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StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

Platform(s): PC
Genre: Strategy
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Release Date: March 12, 2013

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As WP's managing editor, I edit review and preview articles, attempt to keep up with the frantic pace of Rainier's news posts, and keep our reviewers on deadline, which is akin to herding cats. When I have a moment to myself and don't have my nose in a book, I like to play action/RPG, adventure and platforming games.

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15. 'StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm' (PC)

by Judy on Jan. 25, 2013 @ 12:30 a.m. PST

StarCraft II features the return of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg races. It's overhauled and reimagined with Blizzard's approach to game balance, and it's designed to be the ultimate competitive RTS game.

Rhi "StormyDawn" Hale: I'm still not entirely sure why Starcraft II needed to be three different games, but there you go. I suppose if it had all been released at once, Blizzard would still be working on it for the next 20 or 30 years. Even so, if Heart of the Swarm is as good as Wings of Liberty, good times will be had by all.

Tony "OUberLord" Mitera: There are really only two reasons that I look forward to the HotS expansion to Starcraft II. The first is that the single-player campaign will finally continue where the story left off and let us figure out what happens to Raynor and Kerrigan. We'll also finally get the Zerg campaign. With as much depth as the Terran's got, I really hope that the Zerg get the same treatment. The other reason is that I'll get new units to fumble with in multiplayer and manage to have fun while I'm slumming it at bedrock levels of the ladders.


Erik "NekoIncardine" Ottosen: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty may have taken a while to hit its stride, but Blizzard has shown its usual devotion to post-release support, a pattern that continues in the first expansion pack, Heart of the Swarm. From a core plot centered around Sarah Kerrigan's attempts to reunite the Zerg (fractured during the events of Wings of Liberty, to significant shifts to the multiplayer metagame, all with Blizzard's usual devotion to quality, this expansion could become the second part of the core.

Adam Pavlacka: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty didn't revolutionize the RTS genre like many gamers expected, but it was still a fine example of gaming done right. Blizzard had some early hiccups with Battle.net authentication issues, but once the rough patches were ironed out, all was well. With the Terran campaign finshed, the story is shifting gears to focus on the Zerg in the upcoming installment. We don't yet have word on any major changes to multiplayer, but as far as the story is concerned, Kerrigan was always more interesting than Raynor.



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