Starcraft II Beta for Mac: What You Don't Know Yet
Have we heard it all?
The Starcraft II beta arrived for Macintosh late last week, only a few scant months before the full game's July 27 release date, and it was a welcome gift for those who have been rabidly looking forward to getting their hands on it (well, at least for those who were accepted into the beta). For MacGamer.com, it was a coup to actually dig into what is already a legendary Blizzard title... but presents a unique challenge as well: What, exactly, is there to tell you that you don't already know? If you're a fan of the game, you've been watching the stunning gameplay videos and reading the developer interviews for over a year now. If you're curious about what's in the beta, you've already read what other websites had to say about the Windows version (which dropped almost a month ago). If you want to know about Starcraft II, the odds are you've already gorged on what the web has had to offer for years now.
But, despite what one may assume, the Mac beta is something new. Its release brings the opportunity not just for grandiose details about what to expect on your Mac, but also little points of interest that are important to Starcraft devotees as the big ones. This isn't just the beta. This is the Mac beta. And this is MacGamer. There's still a lot more to say.
So let's talk.
For those arriving late...
In case you've been living in one of those Buddhist retreats where you're not allowed to talk, read or do anything except wash rice all day, here's a recap on what we're discussing: Starcraft was one of Blizzard's biggest properties. In 1997 it was released and made a powerful impact on the gaming world (especially in some Asian countries, specifically Korea). The technology, while good for its time, was not particularly advanced; gamers fell more in love with the story, characters, mods and - more than anything else - the asymmetrical balance of three races and their respective armies: The mechanized, bullet-and-rocket-loving Terrans (aka Humans), the mysterious, mystical Protoss and the slimy, insect-like Zerg.
Now, in 2010, the three come together again in a new game, called (wait for it) Starcraft II. In an unusual move for Blizzard, Starcraft II will actually be released in three installments, each the size of a full game (and priced accordingly). The first, "Wings of Liberty", will focus its expansive single-player campaign on the Terrans. The second in the series will be "Heart of the Swarm", and will focus on the Zerg. The final chapter will be "Legacy of the Void", focused on the Protoss. The multiplayer features will stay mostly the same in their basic mechanics, but each chapter of the series will add more units and more maps, thus expanding the experience for those who prefer to play against/with others. The various installments will be parsed out over several months, and will represent a pretty long and expansive story.
One of the aspects of Starcraft II that could be both the best and the worst thing about it is the way in which it is so much like its predecessor. This is not to say that the game isn't packed to capacity with new graphics, new sounds, new units, new maps, new single player campaigns and a whole lot of new AI; but there's no quantum leap away from the original to echo the bold departure that World of Warcraft was from the previous three Warcraft titles and their respective expansions. Simply put, if it's Starcraft you want, then Starcraft II serves up a feast of Starcrafty delicacies. If you were wondering whether or not the game would break more from the formula of the original, it really doesn't. Blizzard, instead, is sort of comping from Keith Richards who, when asked about his signature riffing style being present in so many of the Rolling Stones' songs, said "It's what people like, so I say 'You want more? Here's more'".
So, in short, if you want more Starcraft... here's more.
A beta is a beta
Though most serious gamers know what the word "beta" means, it's good to refresh everyone, and that can be done in 8 simple words: What you see is not always what you get. This is to say, the beta is intended to be played as a test, not as a fully developed gaming experience. Its meant to uncover bugs that the development team missed and, in the case of games like this, to hone balance between units and various other game factors. What you see in the beta release (including this one) is not always what makes its way into the final release. In fact, we've already seen certain features that present in earlier stages of Starcraft II's development and are gone now (for instance, some of the abilities the Protoss Mothership had in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PfkVeI7AiA are already removed, no doubt for balance reasons). We could easily see minor or major tweaks before the game hits the shelves. The units and abilities you fall in love with today may not wear the same face by the time the final game is in your hands... or they may not show up at all. The Starcraft II beta is meant for Blizzard's purposes, not ours.
Though most of us know this, it never hurts to repeat it.
