StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm - PC

A Dip In The Dark Side

Matt Miller — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:58:00 GMT

As one of the three central factions of the StarCraft universe, the monstrous zerg have always been defined by their focus on evolution and growth. Appropriately, Blizzard makes those traits the centerpiece of the zerg-centric first expansion to StarCraft II. A tightly paced campaign of excellent missions delivers plenty of choices in how players guide the Swarm to victory, even if some of those choices don’t seem to matter as much as they could. Meanwhile, an overhaul of the existing multiplayer frontend keeps StarCraft II the game to beat in the real-time strategy world, but casual fans may still have trouble jumping into the deep end.

Sarah Kerrigan has had a rough time of things, what with her forced assimilation into an alien horde and her involvement in subsequent genocide. As Heart of the Swarm opens, things appear to be looking up. More than any previous Blizzard game, Heart of the Swarm keeps the limelight squarely on one conflicted character. Even as things once again take a turn for the worse, this anti-heroine embraces her quest for revenge. That focus steers Heart of the Swarm more toward a role-playing sensibility than the last entry, and grounds the exotic alien story in a familiar presence. The narrative is thoughtfully paced and engaging, broken down into short mini-campaigns on each planet which unfold their own discrete dramas that tie into the whole.

Blizzard had a challenging task in front of them, crafting a cast of relatable characters from a bunch of mandible-sporting monsters. Rather than shy away from the strangeness, the storyline embraces it with memorable alien personalities, like the remorseless Abathur and his twisted experimentations. Kerrigan’s tale is great fun, as told through shipboard conversations and gorgeous cinematics, even if her willingness to return to a darker path seems abrupt.

The missions that take her along this path are varied and engaging. Echoing the structure established in Warcraft III, most missions include Kerrigan as a playable hero; her presence turns the tide of battles, and her devastating powers keep players engaged even with smaller combats. A surprising number of missions branch away from the traditional base-establishing expectations into more dungeon crawl-style adventures, which hasn’t always been Blizzard’s strong suit. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the unique objectives and available units in these side treks. In particular, I love the gradual infestation of a Protoss ship, and a great little MOBA homage while piloting the mighty Hyperion.

Between missions and story, Heart of the Swarm embraces the zerg fixation on evolution. Kerrigan levels up as missions pass, often in response to optional mission objectives. New power tiers unlock on a regular basis, with multiple powers at each tier that can be altered between missions. Each zerg unit also has a flexible upgrade choice, offering options like increased armor or greater range. In addition, those same units each get a dedicated evolution mission, where you choose one of two fixed upgrades that permanently alter the unit’s abilities and name, like giving wings to zerglings so they can leap onto cliffs and enemies. I enjoy the incredible variety of units that results from my choices, but the evolution missions themselves are little more than bland tutorials. I rarely felt that my evolutionary decisions profoundly affected subsequent events in the main story; they never figure into mission objectives, and the innovative strategies they bring to the table don’t seem to matter in the long term.

The new multiplayer is best understood as an evolution as well, rather than a reinvention. Competitive play remains magnificent for those willing to invest the time to excel. The intricate balance between StarCraft II’s units remains unparalleled in the world of online gaming. Several new maps are good additions, as are awesome units that help to change up online strategies, like the zerg swarm host’s impressive siege capabilities. While those unit additions are big news for longtime fans, the new strategic options they represent may be lost on amateurs. However, all players can appreciate the under-the-hood changes in the overall structure and organization of multiplayer – a valiant effort by the developers to draw more players from the campaign into the world-class competitive scene.

The centerpiece of that initiative is a rewarding leveling mechanic. XP is accrued for all sorts of in-game actions, and new levels reward portraits and decals to customize your multiplayer persona. A new training mode helps acquaint novice players to the fundamentals of base and unit prep, though it sadly fails to communicate clearly about how to succeed after those initial steps. Versus AI matches are a fun way to get your feet wet, especially when playing cooperatively with a few buddies. After a few matches, the computer detects your skill level and plays accordingly. Ultimately, all the time in other modes is meant to transition players into true competitive multiplayer, but nothing can prepare you for the cleverness of an actual opponent. Blizzard’s matchmaking (now available ranked or unranked) tries to find appropriate opponents, but most players I encountered were wildly above or below my skill level, especially early on.

