Which, it turns out, is all kinds of fun. One consequence of picking and choosing missions is that you may enter scenarios without certain key technology, and have to improvise less than ideal solutions. The writing might not be that sharp, nor the characterisation more than ludicrous butch clichГ©, but it's passable. And there's Gabriel Tosh, a mercenary-cum-voodoo warrior with a dark secret. There's Ariel Hanson, a gorgeous (admit it вЂ“ you would) scientist searching for a cure to the Zerg infection, while trying to save refugee colonists. There's Tychus Findlay, an absurdly muscled marine recently released from prison вЂ“ he's being paid to find alien artifacts that may or may not relate to a terrible prophecy. Each ties into a different character's storyline. Once you're past the introductory storyline, in which Raynor gathers his forces, you're usually allowed to choose between two or three different missions to progress. Surprisingly, StarCraft II's campaign allows for a certain degree of choice. When the fliers are down, the Vikings will sprout legs and turn into heavy armoured walkers.ДЄnd anyway, you might not have access to the optimal unit mix at the time. Maybe a group of Vikings to take out any fliers, supporting Marauders. You'll want a mixed force of vehicles and infantry, tailored to the situation. You can't just select ten siege tanks and send them toward a Zerg base вЂ“ they might outrange the Spine Crawler defences (horrific fleshy spikes), but they'll get chewed up by fliers, such as Mutalisks, and any zerglings that can reach close range. StarCraft II delivers the most entertaining options, and the most entertaining solutions. The fun in singleplayer RTS is in figuring out the right combination of soldiers to send forward, and how best to neuter the opposition. None of these objectives can be completed by simply selecting everyone and sending them forward, nor would that solution be fun. All the while, the mothership is vapourising infected colonists. Or there's a last-ditch defence of a planet marked for extermination, where a Protoss mothership can only be shot down once you've defeated three powerful bases. When you can finally afford the bribe, their unstoppable regiments are turned over to your control. And then there was the race for resources where I was fighting over mineral patches and scrap metal to buy off a vast mercenary army. I've enjoyed nearly every mission, including a raid on a prison planet that played out like a beginner's version of Defence of the Ancients: you control a single overpowered hero while waves of basic marines throw themselves at the defences. The zombie mission might be a standout, but it's not alone. You can see the effort and thought that has gone into every little model, every tiny animation. And when the sun bursts through, the poor zombie souls flail and wave as they roast alive.

The same zergbie humans are burnt to a crisp when the sun rises the next morning: that's your cue to push out with Hellions вЂ“ buggies with roof-mounted flamethrowers вЂ“ to torch the remnants of the infested colony.ДЄs the sun sets and rises every five minutes, there's a gorgeous transition, each little soldier casting a long purple shadow. Holding out means building bunkers and filling them with Firebats and Marines, and praying they hold.

Early on, you're asked to defend a colony from infestation: hundreds of Zerg-infected humans and marines will shamble towards your gates at night.

27 missions, each lasting 30-45 minutes, each containing a unique twist or idea that raises it above a simple base push. StarCraft II shows us how it's meant to be done. Real-time strategy games have been killing the genre with this lack of imagination. For years now, RTS campaigns have repeated the same simple formula: secure a base, ramp up production by harvesting local resources, hold the fort until you've got a walking ball of death, and then burst through any defences. The tech each side brings to the party might be advanced, but in singleplayer you expect its application to be unsophisticated.

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