StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops - Mission Pack 1

 PC
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 76 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 76
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 76
  3. Negative: 15 out of 76

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  1. atr577
    Mar 30, 2016
    10
    First of all, Cover OPs felt just GREAT. When I went to sleep at 3 AM I felt full of awesomeness, and remembering the disappointment I felt over LotV that felt double great.

    The story felt very logical, realistic and believable. There were no pianos in the bushes, no deus ex, no invulnerable super heroes, just very mortal opponents shooting and hating each other. What I hated in LotV    First of all, Cover OPs felt just GREAT. When I went to sleep at 3 AM I felt full of awesomeness, and remembering the disappointment I felt over LotV that felt double great.

    The story felt very logical, realistic and believable. There were no pianos in the bushes, no deus ex, no invulnerable super heroes, just very mortal opponents shooting and hating each other. What I hated in LotV (and SCII in general) was the feeling of kids bedtime story, filled with incognizable gods, unneeded unexplained entities (like the Void, what is that and why do we even need it, good old endless Universe not enigmatic enough?), lack of logic (like where was the Spear of Adun when the zerg sacked Aiur?), all-powerful artifacts that can change your DNA, kill unkillable, ignore laws of nature and probably make you coffee too. The general feeling you are being fed a fairytale with dragons, knights and magic did not leave me through LotV playthrough. But SC is not a fantasy.

    Covert OPs got it all right - I had a feeling I was reading something like Heinlein's Starship Troopers with black ops twist, it was just so good. I can but only hope that Covert Ops will stick to that style and SCII plot will be redone in the same manner some time. Because in my mind, SCII story stopped just before the assault of Char, when magic started happening.

    The missions, units and Nova's loadout were simply on a very good level. I would lie to say I was astonished, after hundreds of games I played, but all felt good and solid.

    The game felt a bit short, as many people would agree here. I would definitely prefer awesomeness over length, but well, I did the pack in about two hours, looking up at my steam account I see the games I like have 30 hours of playing at least. Might be the only small flaw I would point out at the moment.

    As a conclusion, I would like to praise Blizzard for their good job. I was highly doubting as to whether to preorder the game or try it from the torrents first. Given that LotV story felt extremely un-starcrafty and out of place, and even though it might be decent by itself, but for sci-fi universe it felt like a disaster. Given that another Blizzard game - Heroes of the Storm - is struggling with basic balance and matchmaking still (and these slikes also keep Nova underpowered and not competitive). I had high doubts that modern Blizzard is able to produce decent product. I am just happy to be proven wrong now.    … Expand
  2. richard_diver
    Mar 30, 2016
    9
    Solid start of the DLC series. Blizzard brings new things to the table, tile sets, unit skins, tech fun tech upgrades. Making Starcraft single player more of a tactical strategy than pure RTS. I had great fun and looking forward to second and third parts!
  3. Razrback16
    Jun 4, 2016
    9
    Thought it was great. 3 solid missions, love Nova as a character (she's nice to look at, too :) ). Very much looking forward to more.

    Some new unit / building modification options, and I thought the story was enough as an intro.
  4. BioOrc
    Mar 30, 2016
    10
    Fresh look on RTS campaign continued from previous Starcraft 2 episodes, interesting plot, log and engaging missions. Nova is very cool character, also it's really interesting to see what happend after epic Starcraft 2 LotV conclusion. Can't wait episode 2 and 3!
  5. veryblackraven
    Nov 24, 2016
    9
    Battle Toads racing reference in the first mission is hilarious. Overall, I like how well-balanced are classic strategy missions and tactical stealth missions. You don't get bored of gameplay as it changes at just the right moment.

Awards & Rankings

40
#40 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. PLAY! Zine
    May 5, 2016
    80
    This first slice of the Starcraft 2 DLC scheme left us wanting for more, as it always happens with Blizzard's strategy games. Even short, this is as polished and fun as any other "big" campaign in Starcraft 2, though we'd prefer if the upcoming missions could arrive sooner.
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  2. Gamers' Temple
    Apr 25, 2016
    78
    It's hard to judge the overall quality of an expansion just a third of the way in, but Mission Pack 1 is a good enough of a start to make me look forward to the next installment.
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  3. God is a Geek
    Apr 21, 2016
    70
    A good start to Starcraft II’s DLC, Nova Covert Ops delivers a fun and tense opening chapter, but suffers from a lack of story content.
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