Part of me wishes that the official multiplayer offering included some more of the campaign’s innovations, such as the option to bring heroes into battle, or the cool evolved zerg units – though I can understand the desire not to mess with perfection. Luckily, players wanting to see more experimentation can dive into the massive backlog of fan-created mods in the Arcade; everything from dedicated role-playing games to tower defense variations waits inside, and I applaud Blizzard’s support for this robust community of creators.

Heart of the Swarm is billed as an expansion pack, but make no mistake: This entry is as full-featured and rewarding as the base game. While the harder sci-fi edge of the campaign may not be as accessible as the earlier terran storyline, I found myself gradually embracing the darker tones, even when some of the character moments fell flat. Accompanied by the incomparable multiplayer, Heart of the Swarm is a worthy middle act to tide us over until the protoss warp in for the impending conclusion.

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StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm's Opening Cinematic

Matthew Kato — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:41:00 GMT

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm comes out on March 12, and here's a look at the game's opening cinematic.

The game is set a couple of years after Wings of Liberty, and as we can see, Kerrigan has regained her human form before she resumes leadership of the Zerg in their continued war against the Terrans.

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For more on the game, check out Adam's rundown of some its new units.

Hands On With New StarCraft II Units

Adam Biessener — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 02:07:00 GMT

Blizzard gave a sneak peek at a handful of new units currently raising hell in the development of the first expansion to StarCraft II as it closes in on beta. From the show floor of the MLG Spring Championship, we took them for a spin ourselves.

The idea behind adding new units to StarCraft II’s multiplayer is to give each race new options in areas of the game that they’re currently pigeonholed into certain strategies. The Protoss, for example, aren’t terribly effective early-game raiders or pushers. Terran-versus-Terran matches skew dramatically toward mechanical matchups, with their biological infantry units rarely used. The Zerg have a heck of a time assaulting heavily fortified positions. Each of the units and abilities we saw today is tailor-made to give players of each race a more varied toolbox in an area they’re currently thin.

We’ve seen some of these units before, but it’s worth going through the whole list again to get a fresh look at where Blizzard is at with Heart of the Swarm multiplayer development as of now.

TERRAN

Widow Mine
A basic factory unit – no tech lab or armory required – widow mines leap up and attach themselves to the first enemy unit that comes within range, detonating after a few seconds for huge splash damage to that unit and anything around it. They move under their own power and cost supply like any other unit, and are cloaked and immobile when armed. Widow mines are a fantastic tool to break up big army masses and protect your workers from enemy raids.

Warhound
Enemy mechanical units giving you trouble? Build a few of these mechs and watch their army melt. Warhounds have an auto-casting missile attack that automatically targets any mechanical unit in range for heavy damage. Say goodbye to your sentry/stalker problems.

Hellion
Now possessed of the ability to transform into a walking mech form with dramatically upgraded armor and health, Hellions are a much more versatile unit in Heart of the Swarm. Their flamethrower becomes a cone attack instead of a line in this form. Currently the transform ability has a relatively long animation, so plan ahead.

Battlecruiser
The speed boost ability for the iconic terran battlecruiser takes energy, meaning fewer yamato cannon shots, but should more than make up for it by getting your fleet into the right place at the right time.

Reaper
These infantry have lost their building-demolishing charges in favor of a passive regeneration upgrade that quickly refills their health outside combat.

Verdict
The terran standouts to me are the hellion change – holy cow are these guys powerful now – and widow mines. The damage from the mines is exceptional, they scoot around the map quite quickly, and you can really pump them out with a reactor add-on for your factory. And I’ll never say no to a boost for battlecruisers. Once my favorite StarCraft unit, always my favorite StarCraft unit.

