Wild flocks. Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm

Gambling goes to visit Blizzard to see with his own eyes the continuation of the best RTS last year

WHAT?

Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm

WHERE?

Irvain, California. Campus Blizzard Entertainment

“You have been with them before?“Asks the Portuguese colleague on the way from the hotel to the central office of Blizzard, located in the small town of Irvain, in California. I have to admit that – no, for the first time. Before that, only BlizzCon. The Portuguese nods and explains with an absolutely stone face: “They have kapets there! Not an office, but a whole campus ".

This is true. In Irvain (about which they will tell us a little later that they are supposedly owned by a private company, so even instead of police officers on the streets – security officers) there are generally few attractions. Large open-air shopping center, Canon office, some student dormitories. And Blizzard, settled in three spacious buildings with a gym, a beach volleyball venue, a small museum and a couple of dozen places for a couple of dozen places.

[[Bullet]] Bainling in action. They are especially effective against the building. Babah – and there is no nest.

In the heart of the pack

It is here, in a small punch on the ground floor of one of the buildings, that our acquaintance with Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm begins. “We specifically try to pull the player by the scruff of the comfort zone. Give him a new challenge. Offer missions that will not be just a fight against artificial intelligence, but an organic part of the plot, ”says Dustin Brauder, a project director of the project. Today, for the authors of Starcraft 2, the plot is the main hope and support, because we are talking about Heart of the Swarm, whose main task is to tell us what happened after Jim Reinor saved the newly acquired human appearance to Sarah Kerrigan, the former queen of blades and the Lord Zeregov – the most dangerous race in the galaxy. This is the real benefit of Sarah: the developers are so passionate about a tightened blonde that even when asked if there will be a mission in the new game for other characters and even other races, as in the first part-Wings of Liberty-they smile absently and answer something like “ Of course, we will think about it, but so far we have such a mission planned only one ".

[Bullet]] Kerrigan, like Reinor, has its own base where you can chat with advisers and take a breath.

In the final of the previous part of Sarah, Kerrigan appeared before us in the guise of a person-extremely uncharacteristic, since it has long turned into a graga and the rules of the legions of bloodthirsty creatures as a full-fledged queen. In a press dememo, consisting of two missions that Blizzard shows reporters, Sarah still looks like a quite ordinary person, but, as Dustin himself formulates, “tries to wake up the inner grave”.

The queen says

True, not all the grains are ready to accept the queen-guide, so formally both missions are devoted to the pacification of rebellious uterus on two different planets-the poisonous chara and the Kaldir constrained by eternal winter in winter. At first it seems that the tasks are very similar, but it soon turns out that this is not at all the case. Blizzard is true to themselves and perfectly understand that Wings of Liberty felt the right pace. Like the previous game, Heart of the Swarm constantly throws some new situations to the player, makes you move, not sit still, get out of the shell as often as possible and go in search of adventure.

[[Bullet]] from one description of some upgrades dizzy. Grains hatching from the larva for one second – is it not a dream?

The mission on Chara is all devoted to this. Kerrigan here is opposed by a uterus named Na-Gara, herself wants to become a queen. The question of who, as a result, will get power over an insatiable horde, is solved very simply: the Zerg’s eggs are scattered on the map. Who previously gain a hundred, he won. In addition to Za-gara, you also come across flocks of wild grains who have lost their bosses and went crazy, so you don’t have to get bored for a minute. In addition to ordinary eggs, special ones come across – special units, banelings are hidden in them. These are grains-Kamikadze, which hire the enemy, explode and pour all opponents in the district with concentrated acid rain. Many Bainling eggs are hidden next to the bases of wild grains, so it is risky to get them, but if you nevertheless go fingering and collect a full set, the game will patterly pats you on the shoulder and, upon the end of the mission, will give out a bonus to the characteristics of the main character. Such optional tasks, requiring a player of some additional voltage, in Heart of the Swarm no less, or even more than in Wings of Liberty.

Do the Evolution

Like RPG elements. Here the "heart of the pack" is definitely ahead. Firstly, Kerrigan herself has four sets of abilities that open as they pass and pump characteristics. Only two of them were demonstrated by the press – one is called Spec OPS and gives Sarah to psionic abilities, the other is Corruption. Having chosen it, the player receives special techniques at his disposal, designed for interaction with grains. One of them, for example, instantly destroys the enemy you have chosen and produces two graiglings instead, and the other attacks with acid by area.

[Bullet]] Kaldira snow storms are frozen not only for troops, but also by buildings and protective turrets opposing protosss to you.

