For the Swarm: Playing Starcraft II in 2024

When I was a kid, eleven or twelve years old, I had no idea what an RTS game is. But I sure knew what Blizzard was. So, when I saw that first cinematic teaser for Starcraft II, with space marines and aliens and that oh so holy company logo, I didn’t need to know what kinda game it was. I was already sold.

Aside from World of Warcraft, Starcraft II is the Blizzard game I have the most nostalgia for. I played through the campaigns multiple times, spent countless hours screwing around in multiplayer, I even tried to create a few custom games in the map editor! My adolescent brain was swimming with thoughts of marines and zerglings, all while that damn announcer screamed, “YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS!!!”

But the question stands: does it still hold up? Is this still an RTS gem? Or has the poisonous kiss of Activision soiled it’s legacy, too? Let’s have a look and see.

*Once again, I’ll be primarily focusing on the single-player campaigns. I lacked a partner for co-op (though from what I’ve heard, that mode is pretty fun) and I know all too well how a match in multiplayer would end. I’m also skipping the Spec-Ops stuff with Nova because I got bored a few missions in and never finished it. As much as I wanted to talk about custom game modes and campaigns, every time I tried to boot one up, I ended up in an eternal loading screen. Whether that’s a server issue or just bad luck on my part, I’m unsure.

Unlike Starcraft 1, SCII’s campaign is spread across three expansions, each one focusing on one of the three playable factions. These culminate in the epilogue, a final trio of missions to bring the overarching story to a close. So let’s go through them one at a time.

Wings of Liberty focuses on our old friend Jim Raynor. Since the events of Brood War, he and his gang have laid low, waging a quiet war against Mengsk and the Dominion. But when his old friend Tychus returns from prison, Raynor finds himself with a new mission: to collect ancient alien artifacts for the Mobius Foundation to fund his rebellion. Unbeknownst to him, however, this simple job will put him on a crash course with the living ghost of his past: the Queen of Blades.

In terms of story, this is the best campaign by far. It’s like Star Wars, but with rednecks and space bugs. Jim and his gang are all cool and likable characters, from the straight-laced Matt to the rugged but charming Swann. You even have some choices to make, like betraying Tosh or saving the Doctor’s people from the Protoss. It’s even got a really cool plot twist at the end with Tychus! This campaign is Blizzard storytelling at it’s best!

Gameplay wise, this is the strongest one by far. Most missions give you a simple challenge; collect seven gas canisters before the enemy, outrun a wall of fire, protect colonies from Protoss attackers, so on and so forth. Here are the structures and units you have available, find a way to get the job done. No two missions are the same, and you have a small degree of freedom in which ones you tackle first. About to rob a train? Maybe go unlock siege tanks in another mission first and make that heist a little easier for yourself.

Throughout this campaign, you’ll collect research materials on both of the other factions. Collecting enough of these will unlock upgrades for your structures and units, boosting the strength of your army. On top of that, you can buy other upgrades in the hangar or hire mercenaries, expensive but powerful versions of your standard Terran units. But you won’t be able to get everything; you’ll need to decide which upgrades you want for which units.

Or you could go ultimate alpha male and get no upgrades at all. You do you, man.

Overall, Wings of Liberty is pretty damn good. A cool story, varied and fun level design, and some player freedom and customization make it the most enjoyable and replayable of all three campaigns. Definitely a strong start for Starcraft II!

Heart of the Swarm picks up some time after WoL. After regaining her humanity, Kerrigan finds herself alone again after a Dominion attack leaves Jim Raynor dead. Fueled by hate and revenge, she returns to take control over the divided Zerg Swarms and kill Mengsk once and for all.

Narratively, HotS is pretty weak. Most of its story is made up of bait-and-switches, and not very good ones. Kerrigan is human again; ah, nevermind! Jim is dead! Psyche, he’s alive! It doesn’t feel like anything of real substance happens. It spends the first half backtracking on the end of WoL, throw in some Hybrid missions to foreshadow the next expansion, then rushes Kerrigan’s revenge, and it just… ends. It’s super lackluster and disappointing.

In terms of missions, a good number of them are Zerg-reskins of WoL missions. But there are a few unique ones that are pretty fun. Although there is a concerning number of bland no-build missions here. Still, as a whole: pretty good.

The big difference between this and other expansions is the return of the hero character in Kerrigan. Throughout the game, you’ll collect resources to level her up to gain new abilities to further help in combat. In all honesty, it doesn’t add all that much to the campaign; you have a super unit that you need to drag to certain points of the map, and that’s about it.

