Starcraft II: Nova Covert Ops -- Mission Pack 2 - Review

The second chapter of StarCraft 2’s Ghost-focused mini campaign managed to exceed my meager expectations from the underwhelming pilot episode that is Covert Ops Mission Pack 1… but only just. Nova Covert Ops Mission Pack 2 is a tighter, less grandiose set of three scenarios linked by well-animated, well-voiced, but fleeting cutscenes that once again try to cram too much story into too little screen time.

We pick up ultra spy/assassin Nova’s story where we left it, trying to help Emperor Valerian Mengsk track down threats both within and outside his government. The focus for missions four through six has shifted to recovering Nova’s lost memories, which really could have been an interesting subplot if the revelations we get for our trouble weren’t shrug-worthy and almost as predictable as the big “twist” at the end of mission three. Again, the compact structure of this campaign hurts its ability to tell a good story. We’re not left time to ponder the darker elements of Nova’s character hinted at in her fragmentary flashbacks. We don’t have time to really wonder which of her conflicting motives are genuine, and which are part of some deep-cover shell game. The answer was fed to me long before I wanted to be finished puzzling over it.

I was also disappointed to see some of the most welcome returning faces from Wings of Liberty, notably Matt Horner and Rory Swann, didn’t show up in any capacity for this segment. Even Valerian was barely around. Granted, he has arguably the most impactful and thought-provoking role to play this time in his all-too-brief appearances. Blizzard also threw in a delightful cameo from one of the best supporting characters in the Legacy of the Void protoss campaign, though his connection to the larger story seemed shoehorned in.

These missions could stand beside some of the better ones in the StarCraft 2 main campaigns.

What made me enjoy this pack more than the first overall (aside from perhaps lowered expectations) was the mission design. While Nova’s first three ops were largely uninspiring and unmemorable, Mission Pack 2 features some scenarios that could easily stand beside some of the better ones in the StarCraft 2 main campaigns. In one, I raced against the clock to destroy a set of heavily guarded beacons that powered an invincible enemy superunit as it inched its way toward a vulnerable civilian population center. It’s the best kind of StarCraft 2 mission, in that you actually have some emotional investment in the outcome besides the thrill of victory, there’s an on-map, dynamic visualization of how much time you have left to finish your objectives, and you’re forced to think about how to prioritize your forces out across the map for different duties.

Another had me extracting a rare resource needed to restore Nova’s memory from a planet where my mining operations attracted attention from endless waves of zombie-like enemies. All the while, I was forced to compete with another faction trying to do the same thing. The two, fundamentally different hostile forces which were also hostile to each other turned the scenario into a complex ecosystem that I had to get my head around before I could develop a strategy to seize victory.

Theres's no equivalent to the mold-breaking vulture bike sequence.

The final mission offered me the novel option of removing an entire unit type from the enemy’s roster with each sub-objective I completed, effectively choosing the form of the army I’d be fighting in the final push. The pacing, stakes, difficulty, and overall design in these missions were finely tuned to create challenges I would gladly play again just for the fun of it. I was still a bit bummed to see more standard RTS mechanics and less of Nova’s cool, solo, stealth stuff though. There was no equivalent to the mold-breaking vulture bike sequence I praised in Mission Pack 1.

Mission Pack 2 lags behind its predecessor in flair, unfortunately. It manages to feel even more minimalist and less momentous in its presentation of the unraveling intrigues. With the exception of the very last scene, it lacked for any real “wow” moments - something Blizzard usually excels at. More so than a mid-series film like The Empire Strikes Back, it felt like some mid-season episodes of a sci-fi television show, past the point where we’ve gotten excited to see a beloved cast of characters back again but not yet building to the excitement of an impending finale.