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StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops is the first mission pack for StarCraft II. Consisting of nine missions, it will be released over the course of three installments as DLC, with three missions per installment.[3] The first mission pack was released March 29th, 2016, with the second released August 2nd.[2] The final pack is to be released by the end of 2016.
Overview
A bundle can be pre-ordered that grants the purchaser access to all 9 missions through a single payment. Each mission pack can be purchased separately, but only the bundle is available for pre-purchase. Each mission pack will be $7.49 USD, while the pre-purchase option comes to $14.99 USD. Only the StarCraft II Starter Edition is required to download the missions.
Those who pre-purchased Nova Covert Ops received a unique Nova portrait, as well as a Covert Ops ghost skin. A player can unlock the skin without the pre-purchase after completing all nine missions of the campaign. The Nova portrait is limited to the pre-purchase bundle.[5]
Storyline
- Story summary(src)
The campaign takes place a few years after the epilogue of Legacy of the Void (post-2508).[6] The Terran Dominion, led by Emperor Valerian Mengsk, is attempting to recover from the civil wars and zerg attacks that have ravaged their civilization.[7] Along with facing political opposition, several Dominion ghosts have gone missing, the trail leading to a secretive terran group called the "Defenders of Man." Nova Terra is assigned to investigate, but goes missing.[4] Meanwhile, zerg attacks return on the outer colonies of the Terran Dominion, with Emperor Valerian Mengsk's new regime slow to respond to the sudden assaults.[8]
Nova later woke up in a Defenders of Man base, with no memory of what happened. She read a message on her visor stating she is in danger, and escaped the facility. She regrouped with Stone and the rest of the squad that was assigned to infiltrate the facility, and escaped the city of Sharpsburg while being pursued by Defenders of Man forces. Stone and Nova reached the spaceport, and Stone demanded Nova goes ahead without him.[9]
Nova regrouped with Admiral Matt Horner on Borea, who said the Terran Dominion had evidence she was working with the Defenders of Man, and that she was wanted for treason (though Horner was skeptical of the accusations). However soon after the base was assaulted by an overwhelming force of feral zerg, and Horner asked Nova to aid them. She led a Covert Ops Crew as they defend the canyons leading into Matt Horner's base. Eventually, the Defenders of Man appeared and assaulted the zerg, and demanded the Dominion leave the planet and surrender Nova. Using the conflict between the two factions as their chance to escape, the Dominion leave the planet with Nova.[10]
Valerian met with Nova, and gave her a new command ship, the Griffin, as well as her own Covert Ops Crew. He put a new weapons and technology specialist, Reigel, under her command, who attempted to reactivate the memories she had lose while working for the Defenders of Man. The device showed her the ruins of her home, Tarsonis City. Nova and her team moved on Tarsonis and secured garrisons outside of the base while Nova infiltrated in. The Defenders of Man noticed her, and activated a psi emitter in their own base. Nova continued further, and discovered that the Defenders of Man were luring zerg to civilian worlds to discredit Emperor Valerian Mengsk, and were now planning to have Tyrador IX attacked by the feral zerg to prove the new regime's weakness.[11]
The Defenders of Man lured the feral zerg to Tyrador IX, a tourist destination mostly populated by civilians. Nova arrived on the planet, but too late to stop the attack.[12] Nova deployed banshees to thin out the feral zerg's hatcheries while the Defenders of Man set up a defense around Surfside Stadium, where a group of surviving civilians were holed up. However, the Tal'darim Death Fleet, lead by the First Ascendant Ji'nara, arrived above Tyrador IX, and opened fire on the zerg on the planet. Ji'nara stated she intended to destroy the Defenders of Man, and demanded the Dominion not interfere. Nova however knew that the Tal'darim would kill the civilians the Defenders were guarding, and disabled the shield projectors for their Tal'darim mothership. Enraged, Ji'nara send her mothership against Nova's forces, but they were able to destroy it.[13]
