Some 12-years in the making, Starcraft II is the sequel to what was prior to its 2010 release the greatest RTS game ever made. The original still had an incredibly large fan-base and online community, so as soon as Blizzard had even announced that its long-awaited sequel was in development, expectations were immediately set to astronomically high levels. Though Blizzard are renowned as being some of the finest developers in the gaming industry, the incredible gameplay of the original combined with the sweet-nostalgia all RTS fans felt towards it meant that it was virtually impossible for Starcraft II to surpass its predecessor. Somehow, Starcraft II managed to be even better than anyone imagined it couldve been better even than the 1998 original and subsequently better than any RTS game ever made. Though the game thankfully retained many of the elements we all loved about Starcraft, it also made improvements in several key areas. Most notably the single player campaign which had been a secondary distraction in the original had been given an overhaul with Blizzard really flexing their storytelling muscles whereas in the first game the narrative had been sparse. A number of powerful, varied and suitably awesome new units were added to each of the three beloved factions. Naysayers prior to the games release had said that the addition of new units (or worse still an entirely new faction) would imbalance the fine-tuned harmony between the three rival races, but it did nothing of the sort. The new units fit snugly into the style of each army and felt like a suitable progression in the given races technology since the original game. The online component of Starcraft II was as good as ever and it is fully deserving of the top spot on this list of the RTS genres best games. Are there any titles we've missed off you think should have been included? Let us know in the comments!
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
