Now let me start by saying that this is not a review and that any of my stated opinions are liable to change since this is only a first impressions piece. With all of that aside, here are some first impressions that I have gotten from Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty. Let's focus on the campaign, since that is where I feel the bulk of the change occurred.

After completing the first mission, you can immediately see the difference between this new version and the original. To start, you are presented with a semi-interactive bar environment containing a few items with which you can briefly interact. After a few missions, your between mission environment upgrades to that of a battle cruiser with multiple rooms that each serve an interactive purpose. Players can head to the armory to buy in-game upgrades for their units or head up to the bar and see if there are any new mercenaries for hire.

Another upgrade from the previous version is the depth of the story. Not only is the story deeper but it also includes memorable characters that you can easily get attached to, making you unable to put this game down (at least in my case, playing 8 hours straight through 2 meals). This isn't just another gamer saying this either. My sister watched me play and was just as interested in what was going to happen next as I was.

Another thing that I thought was interesting was the use of campaign only units such as firebats and medics. Many will miss these units when they get to the multiplayer modes but it is necessary for the sake of balance. I personally feel that these units added additional depth to each mission I've played. At this point, I would definitely recommend this game to anyone I know without hesitation.