I Got Yer Platypus Right Here!
I've already discussed my reaction to the map editor for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty over here. As far as the game mechanics are concerned, they're the same easy-to-use-hard-to-master interface; just perfect for an old fossil like me. The Diablo-esque tech-trees were easy to navigate even for someone who has never played any of the Diablo games or their imitators. The three divergent plot trees were minimal and underdeveloped but still fun. I appreciated the way they stressed that choices have human consequences. In fact, that might be the whole point of the game.
*mild spoilers ahead*
Now on to what really interests me: Story. Unlike the first Starcraft and its expansion Broodwar, Wings of Liberty has a rather tight, linear story to tell with a major message that it wishes to drive home. This may be a part of the general drift in video games over the last fifteen years or too many re-runs of "Firefly," or both. Without going into spoiler specifics, the theme that Wings of Liberty takes up is created community. To be more specific, it deals with the need for maximum political freedom in order to create voluntary communities where real meaning for life can be found. A more Gen X/Mosaic theme for a video game cannot be imagined (If it could, it would just become "That Gen X/Mosaic theme for a video game than which a greater cannot be imagined). That also sounds like De Tocqueville. America thrives on maximum political liberty supported by a pro-active citizenry working through voluntary organizations. However, De Tocqueville also noted that the American tendency toward individualism threatened to undermine support for the broader community leading to a fragmented state where people withdrew from public life to only associate with their friends. The resulting loss of any broader unity must lead back to faction and conflict. This is the situation that Wings of Liberty presents us with. How then shall we live in a world where all loyalties are personal and completely voluntary? If all that matters in life is our little click of friends, how do we make moral decisions, especially when friends have conflicting ideas and levels of commitment? I think Wings of Liberty takes a crack at answering those questions. I think in the end it all comes down to force. We might caveat that we should be frank and decent about it, but it still comes down to brute force. If I'm right, that answer is predictable and sad; as sad and predictable as Homer. ...but I still enjoyed the game.
*end mild spoilers*
What can I say to sum up? Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty was a sequel worth waiting for. It is an improvement over the original in almost every area, yet still immediately accessible to fans of the original. The story is fun and deals, in a middlebrow sort of way, with a timely generational quandary. Let's just hope we don't have to wait another fifteen years for the next installment!
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