Gamasutra writer Tom Cross reviewed the Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty single player storytelling. I have read several articles in the past weeks, and I can say this one is the worst one not in terms of quality, but in terms of "trolling' Blizzard's Creative Team.
The article plainly criticizes all the narrative, and in-game cutscenes between missions and throughout the Hyperion's rooms: Cantina, Bridge, Lab, Armory. The Gamasutra article goes on to compare StarCraft II and other RTS games.
Gamasutra: In Starcraft II, players are treated to beautiful, lavish cutscenes in which hardened, whiskey-soaked men debate the finer points of courtship, the differences between criminals and freedom fighters, and the loss of a good woman. It was bad enough when those pretty CG heads discussed pre-mission issues in Starcraft. This time around, every conversation is bookended by musical cues from Firefly and camera pans of pretty glasses of booze. The actor behind Jim Raynor plays it part Malcolm Reynolds, part Marcus Fenix, but the way he’s written and animated (and the way he looks, like some hilariously coiffed Masculine Ideal) betrays his every enunciation.
None of this is in any way surprising, content-wise. This is how Blizzard does, and depressingly, many companies take their cues from Blizzard. What’s surprising, and disheartening, is that there’s so damn much of it, and that a good portion of it is built into the myriad systems appended to the main campaign. Instead of simply offering up a series of missions, Starcraft II lets players take their ease between missions in a number of locations. When not commanding Raynor and Co., players can explore Raynor’s bar hangout (initially), and later his base of operations, the battlecruiser Hyperion.
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