SideQuesting’s Best of 2010 #8: Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty

SideQuesting’s Best of 2010 #8: Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty

What does a game have to do to be one of the best games of the year? In my opinion, it has to be both high in quality so the targeted gamer will respect it (even if he doesn’t like it) and it has to be on a level where it can reach beyond that target. Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty does just that. Anecdote incoming.

I had a friend over for a day of gaming, several days after the launch of Starcraft 2: WoL. He had never played the first one as he wasn’t a fan of the RTS genre. I told him not to worry, I could get him excited enough to want to buy the game in less than an hour. I didn’t turn on the game, I just went to HDStarcraft’s Youtube page and clicked on a cast of a pro game.

My friend knew literally nothing about the game, yet he was still completely enthralled by the experience. After two more games he was sold. The intricacies had drawn him in and had shown him the potential inside. While he still didn’t know what a ‘2 Rax Orbital‘ or a ‘4 Gate push‘ was, he still knew he wanted the game.

Starcraft 2: WoL was a revelation. Not only did it let everyone know that computer gaming isn’t dead, but it also brought life to a genre that has seen nothing but disappointment for the last few years. With the coming releases of Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void over the next three years, I am keen to see what Starcraft 2 can do for the gaming world.