ZERG

Swarm Host
This new artillery-style zerg unit is the coolest thing I saw today. Swarm hosts continually spawn air- and ground-attacking temporary locust units while burrowed, which is a nightmare for detection-impaired opponents. If your enemy doesn’t have good micro skills, sending in locusts just ahead of your main advance absorbs quite a bit of damage your real army doesn’t have to take.

Viper
A new flying caster for the zerg, the viper has the terrifying ability to yank a unit from a range of nine (turrets, for reference, are range seven) to its position. This is about as hard of a counter to an emplaced siege tank as has ever existed. Thors, archons, and more will all learn to fear the viper. Additionally, vipers can create a blinding cloud that reduces any biological unit’s range to just one – a deadly threat to the iconic marine/marauder ball.

Ultralisk
Burrow charge now lets ultralisks effectively teleport short distances, making it far easier to get these hulking death dealers where they need to be. Ultralisks have lost their frenzy ability, though.

Overseer
Changelings can now be spawned at range, making them much harder for your enemy to spot.

Hydralisk
A new upgrade allows hydralisks to move faster while on off of creep. [Correction: Hydralisks already had an on-creep speed boost. Thank you commenter zlynch for the reminder]

Verdict
Spawn hosts look gross, but they’re awesome on the battlefield. Like all casters, Vipers require a higher skill level to use effectively, but their abilities should be devastating in skilled hands. As cool as transforming hellions are, spawn hosts are total game-changers. On the plus side, since I don’t play zerg online, a few humiliating losses should teach me to get better at detection.

PROTOSS

Tempest
Reminiscent of the zerg guardian aspect, tempests are big expensive fliers with an insane range – currently 22 when upgraded, dwarfing every other StarCraft II unit’s reach. They’re relatively slow, though, and don’t hit all that hard.

Oracle
The oracle is a fast, harassment-oriented aircraft that can shield mineral fields, preventing them from being harvested until the forcefield expires or is destroyed. Cloak field replaces the mothership cloaking passive, cloaking everything but the oracle itself (or any other oracles), but it costs energy unlike the old mothership ability. Finally, oracles can temporarily grant vision and detection to a building.

Mothership Core
Before building the full-on mothership, protoss players can create a much cheaper mothership core. The core attaches to an existing nexus (and can teleport to any friendly nexus) and provides defensive firepower, a powerful mass recall ability, and the capability to recharge a friendly unit or building’s energy at the cost of its own. Later, you can upgrade the mothership core to the terrifying mothership. Like the mothership itself, the core is unique – you can only ever have one at a time.

Mothership
The mothership’s cloaking field is gone (moved to the oracle), and vortex now affects only ground targets, but the new stasis spell puts the mothership itself and all nearby air units into invulnerable frozen time for 20 seconds.

Replicant?
The previously announced replicant unit is currently cut from Heart of the Swarm multiplayer, like so many units before it.

Carrier?
Carriers are on the chopping block. StarCraft II design director Dustin Browder says that the team is going back and forth every day on whether to include the iconic protoss warship.

Verdict
You’d think that the tempest would be the standout of the protoss units with its ability to fire energy balls from extreme range, but the mothership core had a far greater impact on how I approach both playing and fighting against the protoss. It comes out so early, and its abilities are so strong, that it single-handedly changes the math for offense and defense alike.

I have no illusions about just how far I am from a pro-level StarCraft II player, but even moderately skilled players around my level shouldn’t have too hard of a time seeing how easily these units fit into existing strategies as well as entirely new tactics. Even so, Blizzard took great pains to remind everyone at the event that these units could change or be removed before release, so don’t get too attached to them when you get your hands on them in beta – which should be coming up soon…although Blizzard’s definition of “soon” doesn’t always line up with the rest of the world’s.

For video of the new units in action, check out the trailer Blizzard released earlier today.

