Today we're finishing off our review for Starcraft 2 and ending it with the final chapter for the forseeable future in Legacy Of The Void, at the start of Starcraft 1 who could of known the story would eventually end up in a battle for the very existence of reality fighting the void god known as Amon who is intent on snuffing out all life in the universe and covering it with the hungering, endless void, today we're going to mainly review the story line and some multiplayer games that end the Starcraft Universe(for now anyway).
So lets dive head first into Legacy of the void.
The story so far.
After the defeat of Mengsk on Korhal but Raynor and Kerrigan, Valerian Mengsk has taken up the mantle of Emperor, we learn how deeply involved Mobius corp was with Amon and his vassals and how little Arcturus Mengsk knew about it, the story begins with Artanis, the leader of the Daelaam Protoss who has united the factions of Protoss to strike back at their home world of Auir to free it from the feral zerg broods that infest every inch of the planet.
Before they can celebrate their victory though Amon shows himself through the manifestation of the Khala the psonic bond that links all protoss to each other controlling their feelings, memories and very bodies, the Khala is the most renowned and holy thing in Protoss society and amon has struck at their very core turning Artanis' warriors against him and gaining an army in the millions.
Artanis and a few Protoss manage to sever the nerve cords connecting them to the Khala and escape on the recently recovered ship, the spear of Adun, with very little warriors left and Amon tearing apart the galaxy the Protoss must find allies outside of the Terran and Zerg, finally after decades of conflict the narezim are brought back into the fold under the watch of Vorazun the void matriarch, having cut their nerve cords long ago they are completely free from Amon's influence and are equipped better in battle as the Daelaam only now have to act individually for the first time.
Aboard the Spear of Adun, Artanis learns of the purifier program, an extension of the dragoon program that allowed their greatest warriors personalities and abilities to be stored in data nodes, a virtually unending army that is equipped to take on Amon however there is a catch, when the Purifiers were first turned on the protoss treated them as simple robots instead of the proud warriors they once were which inevitably led to a revolt and the termination of the program.
Artanis finds Feenix, an old friend who is now a purifier who convinces him to let him act as ambassador to the Purifiers, as Amon's influence spreads to every corner of the galaxy, the Protoss have no choice but to accept this invitation and restart the purifier program, as they are technically machines that can be rebuilt endlessly they are completely immune to Amon and the chaos he brings, after some convincing from Feenix and Artanis the purifiers agree to help their protoss brothers and join them as equals.
But even with the combined might of the Purifiers they still do not have enough to take the fight to Amon who now controls potentially billions of life forms across all of the galaxy including Terran and Zerg, it's then that Artanis is contacted by Alarak, First Ascendant of the Taldarim, the fanatical and brutal worshippers of Amon who have been promised ascension into god hood for their service, Alarak has seen the fate that awaits the Taldarim, that it is the same as all life if Amon wins and asks for the Daelaams help in order to climb the chain of ascension.
Taldarim society is brutal and violent, they advance in position through cruelty and murder and Alarak is the 2nd in command, he must however overpower the Highlord Ma'lash through the rite of Rak'Shir that places Alarak into a battle for supremacy with the Highlord, while others are not allowed to participate, they can lend their chosen leader strength in the form form of psionic energy, the complete anathema of regular protoss society, Artanis none the less accepts to fight with Alarak.
After an intense battle on the Taldarim homeworld, Alarak is promoted to Highlord of the Taldarim and is now the sole ruler of his people which he uses to join forces with Artanis to fight against Amon, finally with the Purifiers the Dark Templar and the Taldarim, Artanis is ready to return to their homeworld of Auir with the golden armada to face Amon in his host body, with the aid of the other races they prepare for the assault on Auir.
After a ruthless battle, Artanis finally meets Amon and destroys his host body, managing to temporarily capture amons consciousness in a void keystone, while Amon is trapped the Daelaam Protoss who didn't or couldn't sever their connection to the Khala manage to free themselves for a few minutes in which time Artanis pleads with his fellow protoss to cut their nerve cords so that Amon can no long remain in the physical world, of which they do casting Amon back into the Void and trapping him there.
However a problem remains, though peace is returning and the war is over the cycle of destruction that Amon brings will eventually start again once he is strong enough to influence those outside the void and the peace they have fought and died for will start again, the collected races must journey into the void and face Amon there were he can be killed for good.
I'm going to leave it at this as the epilogue is better experienced without spoilers but since this reported to be the final chapter of Starcraft, things occur in the void during the battle for Amon that are better left to be played not knowing what they are.
Multiplayer and Modes.
Blizzard shifted their attention from single player towards multiplayer with the end of Legacy, instead focusing on how they keep their game going and give it longevity and boy did they do a good job of it, adding multiple new armies and the awesome co op mode as well as a plethora of new custom maps and official maps.
It also changed how the multiplayer was played, usually you would sit in your base for a while building up a force and creating defense however Blizzard noticed this and decided to make it extremely rewarding for attacking early and expanding, while decreasing the overall resources on the maps they increase the amount of workers you started with and slightly reduced the cost of expansion buildings leading to battles straight out the gate.
However the co op mode is what most people play, you're given a choice of a specific commander at the start of the game that range from fan favourites to new additions from Legacy and Heart, each commander is unique and has a specific set of abilities that can't be matched by other commanders, for example, Nova is a tactical commander and can usually be played very effective with only her and a handful of ghost operatives, however stukov masses hundreds of infested humans on the field at any given time.
The objective also range wildly, some missions may have you attacking and destroying trains and some may have you defending allies or escorting civilians off a planet that is being attacked and depending on the difficulty you select can end up becoming extremely difficult to get out of the first 10 minutes.
The commanders work on a leveling scale, you get experience for your deeds in the game and if you get special objectives or win/lose, as your commanders level up they acquire new abilities that make gameplay smoother and easier, my main is Nova, so when she started it was a very basic experienced, now however i have airdrops and tactical nukes available as well as switching her from an assassin to a front line combatant that can take down heaps of enemies at once with her shotgun.
The great thing is, no matter your chosen play style there is a commander that suits you, be forewarned though some commanders are special and added to the game as micro DLC and will usually set you back about $5 but to be fair, they're probably under priced a little bit given how much they can add to a game mode just by themselves.
Blizzard also hit that special balance sweet spot so that no army can overpower another now, it's now down to pure strategy, like i said i can outplay opponents with just Nova and a handful of ghosts so don't be surprised at the wildly different skill levels the game now enjoys, it all comes down to your tactics and management of your base.
And that's about it for now, Starcraft 2 is officially done and dusted, there are rumors of a Starcraft 3 but it probably won't be for a long time given the events of the epilogue they will have to form a new story to bring us into the starcraft universe again, but on it's own, Starcraft and Legacy of the void stands as a testament to the golden age of RTS games that have sadly been replaced with less skilled based Moba's.
This is one game that is worth full price and a game that i actively encourage to create DLC like the Nova missions as they add some much to the game instead of acting like most DLC is, a piece of the pie taken away from the original development and sold to you later at a cost.
Starcraft 2 is now free to play on Battle.net but still requires you to purchase the expansions, but as I said, this game is truly worth it.