StarCraft 2 is a sci-fi real time strategy game published and developed by Blizzard Entertainment. There are three playable races: the terrans, the human race of the game, the zerg, the animalistic swarming race and the protoss, the technologically advanced race who piously value honour and tradition. Each with their own playstyles – I liked to play protoss in multiplayer. Just teleporting my armies into enemy bases… Such fun. As I played as protoss mostly in multiplayer I was really looking forward to the latest expansion. Despite loving the first campaign (Wings of Liberty), I was hesitant to get the second until it came close to the release of this one on account of finding zerg to be the less fun to play as. It was fine though, quite enjoyable actually.
Legacy of the Void, the third campaign of the StarCraft 2 trilogy, has you play through the finale of the Xel’Naga storyline. As you played as the Terran in the first campaign and as Zerg in the second campaign, it’s of course time to play as the Protoss in the final campaign. You take on the role of Artanis, hierarch of the largest protoss faction who start the game with an invasion of their zerg infested homeworld, Aiur. This is the attack shown in this cinematic:
To each their own but I think Blizzard are masters of the cinematics. Of course the World of Warcraft film is being released next year, I’m not really into that game as much but I’ve seen the trailer for the film and it looks good. I would think it awesome if Blizzard just did an animated movie. I can only speculate but I imagine the blending of the CG with the on-screen actors may look at bit funny. It always does to me, with a few exceptions of course. It can be cool when stylised but I’m rambling, let’s just move on.
Anyway, Legacy of the Void as the finale brings the Xel’naga threat to the fore. The Xel’naga being the Elder Gods who created the Protoss and Zerg, as well as all other life in the universe maybe. It gets a bit confusing at the end. Something you’d watch and just think “What?” before thinking “Meh, I’ll just go along with it.” Within the opening levels of the game though, during the reclamation of Aiur, things of course go bad and you are forced to flee with only a fraction of your invading force. From this point on, the layout is similar to that of Heart of the Swarm. You go from planet to planet trying to re-establish an army while gaining tech upgrades and allies.
You can choose from three different faction types for each unit, the choices unlocking as you progress. For example, the different zealot (the basic melee unit of the race) types have different abilities, one can use full circle arced attack, one can stun enemies and the other can reassemble itself after death (I personally went with the stun ability). As with Heart of the Swarm wherein you had control of Kerrigan in most levels and she had a list of abilities to choose from, in Legacy of the Void you can use abilities from the ship you travel in: the ‘Spear of Adun’. You can use abilities such as a laser barrage, a time stop and an orbital strike and quite a few more. It costs energy to use them which recharges over time, there’s also cooldowns on them.
If you’re familiar with the game, there are a few protoss units excluded from the campaign, the observer, the warp prism and the mothership. Though the mothership is one of the faction choices for the carrier, so you can get one at the cost of arguably (is it really that arguable though?) the most powerful unit in the protoss arsenal. And as I referred to them as Elder Gods, the game does, at the end of it seem quite Lovecraftian, especially when you finally see the Xel’naga in their true form in the epilogue section, consisting of three levels, one as each race. Well, you see Amon, the big bad of the game. Also, it’s only during the epilogue stages where you get some closure on all this prophecy talk of Kerrigan being the chosen one and whatnot, She does kick some ass (as always) in the protoss section but doesn’t help in the final confrontation of it, which didn’t make much sense to me regarding the story.
If you’re a fan of StarCraft 2 you probably already have it but if not, it’s a solid campaign for those of us who play protoss (though I am aware that singleplayer and multiplayer are almost incomparable) and it finally ends the story started over five years ago now. Though the conclusion may leave you a bit confused, I think you’ll be appreciative of the closure it gives regarding the prophecy and the protoss heritage. If you’ve not played StarCraft 2 but have an interest, the arcade section, made up of peoples’ custom game types, is completely free to play. So, give it a shot!
Enjoyable end to the Starcraft 2 trilogy
