For more than 20 years the titles from Blizzard Entertainment have reigned supreme atop the RTS hierarchy. Starcraft 2 released in 2010 as the latest installment in that long lineage, which was established with Starcraft 1 in 1998 and confirmed with Warcraft III in 2002. Among the engaging gameplay, dramatic single player campaign writing, smooth graphics, and polished experience, Starcraft 2 delivers an unforgettable real time strategy game.

It offers something for every gamer. Newcomers to the genre can play the single player campaign on easy to absorb a galaxy spanning space opera with heroes, villains, twists, and turns. The cut scenes are beautiful and voice acting superb. Veterans can continually increase the difficulty and master the Terran, Protoss, and Zerg races for some seriously tough AI battles and in-game achievements. And then multiplayer addicts can battle against one another and climb the ladders to eSports fame.

Oct 07, 2019  Starcraft II doesn't need to fully download to play, instead there is a minimum amount to install and then you can get started, meanwhile streaming data as needed. In the free trial version you can play through the entire Wings of Liberty campaign focusing on. Google Sheets makes your data pop with colorful charts and graphs. Built-in formulas, pivot tables and conditional formatting options save time and simplify common spreadsheet tasks. All for free.

Blizzard&'s intellectual property is certainly old and Starcraft II may not be the flashiest title around, but it's certainly a timeless one. A top-class game from every angleA gripping sci-fi story with high fun-factor gameplay in one of the most polished packages in the RTS genre. Starcraft II has so much to love.To get started you'll need a Battlenet account with blizzard. It's a seamless experience that sets you up with the Battlenet client which is where you can play all games from Blizzard. Starcraft II doesn't need to fully download to play, instead there is a minimum amount to install and then you can get started, meanwhile streaming data as needed.In the free trial version you can play through the entire Wings of Liberty campaign focusing on the Terran (humans) storyline.

It's the first of three. The second campaign focuses on the Zerg (insect-like swarm aliens) while the third finishes the entire arc with the Protoss campaign. They're humanoid psionic warrior-monks.

Blizzard allows you to play the prologue of the Protoss campaign, which brings you into the story of Zeratul, one of the most famous and important characters in the Starcraft story.Starting with the tutorial is always the best option for newcomers. It takes you through the mechanics of moving units, attacking, resource management, creating buildings, and achieving each mission's objective. Veterans of the genre can probably skip the tutorial.

Once you get the hang of the basic gameplay you can start the Wings of Liberty campaign on casual, easy, medium, or brutal difficulty. Now you get to dive into the first of a three-part epic saga of sci fi prophecy and power. The game is a blast to playIt weaves a wonderful blend of game mechanics that make you think of how to optimize your resources, units, and attacks. Then when it feels like too much work, you get to sit back and watch beautiful scenes unfold as the story progresses. Each mission feels like it has a purpose and Blizzard varies the mission objectives to keep it interesting the whole time.Co-Op missions help maintain the replay value of Starcraft II. You can choose to play with an online friend or an AI in shorter, objective based missions that aren't part of the story campaign.

What's cool here is that you get to check out all of the playable heroes in the Starcraft II universe. Jim Raynor, Kerrigan, Artanis, and many others. These story-important characters have special abilities beyond the typical units in the standard game.Multiplayer delivers the highest replay factor if you want to test your skills against other players. It's a very different experience from single player. The way to beat your opponent is often a frantic pace of resource gathering, expansion, constant attacking, and requires a deep knowledge of the three factions. To make the best attacks, counter-attacks, and adjustments. Competitive RTS games aren't for everyone, though, and it can feel like more work than fun.Custom games are another way to change up the standard game.

Between Melee and Arcade custom games, you can play on altered rules, custom units, and user created maps.The Collection tab houses all the different items, skins, voice bundles, premium maps, and other purchased custom enhancements you can collect for the game. Where can you run this program?Given its age, Starcraft II should run well on any modern PC. Recommended requirements are for Windows 10 64-bit, Intel Core i5 or AMD FX processor, GTX 650 or Radeon 7790, and 4 GB of RAM.

Is there a better alternative?You can't go wrong with any of the other Blizzard developed real time strategy games. Starcraft I and its companion expansion of Brood War is widely considered the greatest RTS of all time. It's still played as a professional eSport in South Korea and while the graphics are outdated, the rest of it is timeless.