This campaign is alright. It’s definitely a downgrade from WoL, but it’s still plenty enjoyable. As a Zerg player, I’m a little disappointing, but I still enjoy myself whenever I replay it.

Legacy of the Void takes place some time after HotS. Artanis leads the Protoss in a mass invasion to retake their homeworld of Aiur. But the Zerg-Protoss Hybrids and their god, Amon, quickly take control and leave the Protoss on the brink of extinction. Now Artanis needs to scrap together what’s left of his people and defeat the hybrid once and for all!

Of the three campaigns, this is far and away the weakest. The story feels like a jumbled mess, and Artanis and his crew are all one-dimensional and boring characters. The cherry on top: the dialogue is either bland characters telling you how to play the game or annoying out of character one-liners. It’s infuriating.

This final expansion is where the level design really goes to hell. Most of the missions boil down to: “Go to four or five points on the map and kill a bunch of enemies.” The variety we saw in the two previous expansions is dead and gone. It gets so boring so quickly!

The gimmick this time: the Spear of Adun. The ship has a few special abilities you can use in battle, like instantly deploying Pylons, buffing your army, or firing orbital lasers. Admittedly, it’s pretty fun to play around with. On top of that, there’s a good deal of customization in the units themselves, including the return of Protoss units we haven’t seen since SC1, like the scarab.

Because what would I do if I can’t watch my dragoons get stuck on the stairs?

Yes, they still do that. I tested it.

What’s worse: the game thinks you’re an idiot. Wander off the beaten path? Fail to build the thing they want you to? One of the characters is gonna scream at you to get back on track. Not that there’s any incentive for wandering off. Enemy bases don’t do anything like they did in Starcraft 1, and there are no rewards for going the extra mile. All you’ll get out of it is a headache. This started to be an issue in HotS, but LotV makes it so much worse.

It’s such a bummer, because I was really excited for Legacy of the Void back in the day. Alas, this campaign is mediocre at best. A lackluster story and boring, repetitive mission design really take the wind out of my sails with this one.

Finally, we have the epilogue. Three final missions in which you play as each faction one last time. Does the game end on a high note?

Pfft! No!

The Terran and Protoss missions aren’t bad. But the Zerg mission, the final Starcraft campaign mission we’re ever like to get, is by far the worst mission in any Starcraft game! Kerrigan becomes a literal god because I guess she wasn’t enough of a Mary Sue, then you send your army to go blow up some rocks and the game ends. Have a half-assed cutscene alluding to Jim and Kerrigan getting a happy ending, then roll credits.

Starcraft II is a game of diminishing returns. It starts out really strong, then gradually worsens over time until it doesn’t even feel like the same game anymore. Like watching a childhood friend get addicted to drugs.

Thankfully, no matter how poor the campaign, the core loop of Starcraft’s gameplay is as fun as always. Building your base and army is as enjoyable as ever, and some of the units here are a ton of fun to play with! Plus, you can control more than twelve units at a time, and they actually do what you tell them to do!

Sorry, Zoro. You’re fired.

One problem I had in every campaign is the meatball effect. Basically, the most effective way to solve most of your problems is to just amass a huge army of units, then slam them into the enemy like a battering ram. Even on the higher difficulties, certain missions can be cleared with ease just by throwing a hundred marines or hydralisks into the meat blender. Hell, the first mission of LotV is exactly that!

To be fair, that mission ends with the Protoss getting wiped out. Just goes to show that strategies like that won’t work in multiplayer.

On the subject of multiplayer, I noticed a sad trend in the co-op and multiplayer tabs. Namely the in-game stores. Want cool cosmetics for your units and structures? That’ll be three dollars each, at least. Want to play as your favorite character in co-op mode? Pay for their bundle pack, idiot!

I get it. Games are expensive to make and more expensive to keep going. Especially when you have Activision breathing down your necks and holding your family at gunpoint. Plus, Starcraft II is technically free-to-play now. But no matter the necessity, I will always be mad to see an in-game shop of any kind.

Despite my numerous complaints, I still love Starcraft II. Yes, at it’s worst, it can be really boring and disappointing. At it’s best, however, it’s one of the most fun and satisfying RTS games on the market. Whether you’re a tactical genius or you prefer to simply cook meatballs, it’s still a blast. I’ll always look back on this game warmly.

Here’s hoping Stormgate can capture the magic this game had in its early days again. Because god knows Blizzard sure ain’t gonna do it. Nor do I want them to.

Just look at what happened to Diablo and Warcraft. At this point, I just want Starcraft to be left alone.