Kerrigan. StarCraft’s infamous villain, and the most interesting character in the StarCraft universe and story. Today, we will continue reviewing her history and development, starting with her role as the ghost and up until her transformation into the Queen Bitch of the Universe!

In part one of the story, we’ve followed Kerrigan, from the time of her childhood until her full transformation into the Queen of Blades. Along the way, she had met Jim Raynor and has developed feelings for him while serving as Arcturus Mengsk’s second in command. While participating in his plan to destroy the confederacy, Mengsk leaves Kerrigan behind on Tarsonis, the confederacy capital planet, while it was being completely overrun by the Zerg swarms.
The Zerg Overmind, which had sensed Kerrigan’s mental powers, has taken her into his custody, evolving her and treating her as his prodigy.

The story continues when Tassadar arrives at Char to face Kerrigan, now infested to the core, and with control of her new abilities. Kerrigan decides to challenge Tassadar, feeling confident in her power.

Infested Kerrigan

Protoss commander, it was folly of you to come here. For I am Kerrigan, and I am Queen of the Zerg!

 

Tassadar

I know of you well, O Queen of the Zerg, for we have met before. I am Tassadar, of the Templar. I remember your selfless exploits, defending humanity from the Zerg. Unfortunate it is, to see that one who was once so honorable and full of life would succumb to the twisted wiles of the Overmind.

 

Infested Kerrigan

Do not presume to judge me, Templar. You’ll find my powers to be more than a match for yours. In fact, I sense that your vaunted power has diminished since last we met.

 

Tassadar

Mayhap, O Queen. Or is it only that I need not flaunt my power in such an infantile test of will?

 

Infested Kerrigan

Foolish Templar. Prepare your defenses! I will come for you soon.

When Kerrigan finally faced Tassadar, she realized her mistake – Tassadar’s figure was merely an illusion, created to distract her and her Zerg forces, while Zeratul, using his Dark Templar powers, permanently destroyed the Cerebrate Zasz.

Attacking the Cerebrate, Zeratul exposes his mind to the Zerg Overmind. The location of the Protoss homeworld, Aiur, was revealed to it. The Zerg Overmind decides to repay the Protoss for the death of the Cerebrate, and begins attacking the Protoss forces, annihilating them in masses, while advancing to Aiur…

The Protoss, who have lost the battle for Aiur and suffered heavy losses, fled to Shakuras, the Dark Templar homeworld, led by Tassadar. The Overmind, confident in his total victory, embeds himself into the crust of the planet. The Protoss regroup and reinforce themselves on Shakuras, aligning themselves with their old, Dark Templar brothers.

The final battle on Aiur ended with the Overmind’s destruction by Tassadar, who combined his energies with those of the Dark Templar in a final suicidal attack, crashing his Carrier into the Zerg supreme leader.

A new Overmind began to form from several of the remaining Cerebrates, trying to take control over the scattered Zerg broods. Kerrigan decides that she is the one deserving of leadership, and begins a campaign to take control of all the Zerg.

Here end the events of StarCraft, and the Brood War begins.

In the beginning of the expansion, the Protoss align themselves with Raynor, while Arcturus Mengsk consolidates his power and declared himself leader of the newly formed Terran Dominion.

In the mean time, the United Earth Directorate, which has been watching the struggle as it unfolds, decides to join the fray. Led by Admiral Gerard DuGalle, they plan to take control of the Zerg and unleash them on the Protoss, to ensure human supremacy.

The Aiur Protoss meet with Raszagal, Matriach of the Dark Templar. She tells them of an ancient Xel’Naga temple, which has the power to destroy the Zerg. To use the temple’s power, they must find two crystals: the Khalis and Uraj.

Kerrigan appears and offers her help to the Protoss. She claims that the destruction of the Overmind has freed her from his control. She tells them of the new Overmind and her fears that it will be able to control her once it has matured.

Raszagal
Now then, Kerrigan. Perhaps you had best explain yourself. What is this news you’ve come to give?

 

Infested Kerrigan
There is a new Overmind growing on Char.

 

Zeratul
What? Impossible! Why should we believe anything you have to say?