Warcraft III is another strong contender. It's a fantasy setting as opposed to sci-fi, and the feel of the massive armies in Starcraft take a more focused approach with fewer units and a bit slower pace. Our takeBlizzard has a knack for making the highest quality games in the industry. They haven't made a dud yet. From the slick Battlenet client to the first of many movie-quality cinematics you see once the game opens, you know Blizzard poured their heart and soul into this game. But calling it a game misses an important point & Starcraft II is ostensibly three games in one. The free version gives you loads of content from the first game with many modular options to add content as you want.

The gameplay is incredibly fun but demanding and the combinations to winning missions and multiplayer games are endless. The cinematic feel of the storyline puts some movies and television shows to shame. The maturity of the game, now almost a decade old, means that bugs are few and the community established.

Starcraft II may not grab you for life, but it certainly deserves a place on a list of games you must play before you die. Should you download itYes. Considering how much content you get for free, it's a must-download if you're in the market for an RTS or an incredible story driven game.

Blizzard gives you tons of options for how to spend money to further the experience.

In order to use, you need to have the mod to be installed first. The is recommended, but not required. Your character also needs to be able to pick master locks or you can't complete the quests.Because the mod quests intersect heavily with the main vanilla quests, there's possibility for conflicts to arise. If you run into a problem where a quest isn't finishing properly, talk to one of the new companions and pick the option to end or restart the current quest.Besides the new quests and companions, Project Valkyrie significantly alters how the end games plays out. You no longer have to pick one specific faction to work with, and you aren't railroaded into help that faction annihilate the others. Starting Project ValkyrieThis mod's primary quest line is tied closely to the vanilla game's Secret Of Cabot House side quest, which has to be started first to gain access to the new Project Valkyrie content.If you've already completed this quest and can freely enter the Parsons State Insane Asylum, just head straight there to find Valkyrie.

Talking to her begins the In A Darkened Room quest.If you haven't started or completed the Cabot content yet, first travel to Cabot House, which is found north of Goodneighor and west of the Old North Church.The door is locked and can't be picked, so talk to intercom on the left side. If you have the proper Charisma skills, you can persuade them to let you in.If you fail the persuasion attempt, instead find the ghoul named Edward first and he'll tell you to meet him at Cabot House. He can spawn randomly at Bunker Hill, the Third Rail bar, or Dugout Inn.Kick off this weird immortality-themed quest by accepting the job to track down a dead courier and pick up his serum. After the battle with the raiders, bring the serum back to start the Emogene Takes A Lover quest.When Edward takes you upstairs, hack the computer on the back wall near the second staircase and read the entry labeled Patient Log S18. This entry updates the main Project Valkyrie quest In A Darkened Room.Before you can actually get into the Asylum to meet Valkyrie, you need to have Jack unlock the doors. Keep completing tasks for Edward until you finally reach the Secret Of Cabot House quest.

During that quest, Jack will unlock the Asylum.Once inside, make sure to help Jack unlock the doors and activate the elevator, or you can get permanently stuck in the basement with no way to leave after finding Valkyrie. The only way to leave the building at that point is to use console commands to warp to a new location. In A Darkened RoomFor this first quest of Project Valkyrie, travel to the Parsons State Insane Asylum at the northeast end of the map.Valkyrie herself is found in a locked room in the basement (you have to travel through the gap between walls and jump down the giant hole to reach this area).Access Nurse Deesil's terminal to unlock the door, and then leave the Asylum.

Note that have to actually walk by the front door to the Asylum to trigger the end of the quest, so just warping out isn't immediately helpful unless you walk back.Be sure to talk to Valkyrie to get a dose of super charged Serum (and to give her some clothes and a weapon)!MalpracticeTalk to Valkyrie again and ask how you can help to kick off the Malpractice quest, which will have you traveling to different medical centers in search of answers.Travel to the Medford Memorial Center, which is directly next to the Malden Center station and southwest of Greentop Nursery. This area is filled with suicide bombing super mutants, so you'll want to wear your power armor.

Pick the master locked door and head up to the top section to access the terminal and find out about Valkyrie's abduction.Next, travel to Kendall Hospital (north of the Institute and east of Cambridge Police Station). Be ready for raiders and deathclaws! In the basement, look for a terminal behind a giant hole in the wall and read the notes.Finally, go to Mass Bay Medical (southeast of Vault 114 and Swan's Pond). Head up towards the top of the area and look for a back room with a terminal located above the power armor station. Read through those files to find out how Valkyrie was kidnapped.Heir To The ThroneAnytime after reading the final terminal in the previous quest, talk to Valkyrie again and ask for another job to start this quest line.Head to Back Street Apparel and look for the blue door labeled Valkyrie's Apartment (right next to Club Snuggle). Pick the novice lock and head inside to raid the apartment, which has work benches, a power armor station, and can now serve as your home.Grab the Note From Vanessa on the dresser chest in the bedroom and then talk to Valkyrie again.