So what do we get? In this beta, we find ourselves with a stripped-down list of options and game types. Again, this is because Blizzard wants help with these aspects of the game, and it's no reflection on what will appear in the final version. That having been said, here's a list of what you can do: - Multiplayer only (there are elements of the single player campaign in this beta release). The focus of this beta is to (hopefully) give Blizzard the information they need to set the balance properly. At this stage, most of the ugly bugs are out of the system... this is about figuring out if the game works or not. Multiplayer is the bread and butter of Starcraft's longevity (there are even professional gaming leagues all around the world where it's the biggest event on the roster). It multiplayer fails in Starcraft II, then the game will ultimately fail. Clearly, Blizzard knows this and has exerted great effort to ensure that this won't happen. - You can play against other people who have either the Mac or PC beta. Blizzard has a near-flawless background of allowing inter-platform networking (even during the dark ages when most Mac games could only network with other Macs due to proprietary software APIs). As I've already said, multiplayer is Starcraft II's bread and butter... so this feature is a must-have item. - You can add a computerized AI in both 1v1 and 2v2 as a teammate, opponent or both. - You can set the game to speeds of slower, slow, normal, fast and faster. - There's a lot of new audio in the game to go with new units and buildings, but some of the audio is eerily familiar and could be leftovers from Starcraft I. It's not unusual for "dummy" sounds to be inserted into a game during development as placeholders until the final sounds are finished. Not that the nostalgia of the old sounds isn't attractive. - The computer AI is set only to "very easy". Though the novelty wears off after a few games, it gives you a chance to really learn the three races' units and build style without having to worry about a tough AI or another player banging down your door. - There is in-game music. - No matter which color you choose for yourself, you're green (unless your teammate is the green one). No matter which color you choose for your opponent, the first one will be red (hey, maybe someone out there cares what color they are). There's no tutorial or documentation so, even though the AI doesn't fight harder than a scared kitten, it helps to have a little breathing room to figure your units out before going up against those scary Battle.net guys. - You get a wide variety of Blizzard maps. I suspect you get all of the ones that will appear in the final version, but that's only a guess. Certain maps have a "novice" version which makes subtle adjustments to travel lanes and mineral/vespene positions... presumably because this makes it easier for newbies to survive. Blizzard has been very particular about making sure Starcraft II is good to both newbies and veterans alike, so I expect to see the "novice" maps in the final.
Will my Mac run this?
And now we come to the question that can't be answered merely by reading previews of the Windows beta: Will your Mac be able to handle it? Let's face it, most of us don't need to be sold on the particulars; we're already convinced to buy. The only barrier would be if you got the Starcraft II box home, opened it up, installed it, and your computer just isn't up to the job. Talk about heartbreak.
One thing that Blizzard has really put a lot of work into is the graphics. Make no mistake: No matter what kind of Mac you're driving, Starcraft II can make it beg for mercy... but you can ratchet the dials down far enough to get it under control. I expected to see that kind of fine control over the graphics detail (take a look at the graphics control panel to get a sense of just how fine). What I didn't expect, however, is the level to which you can scale the graphics down without it looking like a bucket of fail.
These are a few of the official Blizzard screenshots, graphics cranked to the top (presumably). As you can see, every screenshot at the top graphics setting basically looks like an oil painting.
This is what you're looking at on a Mac with the graphics turned all the way down. Notice that it's actually pretty damn easy on the eyes, even at the most ghetto, brokeass setting.
As you can see, what you're looking at is not particularly tragic, and the game at this level was running smoothly at about 30 frames per second (MacBook Pro, single core, 2GB RAM). This is good news: If, like me, you're using a computer that the gaming world considers "antique" (and by "antique" I mean 2 - 4 years old), you can still join the party.
Now, for fun, compare that to the original Starcraft:
As you can see... it's actually still quite lovely to behold. Blizzard is good at that; their games consistently make room for those of us with older hardware. It works out better for them (the more people who can buy and play the game, the better), but as a man with a four-year-old MacBook Pro... I was both happy and impressed to see options for tuning everything down. I've always thought the measure of good graphics tech is how scaleable it is, not just how high you can jack it up.
The wait is nearly over
Even if you can't get a copy on release day, you'll probably be playing Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty in less than three months. Blizzard, being Blizzard, will likely do what they always do and pack the game so full of features and little awesome tricks that you'll be able to peel away the layers for months or even years. Though I'm not usually one to gush so unreservedly about game companies (who am I kidding? yes I am), kudos go to Blizzard for continuing to be one of the few companies that have not only continued to support the Mac platform - which is no small feat in the age of the iPhone - but, ever since Diablo II: Throne of Baal, creates their own Mac ports in-house and ships them on the same disk as the Windows application. Patches are always simultaneous and features are always on full parity (hello, map editor!).
This late in the game, we've seen all the screenshots we're going to see. We've read all the interviews we're going to read. We've watched all the video we're going to watch. Now it's time to start clearing off our desks, booking a little time off around July 27, and preparing ourselves for the Blizzard sequel that was 13 years in the making.
Booya.