You know what I mean. All the anticipation and hype that you felt when you first saw the glittering LucasFilm logo in the trailer, to the spacey-blue “A long long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” and then the let-down you felt after watching Jar-Jar Binks and the rest of Episode one.

To the unhappy fan, it wasn’t exactly what they wanted, but it was good enough of fix for the desperately craving a fix. To the happy fan, they loved it and watched it over and over again. In the end, the real product never lived up to the hype and anticipation.

But, given time, even Episode I, II and III got better as you watched more and more of it.

That’s SC2. Doesn’t quite live up to the fan-boy hype, but it’s damn fun and a solid title in the StarCraft World.

(Editor’s Note: Here are two differing opinions on SC2. One from CNN.com in praise and another over at Tom’s Hardware, sort of matter factly not so much in praise, but honest.)

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