Travel to the USAF Satellite Station (southeast of Robotics Disposal Ground).Be on the lookout for laser tripwires in here! Talk to the H.A.L.L.Y robot to get the Liberty Prime overwrite codes and then grab the shipping receipt off the dead body.

Talk to Valkyrie again to complete the quest.From this point onward, Valkyrie will offer repeatable side quests if you initiate dialog.Wag The DogThis quest intersects with the Brother Of Steel end game state and sees you taking over control of the faction. Its best to start this quest after completing the vanilla Show No Mercy quest so Liberty Prime is already re-assembled.With the Liberty Prime override codes in hand, travel to the B.O.G. Bunker south of Oberland Station and chat up Fiona McBride in the lounge area of the sub-level.Talk to the kid named Owen in the next room and take him to the safe house marked on your map (and for the love of God, don't give that child a mini-gun when he asks for one). Talk to Owen's mom - who it turns out is none other than Sarah Lyons - and then fight off the Brotherhood invaders.Read the info on the terminal and talk to Sarah again, then follow the map markers to kill the Brotherhood members. Read the note labeled Orders From Kells and then show it to Owen's mom.Deal with the Brotherhood ambush situation, and then press the glowing red button above the toilet to open a secret back room. Read the terminal and then chat with Maxson.From there, its up to you whether to go the peaceful or violent route with Sarah.

Follow her around and talk to Captain Kells and then Proctor Quinlan. Chat with Fiona again to finish the quest.At this point you can now talk to Fiona to initiate the Peace Through Superior Firepower side quest. Which has you recruiting Liberty Prime as a companion.Yes, the insane Democracy-spreading robot Liberty Prime is now your companion. Have fun annihilating the wasteland! Obviously he can't enter buildings however, so he'll hang around outside when you enter an interior area.The Revolution Will Not Be TelevisedFor the final main quest of Project Valkyrie, talk to Sarah again and then go chat with Carter at Club Snuggle next to Valkyrie's apartment.This quest has you taking control of the Institute, so its best to start before fully completing the main Institute quest lines of the vanilla game.Fast travel to Hubris Comics and follow the map markers to get the teleporter gun components, then take them back to Carter Beckett. Walk to the pinup room in the basement of Club Snuggle and talk to Dr.

Zimmer, then return to Carter again.Go inside the Institute and load the holotape into the terminal in Dr. With the teleporter gun equipped, initiate conversation with Clayton Holdren and decide whether to kill him or teleport him elsewhere. Repeat this process with Isaac Karlin and Alana Secord, then go back and talk to Carter again.Now just follow the quest markers to talk to Sawyer, Sarah, Desdemona, and Preston to take control of the Institute (if you really hate Preston Garvey, be sure to teleport him to prison). From here on out you can use the Director's room as your home base.After completing the main quests, repeatable side quests become available by talking to Sarah, Valkyrie, and Owen, and by opening the terminals in each area of the Institute.You can also now recruit the following new companions:. Synth Nate in the SRB Lounge of the Institute. Synth Gloria at the firing range in the Advanced Systems room of the Institute. Synth Nora in the steam shower section of the Director's roomLooking for more Fallout full conversion mods that offer extended stories and new ways to play?

Touchpad not listed in device manager. Touchpad not working and disappeared from Device Manager after Windows 10 upgrade Hello, After my new 2-in-1 laptop (Asus Zenbook UX360AC) automatically upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 10, in August 2017, the touchpad stopped working. I looked at updating the driver, but the touchpad no longer appears in the Device Manager list or Control.

Check out our full run down of! Featured ContributorTy splits his time between writing horror fiction and writing about video games. After 25 years of gaming, Ty can firmly say that gaming peaked with Planescape Torment, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a soft spot for games like Baldur's Gate, Fallout: New Vegas, Bioshock Infinite, and Horizon: Zero Dawn. He has previously written for GamerU and MetalUnderground. He also writes for PortalMonkey covering gaming laptops and peripherals&period.