[Review] StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops

[Lunix I]

StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops are downloadable content (DLC) single-player mission packs to the military science fiction real-time strategy game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Consisting of nine missions, it was released over the course of three installments as DLC, with three missions each. The first mission pack was released March 29, 2016, the second mission pack released on August 2, 2016 and the final mission pack was released on November 22, 2016.

Nova Covert Ops is focused around the hero unit of Nova, similar to Kerrigan in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. New technology and weaponry are available for Nova and other units to unlock. The mission pack places a greater emphasis on tactics but retains the base building mechanics of StarCraft.

The campaign takes place a few years after the epilogue of Legacy of the Void. Nova Terra, along with her fellow Terran Dominion ghosts Stone, Delta Emblock, and Theodore Pierce had all been captured by an organization called the Defenders of Man. They manage to escape the compound they were being held in, but Nova gets split up from her fellow ghosts. After escaping Sharpsburg, she is detained by Terran Dominion forces and taken to the planet of Borea.

It is there that she meets up with Admiral Matt Horner. He tells her that she had gone missing in action, says there was evidence showing she was working with the Defenders of Man, and that she is wanted for treason. Horner has been skeptical of the accusations, and after the base is assaulted by feral zerg, Horner asks Nova to aid them. Nova agrees, and with her aid the terran base is able to survive until a fleet of terran ships arrives. The arriving terran fleet is not, however, the Terran Dominion fleet showing up to save them as they had expected; it is the Defenders of Man fleet.

Matt and Nova escape and meet up with Emperor Valerian Mengsk. Valerian meets with Nova, and gives her a new command ship, as well as her own Covert Ops Crew. He also puts a new weapons and technology specialist, Reigel, under her command, who attempts to reactivate the memories she had lost while working for the Defenders of Man. The device shows her the ruins of her home Tarsonis. Nova, Reigel and her Covert Ops Crew head to Tarsonis. After securing the perimeter, Nova infiltrates the Defenders of Man base. The Defenders of Man notice her, and activate a psi emitter in their own base. Nova continues further, and discovers that the Defenders of Man were luring zerg to civilian worlds to discredit Emperor Valerian Mengsk, and are now planning to have a civilian world destroyed to prove the new regime's weakness.

Arriving at the planet, known as Tyrador IX, Nova's forces encounter the Zerg, which were lured there by the Defenders of Man. They also encounter the Tal'darim, who are attacking the Defenders of Man on the planet. Nova repels the alien presence from the planet despite the high civilian casualties. After the battle, Nova encounters Highlord Alarak of the Tal'darim. Alarak makes a deal with Nova, showing her the location of Terrazine gas, located on the planet Jarban Minor, which will be able to restore her memories. In exchange, Nova will provide Alarak with the Defenders of Man. Alarak reveals the Defenders attacked a Tal'darim outpost and he seeks retribution.