Here's the thing about the StarCraft II beta: you've played this game before. In the time I've spent with the beta over the past 24-plus hours, I've been Zerg rushed, I've had my buildings annihilated by a group of Reapers that snuck through the back of my fortified area, and I've had Protoss ships lay waste to countless heavy Thor units -- which looked like they could take on anything and survive. I absolutely loved every minute of it, as familiar as it was.

The StarCraft II beta is hopefully indicative of the final multiplayer product will be like: fast, pick-up-and-play games where resource management down to the millisecond can spell your doom or give you that one squad of units that brings you back from the brink of all hope being lost. It's an incredibly polished experience, helped along through a clean and efficient UI that doesn't clutter the screen and by simple matchmaking that only requires a few clicks to get into a match or join a group of players.