Some players will probably miss the slow, scouting-heavy openings of classical StarCraft 2, but I'm personally quite happy to get right to the big decisions about unit composition and expansion timing.

But the biggest changes - reduced mineral wealth at each base, and an accelerated start - are also some of the most welcome. Terran feel like the biggest winners, with new units that make mechanized and airborne armies more exciting and entertaining than they've ever been. Over in multiplayer, the new units seem like they add some much-needed options for each army. Even if the campaign units are completely different from what you'll use in multiplayer, the fast-paced battles and scant resources force you to raise both your macro and micro games in order to succeed, and those skills transfer well.Д«ut the biggest changes - reduced mineral wealth at each base, and an accelerated start - are also some of the most welcome. The campaign feels desperate and hard-fought in every mission, and ends up doing a fine job teaching you the basics of playing StarCraft in the process. The Protoss are on their last roll of the dice, and have to be unbelievably efficient and ruthless if they want to survive. Enemy forces are seemingly endless, and everywhere. There are never enough resources on the map to build strong defenses AND strong armies. The missions themselves do a terrific job of reinforcing the stakes: from the start of the campaign, there are never enough Protoss to go around. It's a triumphant moment, years in the making, yet goes spectacularly and nightmarishly wrong almost from the moment Artanis' fleet begins its assault. The campaign opens (after the terrible Whispers of Oblivion prologue campaign, which you should absolutely skip even though itвЂ™s free) with Templar Artanis mounting a campaign to recapture the Protoss homeworld that was lost to the Zerg at the end of the original StarCraft. But in a world where contemplative real-time strategies are losing the battle against their breakneck MOBA rivals, Legacy Of The Void is a cerebral delight that blends old-school charm with modern-day bravado, and is a fine swan song for the Starcraft II trilogy.It's a triumphant moment, years in the making, yet goes spectacularly and nightmarishly wrong. It also features far too many cookie-cutter вЂdefend the baseвЂ™ missions that will be painfully familiar to real-time strategy stalwarts. On the downside, the single player campaign isnвЂ™t as much fun as the epic mutliplayer, and is let down by confusing cut-scenes that are overwrought, clichГ©d and laughable. The new Archon Mode, where two players occupy a single base to share the pernickety management and battlefield histrionics, is less successful than the co-op assignments, but nonetheless offers a new spin on the familiar formula, and is an interesting alternative to the PvP clashes that still remain the game's most engaging part. The best of these fresh additions are the co-op missions where players can team up with a friend or random ally to take part in rip-roaring missions, and control heroes who each boast incredible powers. As each of these units can be developed into unassailable fighters with intensive micromanagement, players are compelled to strike a careful balance between nurturing their big hitters while keeping a close eye on the broader battlefield challenges.ДЄlongside its faster pacing, Legacy Of The Void also reaches out to casual players by offering new multiplayer modes that offer a variety of ways to enjoy the Starcraft experience. New warriors for the Terrans, Zergs and Protoss also bring energy to the skirmishes вЂ“ including the intimidating Protoss Adepts, which cause havoc by teleporting directly into enemy bases. To speed the pace of traditional Starcraft battles, the number of available workers in Legacy Of The Void has been doubled and resources are exhausted more quickly, forcing players to stay on their toes, rapidly expand their operations and become a formidable force in a shorter period of time: an ingenious tweak that encourages faster and more spontaneous gameplay. But with Legacy Of The Void, the RTS king has delivered a standalone expansion that will thrill battle-scarred fans of the perennial classic, but also reaches out to new players, enticing a new generation to sample the space operaвЂ™s heady delights. Having created the worldвЂ™s greatest real-time strategy game вЂ“ and retained a fiercely loyal Starcraft fanbase, despite the game's old-school gameplay вЂ“ you might expect Blizzard to rest on its laurels and crank out another episode that sticks with the classic formula.

Starcraft 2 legacy of the void