Starcraft 2 : Heart of the Swarm Preview
Starcraft 2 : Heart of the Swarm Overview
Starcraft 2 : Heart of the Swarm is the second opus of the Starcraft 2 Trilogy where the player takes control of Kerrigan and her Zerg Swarm in the single player campaign. Heart of the Swarm events are taking place after Wings of Liberty in the Starcraft 2 trilogy. Heart of the Swarm will feature new units and new challenges in both the single and the multiplayer part of the game. The Release date is expected to be around April 2012.
Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm Single Player Preview
In the story of Heart of the Swarm, the player will lead Sarah Kerrigan , an ancient confederate ghost captured and infested by the Zerg Swarm at the end of the first Starcraft, to power through several mutations. The main objective of Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, will be to evolve the Swarm and to assure the domination of the Zerg Swarm. During the story, Kerrigan will be able to control more and more swarms as her powers and the story evolves. The single player campaign of Heart of the Swarm will share similarities with Wings of Liberty, as the player will have control on the order of the missions. However, most of the campaign will be different as the units and the mission choices will not be based on cash. In fact, planetary missions screens and tech purchases will not come back in Heart of the Swarm. Blizzard recently announced that the game would have RPG elements. We can think that these RPG elements will be in the process to unlock new Zerg Units. In addition to that, we will see new types of missions and different objectives to complete. We already know that some major characters will come back in Heart of the Swarm, such as Samir Duran, Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk. With all these additions and the great single player story, the Single Player Part of Heart of the Swarm is something to look out for!
Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm Multiplayer Preview
There is little information about the Multiplayer part of the game that has been released in the medias. However, we know that Blizzard has plans put a Separate ladder from the Wings of Liberty. We can the assumption that the new units will make the gameplay different from the first part of the trilogy and that these differences will require a new ladder.
Another addition is a drawing functionality for the referees during multiplayer matches. Starcraft 2 : Heart of the Swarm is considered like having the same e-sports characteristics than Wings of Liberty and is considered as an expansion for the multiplayer part of the game. Blizzard also mentioned that they were going to make changes on all the three races and that they were going to un-nerf the reaper. It’s a great news because this will make Heart of the Swarm interesting for all the players, even the ones that don’t necessarily like the Zerg Race !
Heart of the Swarm New Units
Blizzard already did a good job balancing the three races but there is a lot of work to be done to balance it perfectly. Blizzard will try to fill the gaps and listen to feedback from the Starcraft Community to create the new units. One complaints from the Zerg player is that they don’t have an early unit that can counter air attack like the marine for the Terrans and the Stalkers for the Protoss. Another big complaint from the community is that Zerg doesn’t have a unit that can traverse cliffs, like the colossus or the reaper. The Zerg Players feel stuck on unreliable strategies to destroy wall-in and turtling moves.
The Lurker
Blizzard already made a move on this way and announced that the lurker would come back in both the single and the multiplayer parts of the game. This unit from Starcraft : Broodwar will allow the Zerg players to deal with the MM Strategy(Marine + Marauder) that is very strong in the early game. The lurker is a spiderish unit that can only attack when burrowed and that is vulnerable to range units when not burrowed or detected. Lurker attacks are very devastating against enemy infantry groups and the lurker can also be used as a Siege Unit, as it has a greater range than many static defenses. One of the particularity of the lurkers is that they can attack without being noticed, unlike the roaches or the banelings.
