Character building

Recently I sat down and watched all the StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty cutscenes on youtube. Yeah I know that’s cheating when compared to actually playing the game but fuck it: I’ve got a laundry of list of games to play, and subsequently beat, so any time saved is worth it (or something). Besides I’m only in it for the story – all gameplay is probably best left to the nation of Korea.

So what did I think of the Wings of Liberty story? Well to begin with the characters: The StarCraft universe has certainly had its fair share of fascinating characters and here the roster is expanded. I liked Dr Ariel Hanson (why didn’t you stick with her Raynor?!), Nova was cool and I also enjoyed Matt Horner. Matt in particular is of note for I’d heard people think of him as  whiny bitch but that didn’t seem to be the case – just as well as he didn’t for he WAS the PC character in the first Terran campaign in StarCraft 1. Tychus was fun with his constant hulking presence but one gets the feeling he had a story that didn’t (or has yet to be) told. Gabriel Tosh too made for an interesting presence – although what is it with Blizzard and Rastafarians? The UNN news crew, Kate and Donny, were also fun to watch.
It’s just a shame that many of the familiar faces don’t seem be handled properly: Arcturus is a far cry from the political sliminess he exhibited in the first game being reduced with little to do. Kerrigan doesn't fare better doing nothing more than sneering as if it’s the only thing she can really do. Even Raynor seems nowhere near the depressed drunk he was originally made out to be. Indeed, one gets the feeling that the Blizzard writing staff have taken these characters as far as they could in the first game – therefore is there anything left for them to do now?

Still this is but the first installment of a trilogy. Considering Blizzard’s love for producing unpredictable narratives, it would be interesting to see how this would pan out. It is possible that some faces may reappear and some questions may be resolved – but then again they said the same thing about the Star Wars prequel trilogy and look how well that turned out.
But again the question: Is there anything left for these characters to do? Granted Duran has yet to reappear, there’s the possibility that Earth may make another move following the failure of the UED (to not do so wouldn’t make a lot of sense) and it be interesting to see the balance of power shift away from the Zerg (the victors at the end of Brood War). But somehow playing WoL there is a sense that the stakes have already peaked. If anything StarCraft 1 had its dinner and the members of the StarCraft 2 trilogy are left to fight over the table scraps.
Throughout the original StarCraft there was the underlying theme that the conflict between the three factions, Terran, Zerg and Protoss, is meaningless and the only way either of them will get anywhere is through the assistance of the one of the others. I can see traces of it in the WoL narrative but Kerrigan doesn’t strike me as someone who’d willing help – she’d rather force someone to help her.

Ultimately though, this is the first part of a trilogy – two more are, of course, on their way. Only time will tell how things will end up……