Starcraft 2

After years of being interested in Starcraft 2 I recently played the first two games in the trilogy for the first time. Something about the world and Esports scene Blizzard Entertainment had created always intrigued me, however I was rather hesitant since I had never played a real time strategy game before. I didn’t know if I would enjoy it and if get the most out of my money. But I eventually went ahead I bought Wings of Liberty, then shortly after Heart of the Swarm. Here are some of my thoughts on the story and gameplay.

StarCraft is an isometric real time strategy game set in the distant technologically advanced future. A future where humanity has grown to span many planets and have weaponry akin to something from Star Wars. In Wings of Liberty (WoL) you play as Jim Raynor, an outlaw and rebel of the oppressive empire than governs humanity (again like Star Wars). Jim’s goal is to take down the empire’s ruthless leader and hopefully save his love interest, Sarah Kerrigan who was turned into an alien version of her former self. She too is a leader, but to an insect like hive mind race known as the Zerg which is the race that you play in Heart of the Swarm (HotS). As you can see, the plot of Starcraft is rather complex. It’s filled with intertwining story arcs between the 3 factions: Terrans also known as human, Protoss a more traditional alien looking race and the creepy-crawly Zerg.

The gameplay of most missions is to defeat the enemy base using units for your base during the match. In WoL Units range from mech suits that gather minerals to huge battleships that can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. There a lot of different types of units that do different things and this might seem rather overwhelming at first, however, the levels progression of both games are very good at easing your way through them all. Each level teaches you what a unit does and how to play them. Although, each mission really has you doing the same thing, they mix it up every game. For example, one mission in WoL has you destroying bases during the day but requires you to defend your base at night. In another, you have very few units, so you have to explore the map to find more before they are taken down by the enemy. I never got bored playing the missions and found that it wasn’t repetitive despite doing was it pretty much the same thing each level. One level usually takes about 20 minutes to play and after this you are treated to some dialogue.

The main character in the campaign will go back to their base and you have the opinion to talk to the other characters. I recommend that you do, since the characters themselves, accompanied by some fantastic voice acting, are really what makes the story enjoyable. The story itself is fairly generic and something we’ve all seen before. The character design of most individuals is very nicely detailed and tells us a lot about the person at a glance. Unfortunately, the over sexualized design of Kerrigan is where my biggest criticism resides. In her alien skin she is essentially naked, her breasts and bottom are always on show and her high heels seems unnecessary for a woman leading an army. This is so disappointing since otherwise Kerrigan’s a really well rounded character and the games story does a great job in developing her and exploring her strengths and weaknesses.

When going from Wings of Liberty to Heart of the Swarm each unit has an equivalent to one another (this also makes it fair for the multiplayer) but it’s also different enough to keep me engaged. So for example, in WoL you have the cheapest unit you can make, the Marine and then in HotS you have a Zergling. They have the same purpose, but Marines are strong but fewer and Zergling and slightly weaker but very many. It’s a satisfying balance going from one play style to another and it keeps things fresh at the same time.

StarCraft 2 Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm are great games. The gameplay is deep and really makes you think strategically while also not overwhelming enough to push away new players. It’s always satisfying when you amass your whole army for one finale assault on to the enemy’s base and succeed. The story whilst a bit bland and basic has a colourful cast of interesting characters that you see develop over the course of the game. However, hyper-sexualised characters certainly detract from this. I will say that if you are at all interested in playing a real time strategy, StarCraft 2 is probably you best bet.


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