The Basics
Starcraft II was release July 27th 2010 by Blizzard selling over 1 million copies worldwide making it the number 1 sold PC game this year. Twelve years before this date was the release of the original Starcraft that sold 11 million copies worldwide and was still heavily played. Gaming leagues such as World Game Tour and Pro Gaming league keep the game alive with the heavy competitiveness that the game offers. Starcraft is a real time strategy game where you start off with a command center and have multiple workers that you use to harvest minerals and gas to build an army to destroy your opponents. The Story line in Starcraft is based in the 26th century with three different races fighting over the Milky Way galaxy. The Terran which is human soldiers, the Zerg which is infested insects with a very hostile personality and the Protoss a very religious and technically advanced race.

Progression
Starcraft is a career game. What that means is, it is a game players get to play through and learn the story and then play multiplayer to test their skills against other players. The original had a very long life span and it is expected for Starcraft II to have a long life span as well. A lot of First person shooter games get replaced year after year when the next one comes out. Starcraft is different because it is one of the most balanced RTS games there is out there.
Multiplayer is really just a vague description. There are many different games and modes to play with other players. The most popular is Melee combat where each player starts off with the most basic setup and advances their forces to destroy their opponents. In these setting players are able to play against other Human opponents online or against computers and every combination possible in 8 players and under. The ladder is a competitive forum of melee play that players only play against other players. There is 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 modes in this game play. In Starcraft II there are different leagues that you are set in after 5 placement games. The lowest league is Bronze, followed by Silver, Gold and last Platinum. It is really undetermined how the game decides which league you go to. The better the player does in his 5 games the better his league placement is. Once you are in a league players will be able to move up to the next league if he or she does good enough. That is the only way players are able to get into Diamond the only league above Platinum.

Modes
The third most popular setting players play in is the Use Map settings(UMS). This mode allows the creator unlimited possibilities of game play. Really the game only uses the units of the game and from there it is all up to the mind of the creator. Some of the popular UMS games are Zombie land, Frogger, Snipers paradise, Special Forces, and Evolution. Zombie land each player starts off with a marine and are fighting the evil zombie computers which are all zerg units, mostly zergling. Players are able to buy upgrades for their marine to help them win the game. Frogger is based off of the play station game where the frog tries to move across obstacles without getting crushed. The Frog in this instant is a zergling and obstacles are everything from fast moving Zealots to slow crawling reavers. Snipers paradise is a game where the players play as a ghost and go to destroy a village. The way that makes this game possible is that the player is allied with the computer forcing him to target each unit to kill it before it kills them. Special forces is a game where the player picks between a ghost, firebat or marine and kills off the evil forces. Players upgrade their unit throughout the game and recruit other special forces unit to help them destroy all foes. Evolutions is a game where each player starts off spawning units from a flying ship and sending them to attack their opponents. At certain kill marks the units evolve to a bigger stronger better unit that makes it easier for the player to win. The object of the game is to kill the other players base which usually consists of a pylon with cannons or a bunker with marines.

Conclusion
So why Starcraft II and not just play regular starcraft? Mostly what I have talked about is starcraft in general. The idea is to get you interested enough to go out and buy the game yourself, or if you have the game check out the other different games you have not played yet. Starcraft II had a whole new scenario that I do not plan on spoiling for those of you who are going to play. The graphics are much better and now in 3D, although I am not able to have anything but the very basic settings on my old laptop. Starcraft game is actually very old, but Starcraft II is almost a different game all together. The three races are the same but the unit interactions are different. There are many additions to each race to give more options on strategy. I hope you have enjoyed my article although I didn’t give out very much information about Starcraft II. Why are you still reading the article and not on your way to the store now to buy Starcraft II, or if you have Starcraft II why are you reading this article instead of playing? What am I doing still writing, I got to get back to the game of the year!

Submitted by Jordan.
Discuss this article here.

Primary Weapon: M4A1
Attachment(s): Red Dot
Secondary Weapon: Spas
Attachment(s): Grip
Equipment: Claymore
Special: Smoke
Perk 1: Scavenger Pro
Perk 2: Stopping Power Pro
Perk 3: Ninja Pro
Deathstreak: Painkiller
Killstreak: Predator, Harrier Strike, Chopper Gunner or Harrier Strike, Chopper Gunner, Tactical Nuke

Gametype: Any non-HC
Map: All
Strategy: This is a general build used to defend spots easily without having to worry about losing ammo. If someone gets past your claymore, take your spas out and kill them with that. The M4A1 is effective from mid to long range. Use your scavenger to put up to 2 claymores up at one time, usually blocking the entrances to where you are at or directly on the objective to warn you if there is someone there if the explosion went off without killing anyone (very effective in S&D, plant claymore at A or B, then camp the other spot).

Submitted by Wahls.
Discuss this build here.