StarCraft II: Legacy Of The Void is quite the accomplishment. It’s never wise to expect too much from the final piece to a trilogy, especially one born of a franchise so heavily rooted in the competitive multiplayer scene. Five years on from StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty, Blizzard could have easily traded off brand appeal alone. The studio could have left casual players on the outside looking in as it continued to further its eSports aspirations, not to mention its pandering to the hardcore fans that exhibit more mouse clicks than sense. And yet, this is no standard standalone expansion; Legacy Of The Void is StarCraft biting back.
It’s actually a little crazy to think how much the gaming landscape has shifted since Wings Of Liberty launched in 2010. During those five years, the real-time strategy behemoth has slowly shed its relevance; largely outdone on the Western pro scene by faster and easier to parse MOBA and FPS games. The days of trading on expectation are way behind Blizzard, and so the studio has made a handful of sweeping changes to the core foundations of StarCraft. Was it a risky business to tinker with the very foundations that helped establish StarCraft as the best RTS game ever made back in 1998? Perhaps, but the resulting experience has made StarCraft (and perhaps the genre itself) feel more relevant and aggressively entertaining than it has in a very long time.
That means you’ll need to rethink the way you might approach a standard game of StarCraft II – no easy feat if you’ve had your head in the fight for the last five years – but it’s a refreshing change of pace. And when we say change of pace, we mean it. Legacy Of The Void is more immediate, if not more unforgiving than ever; at least in its early game, as the traditional lot of six workers is upped to 12. Staying ahead of the resource curve can be brutal as new builds and base expansions come into play quicker, not to mention patches of resources running dry far faster than before. There’s less room for error, that in itself is a terrifying prospect if you’re still struggling to crack the competitive side of StarCraft II.
Because, and make no mistake here, Legacy Of The Void has no intention of making StarCraft any easier. It’s still a difficult game, though it balances this by respecting player skill. The emphasis is on making big decisions early – which requires enough understanding of the basics to anticipate your enemy – but if you count micro-management amongst your greatest personal skills you’ll no doubt (eventually) flourish. Fights are faster, games are shorter and the overall execution is far less fiddly than before. Blizzard has streamlined the entire process.
But the truth is there’s something for everybody to enjoy here. There are many things Legacy Of The Void does to appeal to a wider audience than the hardcore. If you don’t care for the high-level competition and delirious ladder plays that came to define the previous expansion, you’ll still find plenty to like once the stunning single-player campaign comes to an end.
Co-op has never been a great fit for StarCraft, though the missions might steal the show in Legacy Of The Void. The mission and map design is as good, if not better than anything on display in the campaign – pushing you and a friend to work in tandem against increasingly interesting set-ups and enemy assaults. Playing as a unique array of heroes provides an interesting twist on the three core races, while the demanding StarCraft structure is broken down into entertaining scenarios enough so that casual players are able wrap their heads around the more complex plays.
Co-op also leaks into traditional player versus player multiplayer and, while a fun distraction, Archon Mode doesn’t have quite the same long-lasting appeal. It sees you sharing control of a single base, resources and army with a friend, and it’s purely chaotic – in the best possible way. It’s a strangely social way to play StarCraft, a game that has always been inherently lonely and, quite often, isolating to play over the years. If you’re on the same page as your buddy it can be a lot of fun, but more often than not it descends into hilarious frustration as any semblance of tactics die.
But as always, competitive multiplayer remains the lifeblood coursing through the veins of StarCraft. That’s no surprise, StarCraft is not only one of the most skill-intensive games ever created, but it’s also the one that really established the trend of getting sweaty gamers in stadium chairs all across the world. For those of you that recognise, understand and play the game on this level (or at least aspire to), then Legacy Of The Void will feel like something of a new era for the RTS. The balances, the new units and structure will clearly define a new age for the game in the coming years. If you are anxious of diving head first into the time-sink ladder play, Legacy Of The Void does offer automated tournament brackets, giving you an opportunity to play competitively without the hurdles, drama and stress often associated with multiplayer.
Legacy Of The Void is of a forgotten era. It’s from a time where an expansion means exactly that; an expansion of the core-game that offers a wide variety of experiences and enough changes to keep you involved for years. Blizzard has successfully brought enough to the table to support the notion that you can finally have a lot of fun with StarCraft, regardless of how good you are. This generous package will sustain and deepen the competitive side, but Legacy Of The Void also does enough not to scare away the casuals once the closing credits role and multiplayer beckons.
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