 

Infested Kerrigan
Because, Zeratul, I’m no longer the mindless murderess whom you fought on Char. The Overmind is dead. Whatever warped control it once had over me is gone. I know that this is a lot to take in all at once, but you’ve got to believe me! There’s more at stake here than-

 

Aldaris
She lies! She is infested to the core! I for one will not listen to any of this-

 

Raszagal
Silence, Judicator. Continue, Kerrigan.

 

Infested Kerrigan
Apparently, many of the renegade Cerebrates, commanded by Daggoth, have merged into a new Overmind. Fortunately, the creature is still in its infant stages. It can’t control the Swarm yet, but Daggoth and the others still have control over most of the Broods. The two Cerebrates you killed here were part of Daggoth’s forces.

 

Look, I don’t need to tell you all what might happen if that thing reaches maturity. I can guarantee you that should it awaken, it’ll take full control of me just like it did before. I don’t want that to happen, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want it to happen either.

 

Zeratul
Even if what you say is true, our priority is to save this world, not assault the new Overmind! We must find the crystals Uraj and Khalis before we are all vanquished.

 

Infested Kerrigan
Then I’ll help you with your search. If you can defeat the renegade Zerg gathered here, it’ll weaken the efforts of Daggoth and his ilk.

 

Raszagal
My children, you must put aside your fears and misgivings to accomplish what must be done. For the time being, Kerrigan will assist you in your endeavors. Though she has been your enemy, it is enough that we share the same agenda now. Allow her time enough to prove herself to you, and you may find her to be a valued ally. For now, you must focus on the task at hand. Search for the Uraj on the planet Braxis, and let nothing stop you from recovering it.

 

Artanis
We will do what you ask, Matriarch. But you cannot expect us to forgive Kerrigan’s crimes against our race! Executor, prepare our forces. We shall debark for the planet Braxis before the next moonrise.

Kerrigan helps her new allies find the crystals, giving the Protoss a powerful weapon against their Zerg enemies.

Upon returning to Shakuras, the allies find out that Aldaris is revolting against Raszagal. Aldaris feels betrayed by the Matriach for aligning herself with the evil Queen of Blades. He tries to tell Zeratul that he has discovered that the Matriach is harboring a dark secret, but Kerrigan kills him before he succeeds in doing so. Zeratul, enraged that Kerrigan has killed his old friend, demands that she leaves.

ZERATUL
Wretched creature! This was a Protoss matter; you had no right
to interfere! Begone from this world! You are no longer welcome
among us!

 

KERRIGAN
Fine. I’ve done what I came here to do. I’ve insured the
destruction of the renegade Cerebrates, and I used you to do it.
Have fun, mighty Protoss… We’ll be seeing each other again,
real soon…

Zeratul understands that Kerrigan has used them the entire time, but realizes that they had no choice. He also suspects that a dark influence has control over Raszagal, but she quickly reaffirms his faith in her. The Protoss continue to hold the temple against the invading Zerg forces, While Kerrigan runs off to continue her devious plans…

This is where part two of the story ends. In the next part, we’ll follow Kerrigan as she continues playing all sides against each other, see how she deals with the unexpected visit from the UED forces, and learn how she managed to destroy all her enemies and become the Queen Bitch of the Universe!

This is going to be a rough time. StarCraft 2 has been announced, and we’ve all seen the preview movie… but now what? With no new information coming out, all that’s left is fan speculation and endless previews and guesses. Here are a few interesting articles that fit this description:

http://www.firingsquad.com/features/starcraft_2_preview/

“This may come as a surprise to some people, but this is StarCraft II. It’s not going to be Company of Heroes, it won’t be Age of Empires, and it certainly isn’t going to be Supreme Commander or Homeworld. Anyone expecting anything else except fundamental StarCraft gameplay is going to be sorely disappointed.”

FiringSquad’s Jakub tells it like it is, and offers a nice analysis of what makes StarCraft StarCraft.

Next up, two previews at IGN:

http://pc.ign.com/articles/790/790158p1.html

This preview summarizes a few panels with Blizzard developers, namely Rob Pardo, Chris Sigaty, Dustin Browder, Mike Morhaime, Paul Sams, Chris Metzen, and Jungwon Hahn. The guys answer a few burning questions about the game.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/790/790160p1.html

This preview deals with the new units featured on the preview video. Specifically: The Zerg Banelings, Terran Reaper, and the Protoss Colossus, Immortal, Phoenix, Stalker, Warp Ray, Phase Prism and of course, Mothership.

