Is Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm worth $20 for single player?

[Tarvaln]

I'm debating on getting Starcraft II and expansion for $20 while they are on sale. I'm never going to play it online. So, is the single player campaign worth $20?

Thanks.

 

[the unknown]

There's gotta be 20-30 hours of content there. Is $1/hr worth it to you? Depends if you like RTS and scifi. WoL's story is much more engaging than HotS IMO (I didn't even finish the second game but read about it). I also liked SC1 a lot and played it quite a bit.

 

[b-mac]

I personally thought both of the campaigns were pretty good. I enjoyed HotS more than the WoL but it was also very good. $20 is definitely a good price for both of them!

 

[shortylickens]

I liked the campaigns.
Think of the skirmish mode as a free bonus.

 

[Ampersand38]

The free starter edition let's you play a few missions plus all custom maps in the Arcade. Try it out and see if you like it.

 

[JTsyo]

Yes. It's worth it. If you haven't played the first SC, the zerg missions might not appeal to you.

 

[Zenoth]

I was wondering the same thing myself no longer than about two days ago.

I finally bought Heart of the Swarm (already had WoL), mainly for the campaign. So far I have to say it's worth it. I like the story, the cinematics, the actual missions themselves are fun to play as well. So, yep, for $10 it's definitely good.

 

[Tarvaln]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I did play the demo for 3 missions. Story seems good so far. I use to play SC 1 and I like the improvements. But, I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the game in terms of hardware use.

My specs are in my sig. I know my pc isn't bleeding edge but it's still a good rig. I have 8 cores and this game doesn't even use 4 cores effectively. I would understand if this was a one shot title that got a few updates but Blizzard is about to release the 3rd installment of this series and this game runs like it's from 2010.

My framerate while playing went from 71 to 41 to 21 depending on what I was doing, like moving forward... Maybe there is some tweak that will allow this game to run smoothly at around 60 but it seems to be very CPU dependent and it doesn't do a good job using my CPU. The worse was in "Zero Hour" when Matt comes to rescue you. My fps dropped to 9 for most of that. It looked like a really crappy rescue.

There was also a lot of menu lagging. I read that is from something in windows 10. I hope that gets fixed.

Sorry for the ranting. I use to play Warcraft (2,3) and Starcraft. This is the first time I've been disappointed in a Blizzard RTS.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I really hope Blizzard can update their engine for the game with LotV. If this game could use 4+ cores and maybe DX12, I think it would be an amazing game.

 

[yhelothar]

Yes. Blizzard is a master at story telling. The campaigns are pretty well made and have interesting units that you don't get to use in multiplayer.

SC2 isn't made for more than two cores which is definitely a weakness given how CPU intensive the game can be when a lot of units are on the screen. But I'm surprised your 4GHz FX can't handle it. I ran this with a 3.6GHz Core2Quad with a far more inferior graphics card and I was getting smooth framerates with high settings.

 

[Ranulf]

Blizzard games generally favor intel cpus but SC2 is notorious for having a crappy game engine no matter the cpu. From what I hear, LOTV is no change.

 

[JTsyo]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I did play the demo for 3 missions. Story seems good so far. I use to play SC 1 and I like the improvements. But, I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the game in terms of hardware use.

My specs are in my sig. I know my pc isn't bleeding edge but it's still a good rig. I have 8 cores and this game doesn't even use 4 cores effectively. I would understand if this was a one shot title that got a few updates but Blizzard is about to release the 3rd installment of this series and this game runs like it's from 2010.

My framerate while playing went from 71 to 41 to 21 depending on what I was doing, like moving forward... Maybe there is some tweak that will allow this game to run smoothly at around 60 but it seems to be very CPU dependent and it doesn't do a good job using my CPU. The worse was in "Zero Hour" when Matt comes to rescue you. My fps dropped to 9 for most of that. It looked like a really crappy rescue.

There was also a lot of menu lagging. I read that is from something in windows 10. I hope that gets fixed.

Sorry for the ranting. I use to play Warcraft (2,3) and Starcraft. This is the first time I've been disappointed in a Blizzard RTS.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I really hope Blizzard can update their engine for the game with LotV. If this game could use 4+ cores and maybe DX12, I think it would be an amazing game.

WOL was released in 2010. I doubt they'll change the engine for LOTV but maybe they can optimize it better for current hardware.

 

[Schfifty Five]

I'm debating on getting Starcraft II and expansion for $20 while they are on sale. I'm never going to play it online. So, is the single player campaign worth $20?

Thanks.

Is it $20 for both? If so, then absolutely it's worth it.

On the campaign missions alone, you can get 30 hours depending on difficulty. Furthermore, if you like achievements, there are plenty for campaign stuff that gives you some more replayability.

 

[magomago]

The single player campaigns are fun to play - no doubt about that.

The story though...as long as you approach it with a slightly comedic disposition, it'll play out just fine There will be quite a few laughs/LOL moments.

 

[Donanza]

I never liked starcraft but loved Dota 2. So I would say starcraft might not be worth it.

 

[b-mac]

Yea overall Blizzard stories have taken a slight drop over for single player but for $20 its a steal for two very good campaigns.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

For 20 I think it's a great deal and definitely worth it! Just got the Void beta with the prologue missions which is cool, looking forward to the game!

 

[JTsyo]

For 20 I think it's a great deal and definitely worth it! Just got the Void beta with the prologue missions which is cool, looking forward to the game!

Oh, I didn't realize the prologue missions were available now.