I was tempted to begin this review with some type of epithet recounting the long years of waiting for the sequel to one of the greatest games ever made. But honestly, that would be dishonest. Starcraft came out some time before I was sucked into the gaming machine, and it was only in the last year or two that I picked up the battlechest at Best Buy and gave it a spin.

Confession first: I have yet to finish the first game, and I haven’t even touched the expansion, Brood War.

So there really hasn’t been much of a wait for me. As far as I was concerned, Blizzard could take their sweet time releasing the game. And they did – it’s been over a decade since we’ve seen a game in the franchise.

But it was so, so very worth it.

Even given my relative inexperience with the original games, Starcraft II feels incredibly familiar. The interface is reminiscent of the original, as are the controls. The graphics have certainly been updated, but they haven’t been dramatically changed, making the experience more like putting glasses on and finally being able to see the detail of the original game. Factions, tech trees, units, maps, mechanics – all have been tweaked and updated (and, in some cases, changed/removed/added), but all maintain an atmosphere appropriate to an heir of the RTS King.

Others have said this, but it bears repeating: Starcraft was a masterpiece and it didn’t really need an update. The visuals were the only major portion of the game that didn’t age well, and the game is still bigger in Korea than the NBA is here (I don’t have any research to back that up, but it sounds impressive, so go with it).

So all the nostalgia that you get when playing the game is there on purpose – Blizzard didn’t try to reinvent the wheel with this game. While major renovation is appropriate at times (for example, Dawn of War II nearly belongs to a different genre than its prequel), in this case it would have been akin to adding paint to a Picasso.

But enough tongue-bathing. The game starts out with a slow-ball training mission to reintroduce Jim Raynor (sans Vulture bike) and set the scene for the story. And while said story isn’t anything particularly award-winning, it’s certainly engrossing and entertaining, in a summer-movie sort of way. The voice acting is top notch, and while the game could be accused of campiness at times, that appears to the be the flavor Blizzard was shooting for. In a nutshell, Jim is leading Raynor’s Raiders in a rebellion against Arcturus Mengsk, who is both the leader of the evil-empire Dominion and the recipient of the Strange Yet Strangely Awesome Villain Name award.

All this freedom fighting is sidetracked when the Zerg show up in all their truly disgusting glory. Missions divide themselves fluidly into several types as you attempt to gather resources and intelligence to fight off the Zerg, the Dominion and the occasional Protoss fanatic.

It all gets mildly twisty and emotional and action-movie-esque as the story moves forward to its climatic and inevitably open ending.

The difficulty curve ramps up slowly but surely as the game introduces new units and tactics for both you and your enemies. The interface is a simple as could be asked for – nothing is more than a click or two away, and advanced techniques like control groups and hotkeys are easy to pick up.

It’s all done with an oily smooth panache that is the hallmark of a genius developer with a huge bankroll. The largest and most entertaining innovation on the RTS formula is the between-mission menu, which isn’t really a menu at all but rather the interior of Raynor’s ship, the Hyperion. While you aren’t free to walk around the ship, you can visit several areas to interact with other characters, research permanent upgrades to your units and buildings, hire mercenaries, and select your next mission. It feels like the type of thing that developers should have been doing all along, and I hope it’s a trend that catches on.

Starcraft multiplayer is the stuff of legend, and the sequel doesn’t disappoint. Others have complained about Blizzard’s new Battle.net matchmaking system, but I haven’t had any issues with it so far. The service is fully integrated into the game, makes it easy to make connections with other Battle.netters through Facebook or via e-mail, and most importantly, manages matchmaking in order to keep things competitive.

You’re given the option of playing up to 50 practice games (unranked 1v1 or 2v2 matches against other practice-leaguers) before entering the leagues. After that, you play a few games so the system can get a feel for your skill level, and then you’re placed in a league and bracket appropriate for you. So those of you afraid to wade into the multiplayer scene, let your terror fade: it’s very accessible.

Of course, you can also play against the computer or against your friends. And while Blizzard has removed LAN support from the game, it’s easy enough to create a game with friends over Battle.net that I’m not sure it will really be missed.

All of this is tied together somewhat by an achievement and reward system that not only recognizes your successes in both single and multiplayer, but it announces those successes to your friends. Automatic bragging. What will they think of next.

So, in short, the game is brilliant. While some have wailed and gnashed teeth over the decision to split Starcraft II into a trilogy (this game, Wings of Liberty, is part one), it appears to have been a solid decision. The Terran campaign is satisfyingly long and fleshed out, and the game has been given a coat of polish it probably would not have received had all three campaigns been stuffed in.

This way, the players get three sprawling campaigns and three years of guaranteed major updates to both single and multiplayer, and the developers make absolute scads more money. Everybody wins.

On the content side, there are some minor concerns. I can’t think of a cutscene in which someone wasn’t drinking out of a flask or dragging on a cigar. Also, mild language pops up throughout (mostly damns and hells, and one or two s-words that were rather surprising for a T-rated game).

The tragic leader of the Zerg, the Queen of Blades, is still recognizably female and not really clothed. However, she isn’t really human, either, and is covered in Zergy chitinous armor. Nothing that should raise any eyebrows.

Violent content is about what you’d expect for a PG-13 movie. Blood splashes when humans die. The Zerg buildings are biological, so anytime anything of theirs is destroyed it goes up in a gory explosion.

All of it comes together to push the boundaries of what I’m used to in a T-rated game (I had to double check that there was only a T on the box after playing the first few missions). However, there isn’t really anything that will cause concern for mature gamers; you just probably shouldn’t play it with your little brothers.

Ultimately, Starcraft II is a worthy successor to its legendary progenitor. The game shows all the marks of a finely tuned machine polished to a glorious sheen. It’s slick, it’s entertaining, it’s challenging, and it’s fun. Innovative is really the only thing it isn’t, at least in terms of gameplay. But that isn’t much of an issue here.

So while my wait between Starcraft and Starcraft II wasn’t much of an ordeal, the wait between Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm will be. This is a great game that will be around for a long time, and you owe it to yourself to pick it up and bathe in its sheer excellence.

Jerod Jarvis is an independent gaming journalist and founder of Duality Games. He maintains gaming columns for The Washington Times Communities and for The Outpost. When not blogging madly about games, he freelances for the Spokesman-Review in his hometown of Spokane, Washington and attends school at Whitworth University. Check out his presence on Facebook and Twitter to stay up on Duality Games updates and the inside scoop on the gaming news you care about.