{"id":51782,"date":"2013-03-20T09:11:23","date_gmt":"2013-03-20T07:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=51782"},"modified":"2013-03-20T09:12:40","modified_gmt":"2013-03-20T07:12:40","slug":"starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait","title":{"rendered":"Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm \u2013 worth the wait?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After a lengthy wait, Starcraft II\u2019s colossal-sized expansion is finally here, but does the add-on live up to the hype created since its announcement?<\/p>\n<p>The PC-exclusive game currently has a Metascore of 84, and a 84.55 Gamerankings percentage.<\/p>\n<p>Scores are just one thing though, and what we really want to know is what the critics are saying about Blizzard&#8217;s new expansion.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/starcraft\/reviews\/starcraft-review-2533189\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gamespot:<\/a> 9.1\/10<\/h3>\n<p>Starcraft&#8217;s personality goes a long way towards rendering its minor shortcomings obsolete. The game has so much life in it &#8211; whether in the great, narrative-driven single-player campaign or the multitude of multiplayer options &#8211; you won&#8217;t grow tired of it anytime soon.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.computerandvideogames.com\/395700\/reviews\/starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-review-the-jim-and-sarah-show-review\/?page=3#top_banner\" target=\"_blank\">CV<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.computerandvideogames.com\/395700\/reviews\/starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-review-the-jim-and-sarah-show-review\/?page=3#top_banner\" target=\"_blank\">G:<\/a> 8.4\/10<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cFor non-hardcore players, it may seem like little has changed; there are a couple of new units for each side, a better training mode for the multiplayer, AI allies and a few tweaks to the interface and social functions that should have been in the original game. But for the hardcore, the seemingly insignificant additions (such as extra units) have completely revised the structure of how Starcraft 2 is played.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_05.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-51788 aligncenter\" title=\"Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm screenshot_05\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_05-600x337.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_05-600x337.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_05-267x150.jpg 267w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_05-625x350.jpg 625w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_05.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.giantbomb.com\/reviews\/starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-review\/1900-564\/\" target=\"_blank\">Giant Bomb:<\/a>\u00a05\/5<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;For those of us who still deeply love this specific style of real-time strategy and want more of it, this is a must-have add-on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gametrailers.com\/reviews\/vx95cd\/starcraft-ii--heart-of-the-swarm-review\" target=\"_blank\">Gametrailers:<\/a> 8.5\/10<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Series savants won\u2019t be disappointed by the game\u2019s catalog of well-constructed missions and stellar multiplayer experience, but players may still find themselves hoping for some sort of wild mutation from the franchise\u2019s established norms.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><a href=\"www.gamesradar.com\/starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">GamesRadar:<\/a> 4.5\/5<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Heart of the Swarm transforms the StarCraft II landscape in all the right ways&#8211;enough to surprise and excite you, while still being amiably familiar at its core. As with its predecessors, it offers fast-paced real-time strategy with a great amount of accessibility and no skill ceiling in sight.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><a href=\" http:\/\/www.blisteredthumbs.net\/2013\/03\/heartoftheswarmreview\/2\/\" target=\"_blank\">Blistered Thu<\/a><a href=\" http:\/\/www.blisteredthumbs.net\/2013\/03\/heartoftheswarmreview\/2\/\" target=\"_blank\">mbs:<\/a> 10\/10<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cStarcraft II and Heart of the Swarm continue the strong traditions that made the series great and takes them higher and farther than we ever thought possible. With a renewed eye turned to player-created content and expanded mechanics, Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is an amazing expansion to an already genre-defining game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_01.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-51784 aligncenter\" title=\"Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm screenshot_01\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_01-600x337.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_01-600x337.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_01-267x150.jpg 267w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_01-625x350.jpg 625w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_01.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><a href=\" http:\/\/kotaku.com\/5990162\/starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-the-kotaku-review\" target=\"_blank\">Kotaku:<\/a> &#8220;yes&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cHeart of the Swarm brings with it more units, more buildings, and some heavy-duty tweaks\u2014siege tanks don&#8217;t need research for siege mode anymore!\u2014that will change the multiplayer game for years to come. And in another 15 years, I imagine we&#8217;ll all still be playing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\"><a href=\"http:\/\/attackofthefanboy.com\/reviews\/starcraft-ii-heart-swarm-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">Attack of the Fanboy:\u00a0<\/a>&#8211; &#8220;loved&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p><em>&#8220;<\/em>The single player campaign is good, and polished to near perfection. It\u2019s not quite as robust as Wings of Liberty, but follows the same paths and capitalizes in all of the key areas that matter. Multiplayer has the same if not more polish than the single player, and that\u2019s a good thing because players should be spending most of their time there anyway. &#8221;<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-51782 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait\/attachment\/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-screenshot_01'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_01-96x68.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait\/attachment\/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-screenshot_02'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_02-96x68.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait\/attachment\/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-screenshot_03'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_03-96x68.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait\/attachment\/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-screenshot_04'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_04-96x68.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait\/attachment\/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-screenshot_05'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_05-96x68.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait\/attachment\/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-screenshot_06'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_06-96x68.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait\/attachment\/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-screenshot_07'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_07-96x68.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm screenshot_07\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait\/attachment\/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-screenshot_08'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_08-96x68.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait\/attachment\/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-screenshot_09'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_09-96x68.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/51782-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-worth-the-wait\/attachment\/starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-screenshot_10'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"68\" src=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Starcraft-2-Heart-of-the-Swarm-screenshot_10-96x68.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">More StarCraft II news<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/videos\/51652-starcraft-2-heart-of-the-swarm-what-you-need-to-know.html\">Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm: what you need to know<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Heart of the Swarm Vengeance trailer builds tension\" href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/pc\/51130-heart-of-the-swarm-vengeance-trailer-builds-tension.html\">Heart of the Swarm Vengeance trailer builds tension<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Starcraft 2 SA Wild Card Qualifier tournament announced\" href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/news\/51085-starcraft-2-sa-wild-card-qualifier-tournament-announced.html\">Starcraft 2 SA Wild Card Qualifier tournament announced<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/news\/50630-bt-games-heart-of-the-swarm-launch-event-stores-confirmed.html\">BT Games Heart of the Swarm launch event stores confirmed<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"SA Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm invitational tournament announced\" href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/news\/50518-sa-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-invitational-tournament-announced.html\"><strong>SA Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm invitational tournament announced<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/news\/49662-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm-opneing-cinematic-revealed.html\">Heart of the Swarm opening cinematic revealed<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is Heart of the Swarm a strategy boost, or an unnecessary bomb?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":51783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[665,21,4154,2219,457,581,4155,1289,1725],"class_list":["post-51782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-blizzard","tag-headline","tag-heart-of-the-swarm","tag-megarom","tag-review","tag-review-roundup","tag-starcraft-2","tag-starcraft-ii","tag-starcraft-ii-heart-of-the-swarm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52054,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51782\/revisions\/52054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}