Heart of the Swarm! New footage and screenshots!

Posted by Kingbdogz on May 31st, 2011 filed in StarCraft News

Update #3
Uploaded new artwork and screenshots related to the Heart of the Swarm preview.

Update #2
An official preview page has gone up on the official Starcraft 2 Battle.net site. Check out Kerrigan in all her glory here! This page outlines the currently announced missions, and some game mechanics behind HOTS.

On Tarsonis, Sarah Kerrigan was betrayed by her allies and left to die by the people she trusted most — but she survived, twisted by the terrifying zerg Overmind. As the Queen of Blades, she controlled the voracious zerg Swarm in a campaign of vengeance and retribution with a deathtoll numbering in the billions. Now, with her powers stripped and her mind finally free from the zerg influence, how much is really left of the woman who once was Sarah Kerrigan? Can her human side be redeemed... or does Kerrigan’s fate forever lie within the Heart of the Swarm?

Update #1
Hey guys! Great news. A new gameplay trailer has made its appearance on the Gametrailers website with a whole lot of new in-game footage, including gameplay of the various campaign units!

I'm really looking forward to all of the new campaign units within Heart of the Swarm. In terms of the campaign, it seems to have just as much quality as Wings of Liberty.

Also, some in-game footage has appeared on Youtube which features some gameplay of two different missions from the campaign, and some talk scenes between Kerrigan and one of her Brood Mothers.

For more in-depth coverage on the new features in Heart of the Swarm, check out these articles from our fellow Starcraft 2 Fansites:

SC2Mapster.com - Overview Pt 1
SCLegacy.com - HOTS Interview
SCLegacy.com - Single Player Review
SCLegacy.com - Media
G4TV.com - Getting to know the Swarm
JoyStiq - HOTS Preview

Zerg Campaign Units

Zergling
- Metabolic Boost - Move speed +33%
- Posthumous Mitosis - 20% chance to spawn 2 Broodlings on death
- Rapid Genesis - Instantly produce Zerglings
- Raptor - Leaps at enemies and +10hp
- Swarmling - Hatches 3 Zerglings instead of 2, for no extra cost

Baneling
- Vicious Discharge - Goo sprays at and slows enemies by 25%
- Centriugal Hooks - Move speed +25%
- Rupture - Splash radius on death +25%
- Splitterling - Splits into 2 smaller Banelings, twice, dealing less damage
- Gorgeling - Reduces Units/Structures into collectible resources

Roach
- Chitinous Plating - +1 armor
- Bile Ducts - +2 damage
- Organic Carapace - +2 life regeneration
- Prowler - Move while burrowed
- Leech - +10 life per kill (up to 6) and heals more rapidly while burrowed

Lore/General
- There won't be any Cerebrates, instead there are Brood Mothers.
- Raynor will side with Tosh and the Protoss from WoL.
- There will be 20ish new missions in HotS.
- There will be new Multiplayer units. They may also change or remove WoL Multiplayer units.
- There will be a Multiplayer Beta again, that will last somewhere between 3-5 months.

Mapping
- They're talking about doing a Co-Op Campaign, eventually.
- The Map Marketplace will come either alongside, or shortly before Heart of the Swarm.
- More work on the Popularity System will be done, but the features coming with the Map Marketplace should help our problems a bit.
- They can and may roll out Ladders and their Matchmaking System with certain Custom Games in the near future.
-The UI Editor is coming around HotS, as well as a lot more new features/changes/additions.
- Adding a Water mechanic is a considered idea by Blizzard, but currently have no plans for.
- Adding a way to have different colored creep is a considered idea by Blizzard, but currently have no plans for.
- There are no plans to support maps bigger than 256x256.