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- Verdict
By Dan Stapleton
Posted: Mar 20, 2013 12:42 am
Not everyone was happy about Blizzard breaking StarCraft II's story up into a trilogy. But here's one great side effect: the zerg-themed campaign in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is something more ambitious than simply more of the same of what we got in 2010's Wings of Liberty. Blizzard takes some risks with the formula to put zerg Queen Sarah Kerrigan in a real leading role, and enough of them pay off that this expansion is a great reminder of why a big, 20-mission expansion can be more rewarding than a drip-feed of small DLC add-ons.
Heart of the Swarm's story can't fix the fact that the plot of the StarCraft II trilogy is a deluge of cliches hurtling toward a predictable "warring races unite to confront a powerful god-like enemy" conclusion (gosh, where have we seen that before?), but at least it feels like it's actually trying now. Little time is wasted in reversing Sarah Kerrigan's de-zergification at the end of Wings of Liberty – a decision she wrestles with for the entire... tutorial – and setting her out on a quest for long-overdue revenge against Dominion Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. Don't expect many surprises, but the cinematics are of the beautiful quality we've come to expect from Blizzard, so at least it looks good.
It's a relief, at least, to see that this time Kerrigan is treated like an actual character who prides herself in her use of cunning as opposed to the blindly rampaging, smack-talking monster of Wings of Liberty. Blizzard does a reasonably good job of transitioning her to a non-evil but still dangerous state of mind. She'll now go out of her way to avoid slaughtering innocents, but still finds ample opportunity to mercilessly order her swarm of alien bug monsters to "kill them all!" when facing an enemy.
This crew of monsters is by far more memorable than Raynor's bunch. Despite cliche-heavy dialogue, I enjoyed chatting with her zerg lieutenants aboard her ship between missions, especially resident genetic engineer and gross caterpillar-like creature, Abathur. His ethics-free conversations with Kerrigan are a good way to showcase her newfound morality, while exposing more of the zerg backstory. I was glad to only have to put up with Captain Bland...I mean Horner... for the one non-zerg mission where you control Jim Raynor's battlecruiser, Hyperion, in a great little space battle. That one's a welcome intermission that wisely doesn't make you re-learn how to play as terran to succeed.Nearly every other mission of Heart of the Swarm is focused on Kerrigan, in a very direct way. Fittingly, she's on the battlefield almost every time, leading her delightfully slimey soldiers and growing absurdly powerful by the middle of the campaign by means of a flexible RPG system that allows you to swap out powers between missions. I generally prefer a more permanent character-development system, but in an RTS this system makes a lot of good sense – if you find your choice of powers isn't working in against the enemies in a given mission, you can restart it with a different set.
Blizzard can still put out an excellent real-time strategy campaign that isn't just more of the same. Kerrigan's vengeful rampage may come with a generous helping of cheese and some tedious boss fights, but the chance to play with increasingly powerful units and abilities makes up for a lot – as does some inventive mission design and greater-than-a...
4 days ago · You can now get an early glimpse at the first StarCraft II expansion in our new Heart of the Swarm preview page. Learn more about the key gameplay concepts, discover the game's story and major characters, and check out a fistful of brand-new media including screenshots, trailers, and more.
Mar 19, 2013 · An in-depth look at what Heart of the Swarm brings to the eSports and Multiplayer scene. Check out the ways the replay and resume features in StarCraft II are being expanded and enhanced. The seven new units, including statistics, matchup and counter information, and a close-up 3D model that you can interact with.
Gameplay. Heart of the Swarm features a single-player campaign with 20 missions (plus seven evolution missions which allow the player to upgrade units), and continues the story from Wings of Liberty. [5] . The player plays from the perspective of Sarah Kerrigan, recently returned to her human form by Jim Raynor. [6] .