Secondly, units themselves develop, and their transformation is submitted extremely literally. For example, having pumped a little grabing, you will get the opportunity to force evolution and turn uninte into something completely different. In this particular case, two options will be offered a choice: incredibly prolific packling (three units appear from one larva instead of two) or a raptor capable of jumping on the enemy from afar. Not only the characteristics of the fighter change, but also his appearance, and – irrevocably. As Dustin says, once making an evolutionary choice, you will reap its fruits to the very end of a single -user campaign. But in the multiplayer there will be nothing like that. Blizzard do not want to delve into proven mechanics without unnecessary need. According to them, it is necessary that each player has a clear idea of ​​what is happening on the battlefield and what every enemy unit is capable of, and the excessive multiplication of entities will destroy this fragile balance and force virtual generals to spend precious seconds to remember what is remarkable It is this kind of enemy. Moreover, none of the two remaining Starcraft races – people and protosss – there is nothing like this in principle.

Assimilation

The action of the second mission unfolds on the planet Coldir (“The coldest planet of the Sector to Coprol,” the game on the download screen suggests). Cold – not just a reason to paint the card in white. It is also gameplay mechanics. Periodically, the winds of the columnist bring a snow storm, the air temperature decreases sharply, and all the troops – yours and the enemy – freeze with icy sculptures frozen to the end of the storm. Only local species are not influenced by monstrous cold: for example, huge yati. Here, Blizzard does not miss the chance to remind you who are the grains – the DNA devourers, the master to assimilate the virtues of the enemy and make them his own. Having collected a certain number of yati tissue samples, you get the opportunity to include cherished sequences in your own genetic code, and now very soon – your wards easily withstand even the most cruel storm, getting an obvious advantage over the enemy, forced https://sister-site.org/bets-io/ to play in “after each strong gust of wind” Figure Figure Delayer ".

[Bullet]] The main task of the first mission on Kaldir is to destroy the psionic pylons of the protoss and prevent them from causing reinforcements.

If the bonuses for completing additional tasks in each mission primarily affect the role component, then the main reward is extremely concrete – new units. Heart of the Swarm – the game is quite linear, but the player has a certain space for the maneuver: on which order you go through the missions, a set of available fighters in subsequent tasks will directly depend. In combination with the evolution system, this should serve as a sufficient occasion to go through the GRAGOG campaign at least twice.

[[Bullet]] Almost every mission will represent a new unit. Here it is, for example, cockroaches – a special variety of long -range grains.

By the way, the structure of the campaign itself has changed. Dustin describes this as follows: “Reinor was a rebel and a mercenary. Therefore, life on the road was natural for him. He dangled from the planet to the planet, stopped where there was some business, and then went on. Kerrigan has a different way of thinking and other tasks. She went crazy about destroying Arcturas Mengsk – a dictator who controls the human planets of the sector. Plus she needs to conquer the influence within the grains community. So on the planets where she arrives, she has long -term plans ".

[Bullet]] developers say that they specially give the player the opportunity to switch between the missions “Profiles” Kerrigan – so that the game can adapt to different styles of passage.

In the terms of gameplay, this means that each planet will be a sucker of several missions united by a common plot arch. Although we were given only the first two mission of a pair of such mini-campaigns, it is now clear that additional structuredness will benefit the game. Still, Starcraft is also a worked out story, and to listen to her, when there are clear storyly guides, is much more convenient.

Heart of the Swarm makes an expectedly pleasant impression. Blizzard-Masters to lick their games to a mirror shine, so even the press dememo of the new Starcraft looks like right now is ready to go to gold.

In addition, it is at the same time a very fresh and one hundred percent game. It is definitely impossible to blame the Blizzard designers of Leni, but the changes in the gameplay do not affect the base systems of Starcraft, but organically complement them.

The result will definitely be pleased with everyone who is not indifferent to the fate of the series, but no one expected anything else from the most successful company in the industry. Blizzard once again confirms his leader status, and we look forward to the release of Heart of the Swarm – apparently, the decision to divide Starcraft 2 into three independent games was still correct.

In the previous series

A year is a serious period, so it may very well be that many of our readers have forgotten, which was discussed in Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty. This insert is dedicated to them.

After a bloody war on two fronts-with the Horde of Zerg and the army of highly spiritual aliens-samurai protosss, the earthly colonists in the Coprol sector finally healed in relative peace. Of course, somewhere, Sarah Kerrigan, the famous Queen of Klinkov (a former human special forces, turned into a zerg), and the protosss obviously did not do not doze off, but still the sector united under the rule of the Arcturus Mengsk, who became the emperor. True, the ruler of Mengsk was worthless – authoritarian, obsessed with power. And in the past he was lurked by many unpleasant secrets.

One of the main opponents of Mengsk was his former comrade -in -arms Sheriff Jim Reinor, who headed the Raisters Raynor group. Actually, all Wings of Liberty was devoted to the struggle of Reinor and the emperor and the search for Kerrigan, who, as it turns out, was destined to save all the living in the galaxy from extinction.

Having won plenty of the universe, defeating not one battle and collecting the mysterious artifact of the ancient Xel-Naga race, Reinor finally reached the Carrigan den, where he already discovered it in the appearance of a person-it turns out, it turned out, the beneficial effect of the artifact.

Well, what exactly happened next, we will only know after the release of Heart of the Swarm.