<p>Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty quickly became one of the most popular RTS games in history, as well as a huge platform for competitive gaming. This set the stage for Starcraft 2’s second installment, Heart of the Swarm. With as huge a following that Starcraft has as both a story, as well as an eSport, HotS needed to be a huge success, and quite frankly, it was.</p>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.99 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad135805 " id="quads-ad135805" style="float:none;text-align:center;padding:0px 0 0px 0;" data-lazydelay="3000">

</div>

<p>From a campaign point of view, HotS is everything players have come to expect from Blizzard’s RTS campaigns. Players follow Sarah Kerrigan, as she seeks revenge on Emperor Mengsk. Though new characters are introduced through out the campaign, players are still joined by the characters they fell in love with in Wings of Liberty, as well as appearances from some characters from the original Starcraft. The missions were well done, though some reminded me a little too much of missions I have done in pervious Blizzard games. This is not a huge deal though, as there are plenty of new feelings to the missions. The game does do a great job of giving players insight into how the Swarm operates, something I was worried would not work as well as it did with Terran in Wings. Instead of giving players “research” options to enhance their army, they allowed players to choose new “evolutions” for their army, something that works much better with the Zerg and makes the game overall feel better.</p>
<p>The best part of the campaign though is the cutscenes between missions. Blizzard has long been known for their cinematic-making ability, and HotS continues this tradition. From the action-packed cinematic that starts the campaign, to the ending one, which is designed to excite players for the third chapter, every cinematic is well done and helps enrich the story. The only complaint I had with this aspect of the game was some of the interactions between characters were kind of cheesy, making it slightly harder to take the cut scenes seriously. However, this is to be expected, as Blizzard is well known for their often cheesy character lines.</p>
<p>Though the campaign is great, it is only half of the game, yet the multiplayer is just as good. Blizzard completely revamped the user interface, making it much easier to navigate. They also added a number of features to improve the social aspect of the game, including the ability for players to create and join clans and groups. A new unranked match making system was also implemented, allowing players to practice without the fear of losing ladder points. Finally, a new leveling system has been implemented, allowing players to earn new rewards for playing with each race. All of these changes will certainly help the game grow as an eSport, as well as make it more enjoyable for everyday players to play.</p>
<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.99 -->
<div class="quads-location quads-ad135804 " id="quads-ad135804" style="float:none;text-align:center;padding:0px 0 0px 0;" data-lazydelay="3000">

</div>

<p>Finally, the biggest positive that this expansion brings to Starcraft is the new units. Blizzard did a great job of adding units that will certainly change what was turing into a pretty stale meta-game in competitive play. Furthermore, they only added a few new units. This is great because, while still making the game fresh, it does not completely change it.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="wp-image-25091 aligncenter" alt="HOTS_26_of_32" src="http://www.explosion.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/HOTS_26_of_32-300x168.jpg" width="500" height="300" /></p>
<p>Complaints of this game are few and far between. Certainly, the cheesiness of some parts of the campaign is worth noting again, but like it was said earlier, this is expected from Blizzard. At launch, there were some bugs with the leveling system, but there was nothing else that was terrible with the launch. Keeping in mind how Diablo 3 went, this launch, though not perfect, was very smooth. Balance m<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">ay be an issue, yet it is far too soon to tell whether any of the new units are “broken” in multiplayer. Overall, however, Heart of the Swarm is a great expansion for the already massive RTS series and looks to only make it an even better g</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">ame.</span></p>

