As I play Legacy of the Void

see deal StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void - PC $24.97 on Gamestop

Watch the first 29 minutes of Legacy of the Void above.

Brothers In Arms

“ It might be the single best mission in StarCraft 2 since Wings of Liberty's dusk-til-dawn zombie battle.

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Legacy of the Void offers a lot of new things, especially to people who may have been frustrated with the focus on ladder play and high-level competition that defined early StarCraft 2. Without compromising the competitive side, there are more things than ever for casual players to enjoy once the campaign is over.Army variations and progression bonuses tweak the experience each time through. Playing as the mechanized Terran engineer Swann, for example, is a completely different experience from controlling any other Terran army. Swann only has access to expensive, high-tech armored units and defenses, which means his army is incredibly powerful, but gulps down resources like no other. Learning to use each hero, and trying harder difficulty levels, make co-op much more than a gimmick.

Watch the Legacy of the Void launch trailer above.

A New Suit of Armor

Co-op is extended to traditional PvP multiplayer, and though I'm not sure Archon Mode will change anyone's mind about StarCraft multiplayer, it's certainly a fun option. Sharing control of a single base and army with a friend is a more social, and sometimes more hilariously frustrating way to play the same fast-paced, unforgiving RTS that StarCraft has always been. I can't say I've ever been fully on the same page with an ally, and Archon mode has caused me more mis-cast spells than it has created clutch plays, but I've enjoyed myself with each outing. It doesn't turn StarCraft into an accessible, easy-to-learn game, but it does make it less lonely and isolating to play competitively.

“ The Protoss Adept forms the new backbone of the early Protoss army.

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Watch us unbox the Collector's Edition above.

Why So Serious?

“ The campaign has lots of neat ways you can change your army.

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“ The Protoss are a drag to hang out with.

Legacy of the Void makes it up to you, however, by transforming some old, familiar units into something more exciting. I don't know if the Carrier will be used in competitive play much, but I sure had a great time using its new "release interceptors" ability to launch waves of suicide pilots on strafing runs while my carriers withdrew to safety. And because games get off to a quicker start with the new Legacy of the Void economy and starting positions, I feel like I have more freedom and opportunity to try weird, surprising builds.The single-player (and co-op) is also the place you'll find a lot of special units for each faction. The mighty Dragoon, which was the staple of the Protoss army in StarCraft, returns for this campaign, as does Brood War's Dark Archon, which can mind-control enemy units and turn their armies against one another. It's great fun playing with a lot of these units, especially since they're not balanced for competitive play, but for awesomeness.But the missions bring plenty of fun thanks to a demanding mix of Alamo-type holdouts, search-and-destroy, and control-point missions. They’re far more traditional in style than Wings of Liberty’s innovative campaign, which remains the high-watermark for the series in terms of both mission design and campaign structure, but I never got bored with Legacy's missions the way I did Heart of the Swarm's hero-centric campaign. I wish there were something to fill the huge gulf between the cakewalk normal difficulty and the extremely challenging hard setting, though. Anyone capable of fogging a mirror can beat the game on normal, which lavishes so many handicaps on you that there are almost no resource bottlenecks, while hard takes those advantages away while bumping the number of enemies into Zerg-swarm territory.