Nova returned to the Griffin, but found Highlord Alarak on her bridge. Alarak revealed that the Defenders of Man had attacked a Tal'darim outpost recently, and he wished to see them destroyed. Alarak made her an offer: if Nova tracked down the Defenders and bring their whereabouts to the Tal'darim, Alarak would give her a source of terrazine gas to restore her memories. In order to uncover the truth about how she was involved with Defenders of Man, Nova accepted his offer.[14]
Alarak led Nova to Jarban Minor, a planet that the Umojan Protectorate had attempted to colonize, but they lost contact with. Nova soon discovered that the planet and the Umojan crew had become infested. In addition, Alarak allowed Ji'nara and her forces to challenge Nova, and fight her while attempting to destroy the extraction devices. Nova was successful in harvesting the terrazine, and Alarak told her that when the time was right he would know where to find her. With that, the two factions parted ways.[15]
After administering microdoses of terrazine, Nova remembered the destination of one of her missions: the now-infested world of Antiga Prime.[16] She arrived on the planet to search for clues, and realized that she was sent on a cooperative mission to aid the Defenders of Man setup a series of anti-zerg devices on Antiga Prime. However, she and Stone realized that these were actually psi-emitters. Nova was captured and had her memory wiped, but not before she was able to implant a message in her visor. Nova also remembered that the Defenders were led by General Carolina Davis, a general that was seemingly loyal to the Mengsk family.[17] She reported this information to Valerian and declared her intent to assassinate Davis, but Valerian stated that he has other plans to deal with Davis, and that she needed to follow along. Nova reluctantly agreed.[18]
In the face of a series of protests against the Dominion for his failures, Valerian announced to General Davis that he wished to abdicate from the position of Emperor.[18]
Missions
Mission Pack 1
Mission Pack 2
Gameplay
Nova's loadout system
Nova is controllable in each mission, similar to how Kerrigan operates in the campaign of Heart of the Swarm, featuring gear and loadout features. She is supported by a black ops force.[7] New units and structures will be unlocked in a manner similar to previous campaigns.[19] Pre-existing units will gain new abilities/properties, such as cliff jumping siege tanks and marines who use stimpacks to heal themselves.[6] The total length of the full mission pack is expected to be half that of Heart of the Swarm and/or Legacy of the Void.[19]
Development
In the aftermath of Legacy of the Void, it was decided that returning to a terran perspective was a "natural" choice. Nova came up as a focal point during these discussions, and it was decided to explore her character, as well as ghosts.[20]
The story was designed to be darker in tone than StarCraft II, which focused on galactic events. Covert Ops is designed to be "a little bit closer to home,"[21] and to return to the "grittiness" of StarCraft I.[22] It would likewise differ from Wings of Liberty in that it would focus on Dominion black ops rather than "scrappy mercenaries."[23]
The DLC model was chosen instead of an expansion pack or sequel so that "more campaign-style content could be delivered to fans." With the completion of the mission pack, fan reaction will be gauged to decide whether more mission packs will be released, or whether Blizzard should work on an entirely new RTS game.[3] Chris Sigaty has commented that the development model has stemmed from Blizzard's current approach to content release, namely to release smaller content more frequently.
A goal of the mission pack is to establish Nova as being distinct from Sarah Kerrigan, as fans have already drawn similarities between the two. It has been stated that the game is ultimately about choice; James Waugh has commented that Nova will be in a more empowered position than she is at the start of the game's story.[24] Although Nova is present in each mission in a manner similar to Kerrigan in Heart of the Swarm, effort was made to show that she is not nearly as powerful an individual.[20]
None of the game's story is taken from StarCraft: Ghost.[24] (Elements of) the story were still being worked on by BlizzCon 2015.[25]
An ARG was developed by Blizzard to promote the game, in a manner similar to Project Blackstone. These included blog posts from Radio Liberty, a twitter feed from Kate Lockwell,[26] and an Arcade map.
Reception
Mission Pack 1
The first mission pack received mixed to positive reviews with a Gamerankings score of 72.28% and a Metacritic score of 73/100.[27] [28]
Mission Pack 2
Video
References
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