New And Improved Units Of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm

Joe Juba — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 22:50:00 GMT

Tuning and balancing is a big part of creating a fun multiplayer experience, and Blizzard has been doing just that with the new multiplayer units for Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. This video shows the latest updates and changes to expect in the upcoming installment.

The video comes courtesy of a blog post from Blizzard, who wanted gamers at home to able to see the changes that are being unveiled at the MLG Spring Championship.

For more Heart of the Swarm, here are some screens and a trailer for your viewing pleasure.

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New StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Trailer

Jim Reilly — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:59:00 GMT

Here's a look StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm from Blizzcon.

The new trailer shows off some of the new units you can expect to see. Blizzard says the entire trailer is made entirely from its in-game engine. Nice!

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Heart Of The Swarm Preview Mission Walkthroughs

Adam Biessener — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:35:00 GMT

Do you suck up every tiny crumb of StarCraft news like the last drops of water in a burning desert? Then this article, with play-by-play accounting of the two missions Blizzard made available at a recent StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm event, is for you.

Char

Kerrigan lands on Char with two goals: Bring a wayward brood back into the fold, and hunt down Arcturus Mengsk. Her vengeance on the brutal dictator who left her to die when the Zerg overran her position years ago will have to wait, though, as the one mission I had access to has Kerrigan competing with a rival broodmother for a huge stash of Zerg eggs that were left there in the last war.

The structure of this mission is extremely similar to the Stratholme mission in Warcraft III, where Arthas races to kill infected townsfolk before Mal'ganis can convert them into undead minions of the Scourge. Here, the enemy broodmother wanders the map trying to collect the eggs before Kerrigan can. Like Mal'ganis (and Kerrigan for that matter), she respawns a few minutes after being defeated in battle.

Feral Zerg guard many of the egg caches, so you need plenty of troops to help Kerrigan out on expeditions. A natural expansion is quite close to your starting base, so it's simple to get a second Hatchery and more income rolling quite early in the mission. You have an easily defensible ramp, which a few spine crawlers handily held against the weak groups the AI sent at my base.

The secondary objective here is to collect six special eggs that are guarded by significantly more feral Zerg. On the plus side, they immediately hatch into a handful of Banelings. I had one amusing battle where I was losing in the field to the other hero and ran away -- into a special egg, which hatched into a half-dozen friendly Banelings, which quite happily demolished the bulk of the enemy group. Each special egg you collect gives Kerrigan a permanent stat boost, and completing the objective unlocks new abilities in her Battle Focus tree.

Collecting 100 eggs to complete the first phase of the mission was amusing enough, but the really great part comes once you get your hundredth egg. All of the eggs then hatch into Banelings back at your base, and you get to use them to obliterate the enemy base. There's no way the rival can stand against the Baneling horde itself, much less with Kerrigan and her army coming on their heels. Watching the green tide roll over and blow everything up is a great reward.

I played the missions in both orders, so I had just Zerglings and Banelings in one playthrough and Roaches as well in another. The mission was entirely doable with the 'lings alone, as the enemy hero is nowhere near as powerful as Kerrigan on her own and ventures forth with just a handful of troops. Any tiny amount of macro skill will allow you to dramatically out-produce the enemy, even more so if you take the natural expansion. Adding Roaches, especially with their move-while-burrowed mutation, made the mission entirely trivial. It should be said that only Normal difficulty was available, so it's not like I was performing blind rocket surgery or anything, but the difficulty was surprisingly low regardless.

In addition to any bonuses you picked up for the secondary objective, you get Banelings permanently unlocked afterward.

Next up: The frozen moon of Kaldir[PageBreak]

Kaldir

Kerrigan is tracking down another rival broodmother on this icy planetoid, but the mission plays out rather differently. Your advisers tell you that the flash freeze storms that plague this world will halt even Zerg biology, so you need to make sure to avoid being caught in a battle with the acclimated native creatures when it happens.

