Starcraft II is being heavily hyped. It is, after all, a continuation of one of the most revered franchises in the real-time strategy genre. However, this is very much the same fate that befalls all of Blizzard's games, any while they have proven themselves to make good games, it's yet to be seen whether or not Starcraft II will be a great game. There's a significant amount of changes and hype surrounding the title, and while all games should continue to evolve with sequels, change can sometimes be a bad thing.

The most concerning element of Starcraft II, especially for the multiplayer folk, is that Blizzard has said there will be no LAN play. While they have apparently been considering their decision and may reverse it, the lack of LAN play is a major blow to the game as a party game. The accessibility of Starcraft came from equal parts the implementation of the Battle.net system and the easy LAN play, which made it great for both online and offline play. With no LAN, Starcraft II will not have that sort of physical multiplayer longevity. It's been said many times in this column, and it will be said again: LAN play is essential for any multiplayer-driven game, especially those in the strategy and first-person shooter genres. Here's hoping that Blizzard recants and adds LAN play.

Another element of the game that is under scrutiny is the balance. Starcraft is often quoted as one of the most well-balanced real-time strategy games ever made, but it is often neglected that this balance was only added after the game was released. The original Starcraft was quite unbalanced, with some units being significantly stronger than others compared to cost and limitations. In this way, the impeccable balance hurts of the prequel Starcraft II, as until the game is being played by the wider population, many balance problems will likely never be found. If a game is expected to be perfectly balanced upon release, and it is not, it will no doubt hurt its reputation.

Blizzard has also made the decision to split the game into three separate games. This has caused quite a bit of controversy, since three full games when most gamers expect one looks like a money-grubbing move. This announcement was further clarified with the main game, Wings of Liberty, allowing access to all three races in multiplayer but only having the Terran campaign, with the two expansion packs covering the Zerg and Protoss campaigns. It is unknown whether or not the expansion packs will be the price of a full game or even stand-alone. To alleviate some of the anger, Blizzard announced that each racial campaign will be as long as the full campaign for Starcraft, which is roughly equal to 30 story missions per race.

Starcraft II, much like Diablo III, is a game that will undoubtedly be good. The real question is if it will be as good as people think it will be. Given the unusual decisions by Blizzard regarding the content and features, this is something that will only become apparent when it is released, but we should always take a grain of salt with any publicity. After all, nothing is perfect.