Release Date: March 12
Platforms available on: PC, Mac
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Genre: Real-time strategy
Three years is a long time to wait for the next chapter of any story, but StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm has more to offer than mere plot thickener.
Whatever your opinion about Blizzard Entertainment's decision to divide the game into three separate campaigns, there's no denying that this Zerg instalment makes the world of StarCraft all the richer.
Technically speaking, Heart of the Swarm is an expansion pack for 2010's StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, yet players will find a little more on offer than additional maps and units.
While there's isn't much in the way of earth-shattering innovation, there are enough tweaks and refinements here to improve the overall experience.
For anyone unfamiliar with Blizzard's real-time strategy series, StarCraft 2 is divided into three instalments, one focusing on each of the game's playable factions.
Heart of the Swarm is the second entry in the series, focusing on the insectoid Zerg and their hybrid leader Sarah Kerrigan, a psychically-blessed human who was captured by the Zerg and transformed into their queen.
Heart of the Swarm picks up immediately after Wings of Liberty and finds a captive Kerrigan stripped of her Queen of the Blades memories, only to regain them as early in as the tutorial mission.
- While there's isn't much in the way of earth-shattering innovation, there are enough tweaks and refinements here to improve the overall experience.
Over the course of the story, players must rebuild the Zerg swarm and take down the Terran dictator Arcturus Mengsk.
Players take control of Kerrigan and her Zerg forces for much of the game, though there are some opportunities to dabble in the humanoid Terran and psionic Protoss legions.
With the Zerg under the spotlight, StarCraft 2 is the same solid RTS experience as before, except with a greater emphasis on micro-management.
The Zerg grow their own troops and terraform the environment around them, making it relatively easy to amass a sizeable army of low-powered units, providing your resource gathering is going smoothly.
Zerg warfare is all about strength in numbers, with the idea being to swarm enemies by setting great clusters of soldiers on them as one.
Missions at their core are still the same blend of scouting, stealth and combat, but improvements to the game's interface and artificial intelligence will sit well with the fans.
Workers go about their resource gathering with little supervision, while military units can be tailored to fit the user's play style via a comprehensive upgrades system.
This RPG-like component can be used for incremental tweaks, such as speed boosts or heightened attack capabilities, as well as more far-reaching improvements like the ability to fly or harness new powers.
Kerrigan can also be upgraded in this way, and some of the powers she has at her disposal are a joy to wield.
The focus on micromanagement is where the Zerg's appeal lies. The solo campaign forces players to think outside the box and approach missions in a different way than they would in Wings of Liberty, which feels like a more traditional military RTS by comparison.
The single-player campaign is linear and predictable at times, yet hits most of the right notes where the fanbase is concerned.
However, as StarCraft has always been a multiplayer-driven experience, Heart of the Swarm's contribution to this side of things is perhaps of greater importance.
StarCraft 2's longevity is derived from multiplayer alone, so we're pleased to report that Heart of the Swarm gives this mode the shot in the arm it sorely needed.
It's the inclusion of new units that breathes life in this three-year-old title, with each faction receiving game-changing expansions to their arsenal.
- StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm doesn't attempt to reinvent the wheel, yet it's a fan-pleasing addition to one of the best real-time strategy titles of recent years that will have a revitalising effect on its multiplayer community.
Our old friends the Terrans have access to new defensive capabilities thanks to the Widow Mines, explosive booby traps that provide a nasty surprise for encroaching foes, and are better equipped for close combat with hefty robots called Hellbats on their side.
The Zerg have a versatile new unit called the Viper, a flying caster that can be heavily modified via the upgrades system, on their side, and can gain increased map control via their burrowing siege units known as Swarm Hosts.
Meanwhile, players who favour the Protoss have additional strategic capabilities at their fingertips in the shape of Oracle units, which can be used to sabotage enemy mining operations.
The new ranking system is another welcome addition to the multiplayer fold. Not only does this help newcomers acclimatise by matching them up with players of a similar rank, it allows players to take part in unranked matches that have no bearing on their all-important leaderboard positioning.
StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm doesn't attempt to reinvent the wheel, yet it's a fan-pleasing addition to one of the best real-time strategy titles of recent years that will have a revitalising effect on its multiplayer community.
There are more substantial single-player campaigns to be found elsewhere, but the inclusion of new and improved units has rekindled the buzz around online play, and the tweaks and refinements this update includes serve only to make StarCraft 2 all the more appealing.
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