None of these objectives can be completed by simply selecting everyone and sending them forward, nor would that solution be fun. All the while, the mothership is vapourising infected colonists. Or there's a last-ditch defence of a planet marked for extermination, where a Protoss mothership can only be shot down once you've defeated three powerful bases. When you can finally afford the bribe, their unstoppable regiments are turned over to your control. And then there was the race for resources where I was fighting over mineral patches and scrap metal to buy off a vast mercenary army. I've enjoyed nearly every mission, including a raid on a prison planet that played out like a beginner's version of Defence of the Ancients: you control a single overpowered hero while waves of basic marines throw themselves at the defences. The zombie mission might be a standout, but it's not alone. You can see the effort and thought that has gone into every little model, every tiny animation. And when the sun bursts through, the poor zombie souls flail and wave as they roast alive. The same zergbie humans are burnt to a crisp when the sun rises the next morning: that's your cue to push out with Hellions – buggies with roof-mounted flamethrowers – to torch the remnants of the infested colony.Īs the sun sets and rises every five minutes, there's a gorgeous transition, each little soldier casting a long purple shadow. Holding out means building bunkers and filling them with Firebats and Marines, and praying they hold. Early on, you're asked to defend a colony from infestation: hundreds of Zerg-infected humans and marines will shamble towards your gates at night. 27 missions, each lasting 30-45 minutes, each containing a unique twist or idea that raises it above a simple base push. StarCraft II shows us how it's meant to be done. Real-time strategy games have been killing the genre with this lack of imagination. For years now, RTS campaigns have repeated the same simple formula: secure a base, ramp up production by harvesting local resources, hold the fort until you've got a walking ball of death, and then burst through any defences.

The tech each side brings to the party might be advanced, but in singleplayer you expect its application to be unsophisticated.

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