When StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty launched last year it landed with a bang Selling over 1.5 million copies during the first 48 hours after it released, it was the fastest selling real-time strategy game in history. The meticulously balanced, fast-paced and addictive multiplayer marked the return of StarCraft as king of the competitive gaming scene. But for mere mortals and the masses slumming it in the silver and bronze ladders, it was Wings of Liberty's epic singleplayer campaign that truly set the game apart from all the Command & Conquers and other real-time strategy series of note.
So when Blizzard Entertainment offered GamesRadar the opportunity to visit its company's headquarters to sample two missions from the singleplayer campaign for StarCraft II's first expansion Heart of the Swarm, we said, "We require more vespene gas." After Blizzard representatives explained that they could not help us with fictional resources, we went anyway – and we're glad we did. Read on for hands-on impressions of the Zerg-friendly campaign – and find out what's in store in the follow-up to last year's Wings of Liberty...
Blizzard may not have been at E3, but they did hold an event immediately after to showcase the new multiplayer units. Here's what you can look forward to in the next expansion...
Since the last time we saw StarCraft II, we’ve learned a little more: it’s to be delivered in three distinct packages, with Wings of Liberty focusing on Jim Raynor’s battle against the treacherous Mengsk, whose Dominion is establishing a classic propaganda-spewing dictatorship.
In the long months since StarCraft II was announced in the summer of 2007, there have been only fleeting glimpses of the insect-like Zerg faction. But now Blizzard has not only unveiled the new Zerg, who have evolved the most of any of the three sides since the original StarCraft, but also allowed us to play with them! (Disclaimer: Blizzard made it clear that the game is still at least six months from release, and nearly everything about it
We're crying. Literally. Crying so much we have to wipe our eyes to focus on the screen. It's not an emotion we expected StarCraft II to evoke in us, but what we're witnessing is so funny that we're pissing tears of joy.
Ah, outrage. There’s a caste of outspoken gamers who have the ability to treat the slightest deviation from exactly what they want as if gaming itself had just been outlawed. So it was when Blizzard suddenly revealed they are carving StarCraft II into three distinct parts, to be released when they’re ready. “They’re money-grabbing asshats!” shouted internet angries. “Er, aren’t they just announcing
Only once you’ve wandered into StarCraft II’s greased-metal cantina and engaged in conversation with embittered mercenaries, or spoken to Jim Raynor’s crew about armour upgrades and the like, do you begin to understand why, and how, the Terran, Protoss and Zerg campaigns will be split into three separate titles.
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