Mention StarCraft to an RTS fan and he'll start jumping up and down like a puppy. Just about every PC gamer at least knows the title; it was a huge hit back in 1997 and still has loads of loyal fans around the globe. Needless to say a lot of people were pleasantly surprise when Blizzard announced it would make a new StarCraft title a few years back. Most of those people got really angry though when Blizzard also announced it wouldn't be a sequel to StarCraft, in fact it wouldn't even be released on the PC at all. StarCraft: Ghost was to be a console StarCraft spin-off that would have you play a Ghost Espionage unit through a third person stealthy action game. You won't hear us Cube gamers complain though, we have a console at our disposal. StarCraft: Ghost was delayed a few times, it was shown at last year's E3 too, but it looks like its nearing completion now. Reason enough for a closer look!

 

The StarCraft universe knows three races: The Terrans, space faring humans, the Zerg, an aggressive insect like species, and the Protoss, an extremely intelligent alien race. All three of these species are at war with each other, so you can imagine there's a lot of fighting going on here. In StarCraft: Ghost you play Nova, a female Terran Ghost, which is a sort of highly evolved human spy. Ghosts are equipped with state of the art weapons and have Psionic powers, enabling them to cloak themselves among other things.

 

Player control is in a third person perspective, which you can do both in a stealthy quiet way and in an all-out-war aggressive way depending on your taste or mood. What we've seen from the game looks really nice. It's not trying to look as realistic as possible like Splinter Cell; it goes for a more atmospheric and coherent sci-fi look. This look suits both types of gameplay well, the shooting looks satisfying and the cloaking and the different visors also look convincing. In the short movie clips we've seen there was a lot of sneaking around and hiding from the Zerg, Protoss and even Terrans, but Blizzard claims there will be multiple ways through each level, including more action oriented ones.

 

The great thing about using an already established name like StarCraft is that you have a huge universe to draw from, and StarCraft: Ghost uses this universe to the smallest detail. Most of the units from the PC RTS are in here in some form, Nova can even call in a nuclear missile like the ghosts in the original. What's also nice is that the way the enemy AI reacts to you is related to what species they are. The Zerg fight very primitive like, well, giant bugs probably would. The Terrans fight more like humans, warning each other before going after you. The Protoss are as dangerous as they were on the PC, they are all telepathically linked to each other so if one of them spots you, they all know where you are. This could make the stealth elements a lot more interesting than in most games, where you usually just fight humans. In true Metroid Prime style Nova can use multiple visors to detect enemies' weak spots or sometimes to be able to see them at all. Unlike in Metroid Prime though these visors could cost Psionic energy. Right now only a few other of Nova's gadgets cost energy to use, but Blizzard is still balancing everything up. This should prevent you from running through the game with Nova's cloak turned on all the time.

 

StarCraft: Ghost looks like it can live up to its name. It looks nice, has interesting ideas and draws from an established and widely appreciated universe. All the stealth clichés are in there (dragging bodies, making stealth kills, creeping through air ducts), but the three different races and Nova's Psionic abilities have the potential to make those clichés feel completely new. It may not be the new space strategy hit lots of people are waiting for, but it's a title to look forward to anyway. Now let's hope Blizzard can finish the game without any more delays. Stay tuned to Cube-Europe for more.