That’s it for now. We’re all starved for new information, but when will Blizzard deliver?

So, we’ve established that the graphics and style are awesome. But what about what really makes StarCraft great – the gameplay? After staring at the video around 15 times, it’s time to write down my thoughts.

What we’ve seen is hard to judge. This is a pre-alpha version of the game, and some of you may remember how much previous versions of StarCraft have changed during development. Likewise, the video only featured short battles between the few working units, which have been tweaked for the purpose of the presentation.

We, at project TerranoZergus, promise to follow the development of StarCraft 2 and provide you with detailed analysis of the pieces of information released about the game 2 as they emerge. For now, lets discuss what we know:

The Balance:

Blizzard seems to have stuck to the hard counter type of gameplay, made famous in Brood War. Every unit seems to have a specific counter unit, which has a great advantage over it and has the power to destroy it quickly and efficiently. This was made very obvious in the video, where each unit was presented by destroying the previous unit on the screen. However, we were not exposed to the logistics and technology level associated with each unit.
 The Zealot rush ability is most likely an upgrade, similar to the permanent speed upgrade in the original game. Without it, the marines, in large numbers, have a clear advantage over the slow-charging Zealots. In the same vein, the Banelings, which destroyed the Colossus easily, could be an upgrade to the Zerglings from which they evolved, only attainable at a late phase of the game. When we compare the Mutalisk to the Phoenix, we clearly see that the Mutalisks are a fast, hit and run type of unit, while the Phoenix is a slow air-superiority unit, meant to cover ground forces.

When we factor all these different unit attributes, we see a different picture. We hope that in the final game, the counters are not clear cut and the game is complex enough so that every situation can have many solutions for each race.

Mobility:

One great change that seems to have gone unmentioned is the apparent added mobility to all races. While we don’t know how early in the game this mobility will be allowed, it seems that with these new options and the much improved interface, it’s going to be a lot easier to move masses of units around the game map.

The Phase Prisms aren’t particularly fast, but their strength lies in allowing the player to warp in large amounts of units anywhere he wishes. The Zerg Nydus Worms seem like an improvement to the old, hard-to-properly-use Nydus Canals. It seems that this time around, they will be easier to use (thanks to, in part, a better interface) to quickly shuffle Zerg units around the map. While we haven’t seen a comparable form of transportation for the Terran side, they have always been the mobile race. Flying buildings, jetpack infantry – and the rest remains to be seen.

Abilities:

Ahh, this is where we’ve seen a few new, very creative ideas. Blizzard has always been innovative with their units and abilities, and it seems like we won’t be disappointed with StarCraft 2.

The Warp Ray’s concept is brilliant: A weapon that increases its damage output the longer it focuses its fire on a single target. This will provide for many interesting decisions during battles. Likewise, the Phoenix’ “overload” ability is a great way to give a reason for the player to focus his attention on the battle.

For now, the Mothership’s abilities (and the unit itself!) look extremely cool, but overpowered. It remains to be seen how difficult it will be to field one of these beasts, and get it to the point where it can successfully use its abilities.

We haven’t seen any dedicated spell casters yet, but they will obviously have a large role in this game, as they always do in Blizzard games (has there been a Blizzard game without a Blizzard spell?) . I, for one, will be disappointed if the Blizzard-casting Templars don’t make an appearance in this StarCraft incarnation.

All in all, it looks like we’ll have a lot to play with in StarCraft 2. It still looks like the game we all know and love, only more so!

Whoa.

This was the first reaction I’d had when I first saw the high quality gameplay preview video, and I’m sure most of you understand! For 20 whole minutes, I was reminded of what it felt like to play StarCraft for the first time, and was ecstatic that I’ll have the chance to repeat the same experience again, almost 10 years later.

The graphics and style look sharp. The cartoon feel is always present, but doesn’t interfere with the serious atmosphere of the game. The havok physics engine is a welcome addition to the StarCraft universe, and while we only got a glimpse of its implementation in the game, I’m sure it’ll have a great impact on visuals and gameplay.

If anyone had a doubt that StarCraft 2 will be able to capture the feeling of the original, I believe they are now satisfied. Blizzard has shown that they were able to translate the essence of StarCraft into a modern day 3D engine, and give us a worthy sequel.

Get the video here.