Not for long, though. Your evolution master uses the DNA of defeated indigenous animals to render the Swarm permanently immune to the flash freeze effect. Shortly thereafter (you're following a linear path through some mountains, and the whole first part of the mission is heavily scripted) you find the remnants of the brood you came here to assimilate.

The broodmother is dead, though her hive cluster remains. Kerrigan naturally takes control of the frozen base, adapting its biology with the newfound cold resistance. Then things get interesting: A Protoss expedition stumbles across Kerrigan and immediately opens fire.

Why are the Protoss on this ball of ice? Kerrigan doesn't know, but she does know that she has to stop them from communing with the Khala and revealing her reincarnation. The Protoss have to charge up psionic booster antennas to contact their home on Shakuras from this remote location, though, so there's time for Kerrigan to get murderous before that happens.

At this point, a hard 20-minute timer starts. If the clock reaches zero, the Protoss get a message to their brethren and it's game over. You've got plenty of time to take over a natural expansion, though, and get your economy rolling. Roaches are the unit unlocked in this mission, and they serve admirably for demolishing the small forces of Stalkers, Zealots, and Sentries that the Protoss engage with.

Combat gets a little dicier when you have to push past fortified choke-points with multiple Photon Cannons, but the Zerg flash freeze immunity more than makes up for the entrenched defenses. Protoss units and buildings can survive the near absolute zero temperatures, but they have to channel all their power into their shields to do so. Thus immobilized, the Protoss are easy prey for Kerrigan's swarm. If you time your attacks right – the flash freezes are announced a few seconds before they come – you should have little trouble with the Protoss.

The real enemy here is the clock, especially if you're gunning for the secondary objective. Your evolution master wants to study the natives' unusual DNA, and he tasks you with killing three of their matriarchs to gather sufficient genetic material. The psionic spires for your primary objective are marked on your minimap, but the matriarch's aren't. You have to make decent time to get all of your murdering done before the clock runs out.

Still, only normal mode was available in the demo, so I had no trouble pumping out massive amounts of troops and obliterating everything in sight. Remember, you've got Kerrigan on the field as a powerful hero unit here, as in every mission. If the units on either side of a battle are anywhere close to even, she's more than capable of tipping the balance in your favor. With the kind of overwhelming armies you can quickly assemble with good macro control and regular Queen barfing, the slaughter is merciless.

Having blown up the final Protoss base – which is rather an extensive process, and I highly recommend using flash freeze to your advantage because man that is a lot of Photon Cannons – the expedition retreats to try to make it to their ships and report to the Khala in person. Kerrigan vows to stop them, and there the demo ends.

Both missions felt exactly like you'd expect a Zerg version of Wings of Liberty to play out. The structure, with side objectives and unusual battle conditions and all that, is identical. I do like the touch of adding Kerrigan as a hero who leads from the front, which gives Heart of the Swarm a little more of a Warcraft III feeling (an emphatically positive thing in my book). The quality bar set by Wings is quite high indeed, but these two missions from the sequel definitely clear it. I would have liked a stiffer challenge, but I'm confident that will be addressed in the final version – and it's not like I don't walk all over Wings' campaign on normal either.

Need more StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm? Of course you do. The initial preview with the teaser trailer is here, the giant screenshot dump is here, and we'll be coming back with a spotlight on Kerrigan and more plot speculation shortly.

Huge Batch Of Campaign Screenshots

Adam Biessener — Tue, 31 May 2011 17:30:00 GMT

Curious what the second act of the StarCraft II trilogy looks like in action? Wonder no longer.

The screens in the media gallery below illustrate the two playable missions from a recent Blizzard press event. You can see the frozen winds of the Kaldir moon freezing Protoss and Zerg alike, and the battles for a cache of baneling eggs in the acid pools of Char.

Looking for more details? Read our extensive Heart of the Swarm preview, and stay tuned for detailed walkthroughs of the two missions, a breakdown of what we know about the plot, and a spotlight on Kerrigan herself.

