![starcraft 2 swarm queen larva starcraft 2 swarm queen larva](http://assets1.ignimgs.com/2011/10/21/starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-20111021020736728-3546581_640w.jpg)
It’s expensive, typical for Protoss, but it’s a frikin’ flying siege tank that can attack both ground and air units. If there’s one unit that stands out for me, it’s the Tempest: the Protoss were missing a long-range siege unit, and this expansion gives them a flying one. That’s perhaps a credit to Blizzard’s high attention to balancing the races, but it also means it’s not a huge factor in deciding whether you should buy this expansion. There are new multiplayer units too, but none really have drastic effects on the game. With this enhancement, Blizzard can finally shut the door on unfair matching, virtually guaranteeing that players will win an average of half their games. Inevitably, some gamers that spent hours on the game would be matched against mere mortals, and matches would be over in minutes. Arguably, one of the biggest holes in the 1998 game is that the online multiplayer was terribly unbalanced, due to the wide range of player skill.
![starcraft 2 swarm queen larva starcraft 2 swarm queen larva](https://www.blizzplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-single-player-enemy-within-4.jpg)
Second, the ‘tiered’ ranking of player skill from Wings of Liberty has been refined to be that much more granular, using a leveling system to ‘grade’ player experience and ability. This improvement makes StarCraft II a much more social game, further encouraging team play. Previously, players could only rely on the social web of ‘friends of friends’ and manually inviting players to a game, which was tedious at best. First, the addition of groups/clans makes it easier to repeatedly play with the same set of people, for obvious reasons. The changes to the multiplayer mode, two in particular, are pretty significant in the long run. And yet, I can’t imagine going back to vanilla SC2. At face value, you’re buying a new 20-mission campaign as the Zerg, a few new units for multiplayer, a handful of new maps and tilesets, and improvements to the multiplayer matchmaking. In this expansion, Blizzard has repeated whatever wizardry was sprinkled onto StarCraft two years ago. I wasn’t entirely off base, but the reason to choose SC2 over the original today is much more than “this one looks better”, and yet I can’t entirely explain why.
![starcraft 2 swarm queen larva starcraft 2 swarm queen larva](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qOuq5olm-TE/sddefault.jpg)
When first hearing about StarCraft II, I was under the impression that it was the original with a fresh coat of paint, a few different units, and a new campaign. In fact, other than the new campaign, the expansion changes the game in ways so subtle that it’s difficult to evaluate it on its own. I generally agree with fellow GamingExcellence reviewer Alex Coulter’s points in his Wings of Liberty review, so I won’t bother repeating those arguments. Heart of the Swarm is an expansion, which means that the core mechanics and design of StarCraft II still apply.
![starcraft 2 swarm queen larva starcraft 2 swarm queen larva](https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/U47ZW696OPTX1403290202585.jpg)
Enter Heart of the Swarm, part 2 in the series, continuing the StarCraft II storyline from the cliffhanger ending of part 1 from the perspective of the Zerg. It did however focus on the Terrans, admittedly the least exciting of the three races, leaving many gamers salivating in anticipation of the expansions. It combined a superbly written and executed campaign with one of the most balanced RTS experiences to date, while resurrecting a unique and cherished universe and staying true to the direction of its predecessor. Blizzard’s StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first of the three-part sequel to the 1998 classic, was a big success by all accounts.