StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Review

[Thedutchjelle]

From the few hours I've already put in competitive SC2 HotS, I can safely say that the whole multiplayer is changed due to those new units. Not having detection early game is severely punished now with the Terran Widowmines and cheaper DTs. I haven't seen much of the new Zerg units being used multiplayer yet, though the speed upgrade for hydras make them a more common sight on the scene now compared to WoL.

My favourite change so far is the lack of Siege Tank Upgrade. All Siege Tanks start with Siege Mode pre-upgraded, allowing Terran to get a powerful defense against Tier 1 spam quickly.

 

[theultimateend]

There was still payoff from Raynor's actions in WoL because Kerrigan has returned to being Kerrigan, albeit a zergy one. She has her own thoughts whereas before she was a pure evil Queen of Blades who only wanted what's best for the swarm.

Yep! It's effectively the story like the Lich King.

They took an uncontrollable monster and replaced it with one that can think.

I really enjoyed the story and the game was well worth the money.

In before: "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! They cut up the game! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

OT: Haven't played it yet, but I can't wait to see how these units change the game for some of my favorite SC2 players.

I'm starting to feel like those people exist only to pat themselves on the back for being "righteous".

The content and quality of these games more than makes up for the fact that in 10+ years, Blizzard only added one extra expansion pack to Starcraft. Once the third hits I'll have all 3 CE's up on zee wall and be quite pleased.

I'm terrible at multiplayer, but the AI is entertaining.

 

[Ishigami]

I only played the campaign and I have to say I consider it okayish.
It tries too smooth over the major fuck up WoL was by reinstating the status quo before WoL with some minor tweaks which still represent a lack of imagination and writing talent.
All in all the way Kerrigan is treated is still an insult to her character from SC and BW. A romance just for the sheer heck of it, recycling the revenge motivation on a lesser plane and negating her history from SC and BW as QoB just to make the Zerg the meat shield of the Terrans in the end is a sucker punch from that this once revered villain (Kerrigan as charcter and the zerg as race) might not walk away unscathed.
The foreshadowing of Zertul's prophecy is still looming like the sword of Damocles above the franchise just waiting to put it out if its misery with either a rushed climax in LotV or, some might even consider worse, a cliffhanger for SC3.
Gameplay is varied and the CGI is nicely done though.

 

[Ne1butme]

snip

There are 4 states of Kerrigan (so far) after her original infestation. Spoilers for those who haven't played through HOTS.

Spoiler

1)Overmind'd Kerrigan 2)Post Overmind Kerrigan 3)Deinfested Kerrigan 4)Primal Kerrigan.

Overmind'd Kerrigan was self-described as a monster that fought Zeratul on Char. She couldn't resist the overmind. Because she is a being controlled by the overmind, she is tainted by the Dark voice. After the overmind dies, she does indeed take control, but the initial taint of Amon still remains. Most of her humanity has been stripped and what we see isn't the true personality of Kerrigan. Post overmind kerrigan just wants power. She doesn't seem that interested in revenge against Mengsk. She could have killed him at the end of Brood War, but choose to stay quiet for 4 years.

This mindset continues in WoL. Her encounter with Zeratul, along with knowledge of the Xelnaga artifact spurns the 2nd great war. Again, revenge isn't her goal. She wants power and to preserve the Swarm. She feels that something terrible is going to happen and wants to prepare.

At the end of WoL, Kerrigan is de-infested. She has no memories of her role as the queen of blades. Only vague notions. She is free of Amon's influence. And with that stripped from her, the need for revenge comes back. Killing Mengsk is now her only goal. She also feels remorse for her actions as the Queen of Blades. She balances her fear of the Zerg (the warnings to Valaerian in the first mission of HOTS), her compassion for other Terrans (letting the humans live, telling the other zerg to respect the terrans) and her lust for vengeance (for the apparent killing of Jim and the betrayal at New Gettysburg).

Recognizing that she needs the zerg to accomplish her goals, she embarks on a journey to gather the power to control the swarm. Most significantly, she chooses to return to the Queen of Blades form, but as a primal zerg and free of Amon's influence. This is Kerrigan's true personality. She still wants revenge, but also understands that there is a greater danger ahead.

I think the balancing act mentioned above is what the reviewer was referring to as the blurring of the lines between good and evil. She is psychologically damaged. Suffering from PTSD. She has nightmares and understands that should could have a power that would aid her, but is scared that she will lose herself to it.

 

[babinro]

(no HotS spoilers in this post)
Heart of the Swarm is easily the worst entry into the StarCraft franchise.

From a gameplay standpoint:
HotS plays a lot like Warcraft 3 but with less hero complexity since you often only control Kerrigan. Since she often respawns in missions, the levels are significantly easier than any other Starcraft game ever made.
The achievements are much easier to obtain as well.
That said the level design and execution is fantastic. Fun and varied levels as you've come to expect from SC2.

From a narrative standpoint:
The game completely falls flat. I was intrigued by the Zerg in the original SC games but this one not only lessens my interest in the race as a whole but gives out some head scratching wtf bits of information about the race. It's not as bad as Star Wars explaining the force but it's equally pointless. As the escapist review mentions this game tries to bring back the status quo rather than explore something new and exciting. The end result leaves a bad taste in your mouth and fails to drive any real hype for the next expansion.

I would recommend SC2 in a heartbeat, but Heart of the Swarm isn't quite worth the $40.00 price point at least from a single player StarCraft players perspective. Here's hoping the Protoss expansion finishes off strong.

 

[Rot Krieg]

It is nice to see I'm not the only one who found the storytelling a bit weaker this time around. I thought that although they did an an admirable job of making Kerrigan a very compelling character, the narrative does a rather poor job at times of pacing her story, which left me with a feeling of inconsistency on her part. Particularly, after letting civilians go on Char, she wipes out an entire colony of protoss, simply because they're going to report her position. It's hard for me to believe she isn't evil when the deaths of anyone in her way are a minor concern if they're going to be an inconvenience.