First Heart Of The Swarm Single-Player Campaign Details

Adam Biessener — Tue, 31 May 2011 07:01:00 GMT

We last saw Sarah Kerrigan’s fragile human body cradled in ex-marshal-turned-pirate-renegade Jim Raynor’s arms after the climactic battle on Char that saw the Swarm dispersed and the Queen of Blades finally defeated. Today, we finally have a sneak peek of the second act of the StarCraft II trilogy.

While Kerrigan is no longer an unstoppable human/Zerg hybrid who can crush battlecruisers with her mind, she is still an immensely powerful psionic. You might think that Heart of the Swarm would follow a different character after Wings of Liberty’s cliffhanger ending, but no. Kerrigan is back leading the Zerg (though she is looking pretty human these days) for reasons Blizzard declined to divulge. The two missions I played have Kerrigan traveling the Koprulu sector, reuniting the broods under her -- and gunning for the bloody dictator who abandoned her to the Zerg’s tender mercies in the first place.

Both missions feel very StarCraft II. The Char level pits Kerrigan against a rival brood mother in a race to collect eggs (it is quite similar to Warcraft III’s Stratholme mission), while the frozen moon of Kaldir sees Kerrigan’s Zerg obliterating a series of Protoss bases to prevent their psionic spires from getting a detailed message back to the main Protoss force on Shakuras. Both have secondary objectives with nice persistent bonuses, like mutation points for upgrading your units between missions or permanent stat increases for Kerrigan.

The biggest gameplay difference in Heart of the Swarm is Kerrigan herself. Unlike Raynor, she leads from the front, clearing the way with psychic blasts and her trusty canister rifle. As part of her connection with the Swarm, she can be reincarnated if she falls on the battlefield, so you have no excuse not to throw her into the thick of things. Like traditional RTS hero units, Kerrigan has a boatload of health and armor, strong attacks, and a selection of spell-like abilities.

Rather than progressing through skill trees, Kerrigan chooses from one of a number of focuses before each mission. Blizzard emphasized that the particulars will likely change before the game comes out, but the build that I played had two focuses unlocked out of four, with two or three abilities out of five total for each focus available. One of the two demo missions had a secondary objective that unlocked a new ability within one of the focuses, so it’s safe to assume that the focus mechanic is a big part of the campaign’s progression.

In her Spec Ops mode, Kerrigan got an area-effect short-cooldown psionic stun blast and the ability to create a clone of herself with a fair amount of health and who shot for half of Kerrigan’s damage. With her Corruption focus, she had the same Broodling ability as the old StarCraft I Queen: instantly killing an enemy and spawning two temporary units from its corpse. Corruption also had a acidic area debuff that made affected enemies take +4 damage, which is more helpful than you’d think with a Zergling-heavy army.

Both focuses were fun to play with. In both modes, Kerrigan functions as a tough-to-kill, powerful caster unit. I slightly favored Spec Ops mode simply because stunning a bunch of units for a few seconds seems like it scales better against larger armies, but Corruption was solid itself. I love the decision to let players freely switch focuses between missions; experimenting with different hero loadouts is always a big draw for me.

Like in Wings of Liberty, players slowly unlock units and upgrades to fill out their armies with troops that would never make it through the game’s hardcore multiplayer balancing. Zerg unit mutation is more dramatic, though. After choosing two upgrades, you can spend two more mutation points to evolve the unit into one of two forms. Zerglings, for instance, can upgrade to spawn three units per egg or gain 10 health and a jump attack.

Heart of the Swarm is definitely a Zerg version of what you’re familiar with from Wings of Liberty, but what I’ve seen makes me confident that Blizzard is well on track to adding a distinctive Zerg flavor to the existing StarCraft II single-player experience.

Want more Heart of the Swarm? Check out the teaser trailer below, or swing by the site later for more plot speculation, detailed walkthroughs of the demo missions, and a closer look at Kerrigan herself.

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