Tag: Starcraft II

Gaming, Nondescript

Blog 763: If I Wrote… Starcraft II

Rao Dao Zao

Ahhh, Starcraft II is an interesting beast. I’ve never had any concern over eSports or online multiplayer, but I have huge respect for what SC2 did with its singleplayer campaigns — tossing the hyper-balanced melee factions out the window and expanding them with bonus units, configuration options and special abilities.

The things is… the meta-plot, of the Dark Voice returning to obliterate all life in the Koprulu Sector (The galaxy? The universe? It’s actually never really made clear that his ambitions are more than localised) is a bit of a mess. Like, Blizzard, you got away with that in Warcraft III because Archimonde was a literal demon — you can’t pull the same trick twice, and definitely not in such a different setting (at least not without groundwork that simply isn’t present).

Having said that, I think there are some good stories in the mix here, so maybe it’s time to do some reworking…

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Gaming

Blog 700: (C) Over the Top(s)

Rao Dao Zao

It’s here at last, the third and final installment of Starcraft II bonus campaign Nova: Covert Ops. Which has, to date, featured six ops but none of them particularly covert. With three missions left in the bag and the second pack a good improvement on the first, will these finally hit the spot? (Also thank goodness there are only three packs, because as you can see I’ve already run out of title puns.)

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Gaming

Blog 685: Nova: Cover Tops

Rao Dao Zao

What a lovely birthday present, thanks Blizzard — you released the second pack of Nova: Covert Ops missions on the 2nd of August to commemorate me getting old!

Ahem. I wasn’t particularly impressed by the first mission pack, but by the third mission things were (mechanically at least) starting to look up. Will the three missions of the second pack drop the ball again or blast off into brilliance?

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Gaming

Blog 672: Nova: Covert Oops

Rao Dao Zao

Gosh, it seems like yesterday when the final part of the Starcraft II trilogy, Legacy of the Void, came out. Then, just when it all seemed to be over, they dangled a new carrot: the carrot of a bonus campaign, concerning everybody’s favourite stealth operative Nova.

Although I’ve mostly enjoyed playing SC2 as an actual RTS, the dream of WC3‘s Rexxar action-RPG campaign has never died. What with Nova: Covert Ops appearing to focus not on an army but a single character, I dared to think that promise might finally be fulfilled.

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Gaming

Blog 657: Legacy of the Blog

Rao Dao Zao

When I went into Game, they didn’t have any copies of Legacy of the Void on display. It seems like everyone was so caught up in Fallout 4 and its midnight launch parties that poor old SC2 got lost in the noise. When the assistant had to go and rummage in the back room for five minutes, I did wonder if I’d have to go home and — horror of horrors — purchase a digital only copy.

Luckily they did have physical boxes, not that it made a difference since I had to download the game anyway. One day, I swear Blizzard will fix their stupid installer… But until then, it’s PROTOSS TIME!

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Gaming

Blog 651: Whispers of O’Blivion

Rao Dao Zao

Legacy of the Void will apparently be released on the 10th of November. Get hype?

Well, the hype train started with this strange prologue campaign that was released just a few days ago. Is it the promised land of a Rexxar-style Zeratul RPG?

I think you know the answer to that, but read on anyway. (There are spoilers for everything SC2 so far, if you care.)

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Gaming

Blog 649: Campaign Structure

Rao Dao Zao

Despite its questionable surroundings, and indeed its questionable plot, Starcraft II‘s campaign as a whole is a very strong thing. While the rest of the game is mired in eSports the campaign is almost entirely divorced from the outside world — which means it has the freedom to paint the town red.

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Gaming

Blog 648: Wings o’ Fliberty

Rao Dao Zao

Starcraft II was supposed to be three “games”. Not a game and two expansion packs, three “games”. With the third “game” finally pretending like it’s possibly actually on the horizon, I got the hankering to go back and replay the two other bits.

I barely had SC2 installed on this new computer when I remembered all the reasons it makes me angry.

(What was the time distance between Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne? One year? And a bit? SC2‘s time-lags aren’t even funny.)

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