Convenience actually seems to inform a large part of Kerrigan's 'conscience'. Though Kerrigan did stop from attacking the heavily populated civilian centers on Korhal, the fact that she even argued the point shows that she views people as expandable. She may have conflicted feelings about it, but she's just as willing to make sacrifices for her own petty schemes as Mengsk was when he abandoned her in Starcraft. But I guess it's okay, because she's sorry that she infected the protoss woman with a parasite that ate her from the inside out and then killed everyone aboard her ship. As long as she's sorry.

I honestly do find Kerrigan to be a very compelling character, but I wish the narrative had better, more consistent pacing, and a better idea of what her character is. Kerrigan is certainly not the old Queen of Blades, but she is far from one of the 'Good Guys.'

 

[theultimateend]

Kerrigan wasn't an uncontrollable monster before she was unifested and she always able to think. That's why she was able to ally with Raynor and Mengsk in Brood wars against the UED.

I wouldn't say that being unifested changed Kerigan in any meaningful way as she's still willing to wipe out whole planets if it helps her defeat Mengsk.

Beats me, she seemed different to me. Maybe I'm misremembering.

Either way I really enjoyed the story and the multiplayer.

 

[cricket chirps]

I feel it is really important to stress that, while the plot/pacing might have had some problems, the actually WRITING and dialogue were outstanding! Some of the best charcater building moments to me were outside of the cutscenes.

To give an example, Kerrigan at one point captures a protoss scientist that you end up having direct dialogue with. The scientist condemns Kerrigan for killing thousands to save herself, Kerrigan's rebuttal was simply-

"and the protoss have killed millions of zerg to save themselves, there may be more blood on my hands but in the end we are all killers."

I felt like that line alone perfectly gave reason to why she hesitated to kill civilians early on but later ordered to kill enemy warriors in masses.

 

[Frostbite3789]

I feel it is really important to stress that, while the plot/pacing might have had some problems, the actually WRITING and dialogue were outstanding! Some of the best charcater building moments to me were outside of the cutscenes.

To give an example, Kerrigan at one point captures a protoss scientist that you end up having direct dialogue with. The scientist condemns Kerrigan for killing thousands to save herself, Kerrigan's rebuttal was simply-

"and the protoss have killed millions of zerg to save themselves, there may be more blood on my hands but in the end we are all killers."

I felt like that line alone perfectly gave reason to why she hesitated to kill civilians early on but later ordered to kill enemy warriors in masses.

Doesn't that conflict with her whole revenge plot against Mengsk though? I just can't even begin to see her as in any way relatable. She's not a protagonist. Having watched my roommate play through most of the campaign, I'm glad I didn't drop $40 on this.

 

[kwagamon]

Having beaten it, I can honestly say they could've had Kerrigan just NOT revert to the old Queen of Blades body but kept every other plot point the same, and it would've improved the story a lot since it feels like you accomplished SOMETHING in Wings of Liberty. If you're still playing through, go ahead and think about the events of each scene where she's back in the old body and ask "would this have changed in any noteworthy way if Kerrigan still had a human body?" The answer is no in every single case except for right after she reverts which is only notable for its shock value. And even then, I could tell it was going to happen like three missions before it actually did, so the shock value was pretty slim since it amount to "oh, they actually went through with this bad idea."

 

[Rad Party God]

I'll may get the expansion down the line (yay for Blizzard for unlocking regional language!, I can finally play the game in english! ), but meanwhile, my question is, will the multiplayer experience be the same if I still don't own the expansion?, or will they separate it like in the days of StarCraft 1 vs Brood Wars.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Great review Justin! I really liked the story/campaign of this expansion and I can't wait to see how they will conclude Legacy of the Void.

I am not really into the multiplayer aspect,but hey that's just me. I liked the lore so much that I started reading all the books/novels/manga's of this universe. Once I finally finish these I will most probably start playing SC1 & Brood War and jump again into SC2 WoL and HotS.

 

[Don Reba]

Ah, "nukjelar" missiles. Of course...

 

[CarrieWhitaker]

I've noticed people mention what she did to the Protoss.

The problem with this is, the Protoss are ultimately fanatical about wiping out the Zerg. That is why the action against the Protoss had to be what it was.

What happens when the Hyperion shows up is a callback to what was mentioned early in the game, really. She was worried about slipping into the old mindset. And when surrounded by the sentient lieutenants with the Zerg, she really was falling back into it, until those aboard the Hyperion shook her out.

Rather sad that it had to be Valerian who did it, but I'm fairly sure it made her realize how far she'd crashed back, and she adjusted. That's what made Raynor see that she was still in there.

 

[thewanderer41]

Banelings should never be allowed to jump....
The fact that Blizzard even conceived of that is terrifying.

 

[Rblade]

Eventhough they technically appear as a patch in WoL aswell I think it is kind of weird for a review to not mention a single of the UI changes. Mutual replay watching, taking over replays, clans and groups, more streamlined visual interface. All pretty important new features that for all intents and purposes are a part of the HotS package.

 

[Ne1butme]

I'll may get the expansion down the line (yay for Blizzard for unlocking regional language!, I can finally play the game in english! ), but meanwhile, my question is, will the multiplayer experience be the same if I still don't own the expansion?, or will they separate it like in the days of StarCraft 1 vs Brood Wars.

There are separate ladders and WoL players don't get access to the HOTS unit changes. I don't know if custom games can be tied to a specific expansion.

 

[ExtraDebit]

Bought the expansion, played through the campaign. Personal thought: not worth the money.