The Story of Starcrap 2: The Overmind and The Dark Voice

It's been a while since I finished the campaign of Starcraft 2. It's only now that I've gotten over the shock at how terrible it was. Starcraft is a legendary real-time strategy game for the PC. It's one of the first RTS games I've played and I was a huge fan. It's like a childhood thing you know? Now, the story is ruined. Granted, the original story did have it's holes especially in Brood War but yeah.

I'm going to try my best to articulate the reasons I find it so terrible but keep in mind this is only my perspective. Some people like the story and that's cool. After all, some people have incredibly low standards and are just as easily impressed by Michael Bay movies. This is my perspective. Call me a nerd if you will but I've got time to kill.

This post contains spoilers, needless to say. By the way, I'm not really into the "novels" and other "expanded universe" crap. Maybe my opinion will change If I read the extra stuff but I really don't want to research too intensely like it's a college course. I'm trying to recall from memory of the first game.

To understand the Overmind and how SC2 totally butchered his character, let's get a little back story. There existed a race of superior and hyper-advanced aliens called the Xel'naga. The Xel'naga travelled around the universe developing and uplifting lesser races of aliens. Why? Well, It seems the Xel'naga have cyclical lives as explained by some stupid tie-in novel (I found after digging for answers to this brick wall) . Because of this, they developed lesser races into the "perfect being" through which they would be reborn.

Thus, they created the Protoss, their first experiment. The Protoss had the "purity of form" the Xel'naga desired. Well, things didn't work out. The Protoss were tribal and ideological. The Protoss even descended into civil war (high and dark Templar). Eventually, the Xel'naga decided to create a new race that would fix the flaws of the Protoss. Hence, they created the Zerg.

The Zerg are an insect-like race with a knack for evolving rapidly. To prevent the Zerg from becoming like the Protoss, who's egos got in the way, the Xel'naga created a single sentience that controls the Zerg. This single entity was the Overmind. The Zerg consumed other species to evolve. They remind of the Borg. The Zerg assimilate creatures to form part of the "swarm". It's how they roll. The Overmind eventually discovered the Xel'naga and turned on them. The Xel'naga had their ass kicked by their own creation. The Overmind also became aware of the existence of the Protoss and desired to consume them so it could become "perfect".

The Protoss however, were powerful psychics. How could the Overmind compete with that? Simple. It used the Terrans (humanity), an up and coming race in the sector. The Terrans had psychics too so why not make use of them? The Overmind captured a Terran named Sarah Kerrigan and infested her, turning her into a weapon to be used against the Protoss. I'm going to stop here but basically the Overmind manages to sack the Protoss homeworld of Aiur, an impressive feat. It was eventually defeated though by the combined forces of the Terran and Protoss but that's another story.

My problem is this: The Overmind in the first game was a powerful menace. The Overmind rebelled against it's creators and was driven by a need to consume the Protoss and all races of interest. The Overmind was established as a magnificent bastard who was quite a match for the Protoss. Now, that's a good villain! Starcraft 2 ruins the Overmind because the Overmind, as it turns out, wasn't in control of itself. What? In the prophecy missions of SC2, it's revealed that an entity called "The Dark Voice" (ooh scary...) was manipulating the Overmind after all. The Overmind as it turns out was programmed to consume the Protoss and couldn't do anything about it and actually knew "The Dark Voice's" plan and resented it. Really? The Overmind seemed so in-control in the mission briefings of the first game and was even fucking giddy when it was about to invade Aiur.

Okay, so the Xel'naga were just going to use both the Zerg and the Protoss for their own ends and the two races were ultimately destined to combine. But remember, the Overmind killed the Xel'naga. So the Overmind was motivated by some hidden directive programmed by the "Dark Voice"? That totally ruins the Overmind as a villain. So everything the Overmind had done, all the cunning plans was all according to some guy's bigger plan and not a natural impulse to evolve? This sucks. The Overmind had no free will which is why it managed to REBEL by IT'S OWN WILL and kill the Xel'naga? It makes no sense.

It also begs the question, "What the hell is this "Dark Voice?" Since the "Dark Voice" was controlling the Overmind, it's at least safe to say the "Dark Voice" is not one of the Xel'naga as it wouldn't make sense how a creature he controls completely would attack him. This totally sucks how they would introduce this villain all of a sudden. Who's ass did they pull him out of? Not even a hint of foreshadowing. What if he's a Xel'naga gone bad? Then what advantage would the "Dark Voice" possibly gain by annihilating his own kind? Wasn't their purpose to be reborn? I guess we'll have to wait till the expansion pack and pay even more fucking money to find out.

To summarize, the Overmind went from a badass, all-consuming galactic terror to a poor misunderstood plaything to some cliche ancient cosmic horror villain who's identity and motivations are yet to be adequately explained. Even Tassadar, the Protoss hero who sacrificed himself to kill the Overmind, praised the Overmind for it's courage. Seriously, Tassadar praised the creature that raped his beloved homeworld for it's courage.

This blows. Check in next time where I'll whine some more about stuff I don't like in SC2.