<div class="essb_links essb_counter_modern_right essb_displayed_bottom essb_share essb_template_default4-retina essb_762634879 print-no" id="essb_displayed_bottom_762634879" data-essb-postid="25086" data-essb-position="bottom" data-essb-button-style="button" data-essb-template="default4-retina" data-essb-counter-pos="right" data-essb-url="https://www.explosion.com/25086/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm/" data-essb-fullurl="https://www.explosion.com/25086/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm/" data-essb-instance="762634879"><ul class="essb_links_list"><li class="essb_item essb_link_facebook nolightbox essb_link_svg_icon"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.explosion.com%2F25086%2Fstarcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm%2F&t=r" title="Share on Share" onclick="essb.window(&#39;https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.explosion.com%2F25086%2Fstarcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm%2F&t=r&#39;,&#39;facebook&#39;,&#39;762634879&#39;); return false;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="nolightbox essb-s-bg-facebook essb-s-c-light essb-s-ch-light essb-s-bgh-dark essb-s-bg-network" ><span class="essb_icon essb_icon_facebook"><svg class="essb-svg-icon essb-svg-icon-facebook" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 16 16"><path d="M16 8.049c0-4.446-3.582-8.05-8-8.05C3.58 0-.002 3.603-.002 8.05c0 4.017 2.926 7.347 6.75 7.951v-5.625h-2.03V8.05H6.75V6.275c0-2.017 1.195-3.131 3.022-3.131.876 0 1.791.157 1.791.157v1.98h-1.009c-.993 0-1.303.621-1.303 1.258v1.51h2.218l-.354 2.326H9.25V16c3.824-.604 6.75-3.934 6.75-7.951"></path></svg></span><span class="essb_network_name">Share</span></a></li><li class="essb_item essb_link_twitter nolightbox essb_link_twitter_x essb_link_svg_icon"> <a href="https://x.com/intent/post?text=r&;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.explosion.com%2F25086%2Fstarcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm%2F" title="Share on Tweet" onclick="essb.window(&#39;https://x.com/intent/post?text=r&;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.explosion.com%2F25086%2Fstarcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm%2F&#39;,&#39;twitter&#39;,&#39;762634879&#39;); return false;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="nolightbox essb-s-bg-twitter essb-s-c-light essb-s-ch-light essb-s-bgh-dark essb-s-bg-network" ><span class="essb_icon essb_icon_twitter_x"><svg class="essb-svg-icon essb-svg-icon-twitter_x" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M18.244 2.25h3.308l-7.227 8.26 8.502 11.24H16.17l-5.214-6.817L4.99 21.75H1.68l7.73-8.835L1.254 2.25H8.08l4.713 6.231zm-1.161 17.52h1.833L7.084 4.126H5.117z"></path></svg></span><span class="essb_network_name">Tweet</span></a></li><li class="essb_item essb_link_pinterest nolightbox essb_link_svg_icon"> <a href="#" title="Share on Pin It" onclick="essb.pinterest_picker(&#39;762634879&#39;); return false;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="nolightbox essb-s-bg-pinterest essb-s-c-light essb-s-ch-light essb-s-bgh-dark essb-s-bg-network" ><span class="essb_icon essb_icon_pinterest"><svg class="essb-svg-icon essb-svg-icon-pinterest" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" width="32" height="32" viewBox="0 0 32 32" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M10.625 12.25c0-1.375 0.313-2.5 1.063-3.438 0.688-0.938 1.563-1.438 2.563-1.438 0.813 0 1.438 0.25 1.875 0.813s0.688 1.25 0.688 2.063c0 0.5-0.125 1.125-0.313 1.813-0.188 0.75-0.375 1.625-0.688 2.563-0.313 1-0.563 1.75-0.688 2.313-0.25 1-0.063 1.875 0.563 2.625 0.625 0.688 1.438 1.063 2.438 1.063 1.75 0 3.188-1 4.313-2.938 1.125-2 1.688-4.375 1.688-7.188 0-2.125-0.688-3.875-2.063-5.25-1.375-1.313-3.313-2-5.813-2-2.813 0-5.063 0.875-6.75 2.688-1.75 1.75-2.625 3.875-2.625 6.375 0 1.5 0.438 2.75 1.25 3.75 0.313 0.313 0.375 0.688 0.313 1.063-0.125 0.313-0.25 0.813-0.375 1.5-0.063 0.25-0.188 0.438-0.375 0.5s-0.375 0.063-0.563 0c-1.313-0.563-2.25-1.438-2.938-2.75s-1-2.813-1-4.5c0-1.125 0.188-2.188 0.563-3.313s0.875-2.188 1.625-3.188c0.75-1.063 1.688-1.938 2.688-2.75 1.063-0.813 2.313-1.438 3.875-1.938 1.5-0.438 3.125-0.688 4.813-0.688 1.813 0 3.438 0.313 4.938 0.938 1.5 0.563 2.813 1.375 3.813 2.375 1.063 1.063 1.813 2.188 2.438 3.5 0.563 1.313 0.875 2.688 0.875 4.063 0 3.75-0.938 6.875-2.875 9.313-1.938 2.5-4.375 3.688-7.375 3.688-1 0-1.938-0.188-2.813-0.688-0.875-0.438-1.5-1-1.875-1.688-0.688 2.938-1.125 4.688-1.313 5.25-0.375 1.438-1.25 3.188-2.688 5.25h-1.313c-0.25-2.563-0.188-4.688 0.188-6.375l2.438-10.313c-0.375-0.813-0.563-1.813-0.563-3.063z"></path></svg></span><span class="essb_network_name">Pin It</span></a></li><li class="essb_item essb_link_mail nolightbox essb_link_svg_icon"> <a href="#" title="Share on Email" onclick="essb_open_mailform(&#39;762634879&#39;); return false;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" class="nolightbox essb-s-bg-mail essb-s-c-light essb-s-ch-light essb-s-bgh-dark essb-s-bg-network" ><span class="essb_icon essb_icon_mail"><svg class="essb-svg-icon essb-svg-icon-mail" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" width="32" height="32" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 60 60"><polygon points="60,50.234 60,9.944 39.482,30.536 " /><polygon points="0,9.941 0,50.234 20.519,30.535 " /><path d="M1.387,8.5l21.002,21.08c0.121,0.051,0.471,0.415,0.517,0.519l5.941,5.963c0.635,0.591,1.672,0.59,2.333-0.025l5.911-5.933c0.046-0.105,0.4-0.473,0.522-0.524L58.615,8.5H1.387z" /><path d="M38.07,31.954l-5.5,5.52c-0.73,0.68-1.657,1.019-2.58,1.019c-0.914,0-1.823-0.332-2.533-0.993l-5.526-5.546L1.569,51.5h56.862L38.07,31.954z" /></svg></span><span class="essb_network_name">Email</span></a></li></ul></div>
0 Comments