Hell, it's about time for review time.

*sigh* Ok, I really wasn't expecting to do this, to be blunt. When the first trailer of this hit about four years ago, I was pretty damn excited. Four years later when it was finally released, all the hype I once had had up and vanished. You see, if a trailer had hit, and then the game had come out maybe next year or so, I would have been fine with that, because that happens all the time, but four years is a long time to wait. So, when the game did hit about a few weeks ago, I just sat back and waited for IGN, Gamespot, Game Informer, and Koutaku to give it the tens it may or may have deserved. But, there was a nagging voice in the back of my head, the part of me that played the hell of the predecessor to this, that urged me time and time again to buy this game. Finally after a couple weeks, I gave in, I swallowed my hatred for the publisher, bought it and popped it in my laptop. True to the developers fashion, it took six hours to install, didn't even get to play it till the next day. But after all that, I have played the game, and finally I can give you my review for Star Craft 2.
Now, disclaimer: I know this game look really good. I know it's almost jaw dropping for the major cinematic cut scenes, and even the regular gameplay. The disclaimer is I can't really talk about it because if I set my laptop to the amazing settings, I would probably have a nuclear meltdown on my hands. My advise is this, there's plenty of videos on the web showcasing the graphics of Star Craft 2, since I can't talk about them, go watch one of those vids, and decide for yourself.
The story picks up four years after the events of the first Star Craft and Brood wars (By my math, one Star Craft year is about 3 of our years, if I'm wrong someone tell me). Both the Zerg and the Protoss have been quiet for all four years, with the occasional pocket of Zerg infestation being discovered every now and then. Jim Raynor has started his own rebel force against his former commander's, Mengsk, new empire known as the dominion. The Dominion has labeled Raynor as an outlaw, and constantly berating the public with propaganda that Raynor is a terrorist. This, of course, has been making Raynor's rebellion quite difficult for the past four years.
The Campaign picks up when Raynor is starting to really push hard to get the Dominion off the world he's on. After that mission a figure from Raynor's past shows up and offers a job to Raynor, attack a Dominion Base, steal some ancient artifact, sell it, and be on their way. Sounds simple, but then again it always SOUNDS simple. Sure enough, after the artifact is prepared for evac, the Zerg show up, everything goes to hell, and it goes from there. Now the campaign has the aspect of choices and consequences, not in terms of the world, but in terms of your units.
Now, the gameplay is really the same as Star Craft. For this sequel, Blizzard decided to play it safe, and well, "If it ain't broke don't fix it." There's nothing wrong with Star Craft's gamplay, it's familiar and it' fun, but a little innovation would have been nice on the battle field. The real innovation comes with upgrading your units. There are permanent upgrades you can purchase at the armory on your ship, these will last throughout the campaign, and are pretty useful. These aren't free, however, but you do get money from the missions you complete, the bulk coming from the main objective, and others coming from side objectives.
Now, the campaign has the choices and consequences aspect, but this, as mentioned above, affects your units. During a mission, you could get a message from someone asking for help in return for some tech that will help you. You could choose to help and get that tech, or leave him be. The result is that you will have that tech for the entire campaign, or never get the chance to get it again. Another way it might happen is you could get two separate messages from warring factions, one will offer you this piece of tech to wipe out the other, the other will offer you a different piece of tech, and so on.
Now this campaign focus's on the Terran (Human) side of things, but in multiplayer all three races are available. Now, if you're worried you'll get your ass handed to you by someone online, worry not. Star Craft 2 has tutorials about the way to use things to your advantage online. Based on your level as well, when you want to play a match against a random opponent, you'll be put against someone in your same level. So, the new guys will be against the new guys, the good guys against the good guys, and the really experienced guys against the really experienced guys. Not to mention there's the Zerg Rush, where you alone or with a buddy take on waves and waves of the Zerg swarm, another version of horde mode.
All in all, I have to say I have really enjoyed Star Craft 2, the amount you get in the set, the campaign, multiplayer, Zerg rush, not to mention the new and improved battlenet and Mac and PC compatible makes it well worth the 60 bucks for the game. It wasn't probably worth the twelve year wait, but worth the four years since the first trailer hit. I can say with confidence that this game is definitely in the running for game of the year.

Challenge: 9.5
Graphics:9.3
Atmosphere:9.0
Sound:9.1
Storyline:9.2
Overall:9.2