Let me start off by saying I did not play Starcraft 1 when it came out.  Mainly because I couldn't afford a PC that would play the game, and I was away at college.  I did however play the game years later when I was able to finally get a gaming PC (which at that point an average PC could play the game easily).  I did not purchase the game I played a cracked version just to experience the story, so I never played SC multiplayer.  I did play the SC2 beta quite a bit when I first got the key which was a bit overwhelming at first.  Even though I had a decent amount of experience with Warcraft 3 multiplayer it was still tough playing against people that have been playing for 12 years.  The placement games did seem to put me in with people of similar skill level, which was nice knowing that I was not going to get crushed every game I played.  That is all fine and well, but the main thing I want to talk about is the campaign.  From the opening cinematic (which everyone has see 100 times by now at this point) through the first few missions of the game I sat in amazement.  The pacing, the in engine cut-scenes, the voice acting, all are top notch.  When I saw the Prophecy cinematic my jaw dropped, and I had to watch it a second and third time because of how epic it was.  The diversity of the missions is another outstanding part of the game, no mission has felt the same so far in my opinion.  Each mission structurally has a different setup, whether it is defending, attacking, escort, or controlling a "hero" class.  I am playing it on normal difficulty which is nice, and does seem to allow a little bit of a margin of error.  You don't have to do everything perfectly, or do things in a certaint way each time.  You are allowed to tackle missions how you see fit to a certain extent.  Another great thing about the campaign is the campaign exclusive units you get to control.  I had been playing the multiplayer for so long that I figured the campaign was going to be boring controlling the same units, and low and behold they have a completely different set of units for the campaign.  The ability to purchase mercenaries, unit upgrades, and tech tree is a really nice touch.  There are some tough choices on the tech tree, but each choice has its worth and al depends on the player.  Finally, hands down the best part of the game is the ability to play The Lost Viking.  When I first saw the arcade machine on the ship I prayed that I would be able to play something on it.  As soon as I clicked on the machine and it asked me if I wanted to play I knew I was golden.  Nothing like playing an old school top down space shooter, ah the memories.  I spent a good two hours total playing that game and loved every minute, even my wife (typically not a gamer) enjoyed it.  All in all it is one of the best games I have played in a long time and I hope the next two installments are as good if not better.