The original Starcraft is still one of the most heavily played online games of all time, especially in Korea where tournaments are held on channels practically dedicated to the game. So it came as no surprise several months ago when, after over a decade since Starcraft, Blizzard announced a sequel. We haven't had much in the way of information since then, but during Blizzcon we've been fed a tastey load of info and screenshots. Now we have some news on the Terran side of things.

The first thing to mention is a brand new Terran unit known as the Viking (you can see them in action to the left). The Terran have always had fantastic static defences, but when it comes to anti air, Turrets are immobile and Goliaths are slow and bulky. Now the Terran have an ace up their sleeves. The Viking is more like a Transformer. It can turn into a powerful jet fighter or an assault walker to maximise its potential in any battle situation. Not only this, but they can exploit a poorly varied enemy force. Against a strong ground unit it can flip into it's jet mode and against anti air defences it can turn into its assault walker form. This makes it difficult to gith unprepared. Fortunately, (for when you're up against them) their flying speed does not compare to the Wraith, so raids are a little more difficult to pull off.



The Marines have seen little change. They still have their basic gauss rifles with the possibility for the U388 upgrade to increase their range. Stim packs are also still available to give your Marines the edge in tight situations. Ghosts are deadly as ever with their invisibility cloaks and ability to call down phenomenally powerful nukes, which look even more impressive this time around.

Finally, the Reaper which was unveiled along with Starcraft II appears to be like a Marine on crack. Their jetpacks make manoeuvring across complex terrain very simple making them very powerful at raiding bases where an enemy would not expect them to be able to reach. We also have a brand new Protoss unit; the Twilight Archon. High Templars are the masters of the Protoss' psionic abilities, and when you merge 2 of them, you get a Twilight Archon. Their power is virtually unmatched on the battlefield and just a few of them can plough through an entire army.