StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (PC)

On November 10, more than five years after the launch of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the second and final standalone expansion StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void was finally launched. Blizzard was kind enough to give us a copy of the Collector’s Edition for our review. Keep reading to find out if Blizzard’s latest title is worth buying, particularly in this special edition.

What’s in the Collector's Edition?

The Creeping Darkness

In the main campaign (“Legacy of the Void”), Zeratul attempts to convince the Artanis, leader of the Protoss Golden Armada, that Amon is alive again, which would mean halting his invasion of the Zerg-infested homeworld of Aiur. This turns out to be a lot more difficult than he expected it to be – Artanis doesn’t believe Zeratul, and begins the invasion in earnest. During the ensuing battle, Amon steps into the fray, unleashing destruction and chaos across the planet.

This final chapter in the story of StarCraft II raises the bar once again, with a plot that’s capable of capturing players’ imaginations and making those new to the series eager to learn more.

25 Missions for a Whole Lot of Fun

The main campaign does provide a few tips here and there, but if you’re new to the game and don’t know what you’re supposed to building in the first place, it’s still not enough. Since Legacy of the Void is a standalone game and you don’t need to have any of the previous installments to play it, Blizzard really should have included some kind of tutorial for new players. Overall, the main campaign consists of 25 missions, each of which should take you about 15-60 minutes to finish, though of course this depends on how familiar you are with the game mechanics, whether you want to complete all the bonus missions or not, and last but not least, what difficulty you’re playing on.

Speaking of difficulty – there are four different levels in all, “Casual” (for total noobs), “Normal” (for players with a bit of experience), “Hard” (for players who want a bit of a challenge), and “Brutal”, which truly lives up to its name. Compared to Heart of the Swarm, everything’s a bit harder, a bit more of a challenge, and a bit more capable of sending players into a panic. Each mission has three objectives to aim for, which can be completing the mission in general, completing the mission within a certain time-frame, capturing certain objects, and much more. And then there are hidden objectives for you to find too.

Your time between missions is spent aboard the Protoss “arkship” Spear of Adun, where you can assemble your units for, engage in conversation with various other characters, select your next mission, or use solarite to upgrade its abilities. Solarite is mostly gained by completing optional objectives during individual missions. You can use solarite to decrease the warp-in times for buildings, or increase the initial supply available to you at the start of each mission, which means you won’t have to warp in as many pylons. And speaking of pylons – the pylon on the bridge wants you to examine it.

Is This a Game or a Movie?

And as far as sound goes, everything sounds like you’d expect it to, which is probably because they just carried over the sound effects from the previous installments, ensuring that Legacy of the Void is clearly recognizable as StarCraft II. And I’m glad they did it this way, since everything fits in perfectly. The voice acting sounds genuine, and the actors do a great job. And the soundtrack they play during the actual gameplay and the video sequences is pleasant, sophisticated, and authentic.