The Zerg have received more focus on their alien attributes. The 'creep' they build on is now a possible tactical advantage as the Queen can spread it at the cost of energy rather than resources, popcap-raising Overlord units can now produce it, and all Zerg units now run faster on creep. In a nasty twist, each creep tumour made by the Queen is cloaked, meaning that only a detector unit can remove creep itself.

There are also other 'space insect' attributes to Zerg including parasites, infestations, changelings and a more advanced underground network allowing the transportation of units. On top of this, the graphics and designs all have wonderful individual quirks; the creep looks alive and mutating buildings appear to have a swimming Drone within them, for instance. If you liked the old Zerg, you'll love the new Swarm.

For Terran, more effort has been put on making them more "gritty" - rough rednecks in space, basically. Their machinery is dusty and no paint job is perfect. They have mechs, machinery and the pure muscle power of neurally 'resocialised' Marines. This time around, Terrans have learned how to salvage material, and can now disassemble buildings and regain resources. In terms of units, the gigantic Thor mech is a big chunk of metal with overwhelming firepower, which pretty much embodies the themes of the new Terran race. It can attack air, or "bombard" buildings and uints to great effect. As previously mentioned, old units have been changed up too: the feared Battle Cruisers are no longer limited to the Yamato cannon, but can also generate a shield or unleash area-of-effect attacks instead.

As with the Zerg, the Terrans are similar to how they appeared in the first game, but with new technology and designs that exaggerate their themes.

Then we have the Protoss, who have welcomed the Dark Templars back into their society after thousands of years, and some truly interesting technology has come out of the union. Instead of using robotic machinery to move about, the Protoss now teleport directly to a destination, and can warp in on any location on the map where they have energy. This is emphasised in unit design, too: the new Stalkers can teleport short distances to chase (or flee from) enemies, and more focus is put on technology and psionics.

The Protoss' focus on technology is shown off by one unit in particular. The Mothership is the most powerful unit in the game, but comes at a massive resource cost. It has several powerful abilities (which changed a lot, pre-beta) and huge firepower. The graphics for Protoss units and abilities have been updated much with the powerful StarCraft II engine which allows for some nifty effects - you can now see what unit is being produced at a Stargate, for instance.

Then there's Battle.net. This is easy to use, and while it has some annoyances, it's worth remembering that it has only just entered closed beta and many of the much talked about features are yet to be added, the system does look promising and we're looking forward to seeing how it evolves over the coming weeks and months.

One thing worth mentioning, both within Battle.net and the game itself, is that the background music is very nicely orchestrated, and the tunes don't grow old even during long sessions of gaming. The music matches the atmosphere and themes, and brings you further into the game's world. I don't normally notice music in games, but there has been a real effort put into the music by the team.

The most promising thing I can say about the beta is that writing this makes me want to do nothing but get back into the game  and kick some alien arse (or, more likely, get my arse kicked by aliens).

For more StarCraft II news, guides, videos, live play steams and up to the minute information, head over to StarCraft: IncGamers, where we are covering everything you need to know about StarCraft I and the beta!

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