Blizzard is once again creating a game that will make any other title of the same genre cry and ask its developers - Why did you release me at the same time as they released "that"!? This new game already has a name, StarCraft II, and judging by its looks it even makes hottest models look bad. Blizzard has given us a quite big part in its creation by allowing us to whine or support every step they make, meanwhile they are returning the favor by giving us many answers, screenshots and even some gameplay videos. After the Terran Dominion and their friends from Aiur - the Protoss - time has come for the last race to reveal itself, or unburrow to be more precise...

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Drone	n/a

Zergs are back and they are even more lethal, versatile, devilish, etc. *insert any word which spells bad news for you*. Since they are so scary in StarCraft II, I'll start my review with something fragile and safe enough that you could almost keep it as a pet - Drone.

You can look at those larvae all day long but if you want them to morph into something you better start mining - and that's where these beloved creatures come in - drones are (believe it or not) primarily at your service to provide minerals/gas, besides that they also have a nasty habit of morphing themselves into buildings. Besides the 3D looks these units are pretty much the same, so let's move on to something more... interesting.

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Zergling

Zerglings are yet another old unit with improved looks, but in this case improved abilities, as well. It used to be a living nightmare to see these little devils run into your base and scratch to death anything they see - now this nightmare has a color and it's green.

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Banelings

Say hello to Banelings, don't say a word more, just be lucky these things can't fly as they explode the moment they touch an enemy unit or a building.

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Hydralisk

Zerglings get along with Hydras like Simon with Garfunkel. They bring music to your ears and in most cases it's a mixture of Hydras spitting at something and that something shrieking in pain. What's new here? Due to Hydras being like sharks they really don't need many changes, they are already the perfect killers, capable of taking down both ground and air units (not to mention your precious defensive buildings and such). What makes Hydras interesting is the fact that they can morph into lurkers.

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Lurkers

Now don't get me wrong, Hydras are all scary and lethal, but Lurkers are even worse. Any experienced Terran user knows he has to check under his bed for some Lurkers before falling asleep if he wants to wake up in the morning. Luckily, Blizzard decided to show a trace of mercy here, Lurkers will be visible now, even when burrowed. Their head will be above the ground (something like a submarine only without a periscope), so here's your chance to run that tank of yours over the nasty lurker and ask it "How does that feel!" (notice no question mark in the question as the answer is not expected).

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Overlord

Next unit on the line is Overlord - besides being a farm with wings it also provides you with some sweet scouting early on. Is that all? Far from it, the new Overlord felt his importance to the Overmind isn't expressed properly so Blizzard gave him a few of his own special abilites. Among other things Overlord can create creep now, but if you want your flying snail (his speed is equal to wind's speed, provided the wind is actually a hydra blowing its nose) to detect invisible units then you better upgrade it to an Overseer (each upgrade is for that individual unit, so have no worries of your entire Overlords population turning into detectors). Bad side of having a flying detector is that it no longer has its special abilities.

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Queen

Queen used to be gracious, flying around and using its special abilities when the moment of need arises. In StarCraft II Queens are anything but gracious, these things have traded their wings for some nasty legs - yes, they can walk now and no, don't worry about throwing roses on the soil your Queen steps on, I'm pretty sure she prefers to walk on fresh blood of her own kills...if you watched the latest gameplay videos then you must've noticed "something" chopping enemy units with two large tentacles (or whatever), well for your information - that was a Queen doing its national sport - killing Marines and such.

Don't worry, your troubles are just beginning, it might come as a surprise but Queen has some nasty abilities (someone in Blizzard must really hate the other two races...). Deep Tunnel ability allows your ferocious Queen to move instantly to any of your buildings on the map (good thing to save your neck, not to mention all you WC3 fans getting that nostalgic feeling of a hero teleporting itself back to base). Toxic Creep turns your nasty creep into a nasty damaging creep, anyone foolish enough to step on it has chances of survival equal to a man put in a cage with a tiger and his only weapon being a T-shirt saying "Nice kitty". Last two abilities are Swarm Infestation, which allows any Zerg building to start shooting at enemies, and Regeneration, which is kinda self-explanatory, it makes Zerg buildings regenerate themselves (no more painful upgrading into Lair to quickly regenerate health of your Hatchery).

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Roach	n/a

Roach is a new name on the block. What makes this unit interesting (besides being new) is that its strength lies in numbers - how typical for a Zerg unit, sadly this one utilizes it on a whole new level. Thanks to having high regeneration speed these creatures can absorb alot of damage and if mixed up with a large number of units their value increases as their regeneration can be exploited to the maximum. In order to squash this bug you'll have to focus your fire on it or bring out the big guns and blast it away to another planet.

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Mutalisk

Mutalisks have always been a pain in a**. Believe it or not, these things can fly (I guess that explains the wings) and they do it fast. If you ever had doubts what would be the perfect unit to harass your enemy, snipe his workers, burn down crucial buldings or just feel the wind in your hair - then Mutalisk is your perfect answer. Things aren't looking any better for those who stand against the Overmind, as Mutalisk's attack still has that nasty habit of damaging 3 targets (provided additional targets stand close enough to the first one).

Once Mutalisks become too weak to fight the ground forces Swarm Guardian steps in and unleashes unseen firepower upon any target on the ground. Swarm Guardian doesn't just sit home and guard its perimeters (as the name suggests), instead this thing can be summoned anywhere on the battlefield to cause havoc. Its only weakness is that it is slow, so if you want some support for your ground units then it might be wise to consider the location at which you will morph those Mutalisks into their higher form.

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Nydus Worm	n/a

Nydus Canal was primarily used for defensive purposes, but in StarCraft II this thing has a brand new name and much more freedom when it comes to its use to the Overmind. Nydus Worm is probably close to a feeling superstars get when they land in an airport and thousands of fans rush towards them - only in this case the feeling is most definetly terrifying. What this thing does is that it crawls around the map to find just the spot to make an entrance/exit route for the Zerg units to (ab)use. Transportation has never been cheaper and faster, not to mention being able to connect opposite edges of the battlefield, launching a surprise attack on your enemy's base, etc.

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Infestor

Another unit on the list which cannot attack but still cause a major headache to enemies is Infestor. It can cast Dark Swarm (a nice little cloud which prevents ranged units from damaging any ground units inside the cloud), its second ability is Disease (gives a damaging aura to an enemy unit so that it causes damage to any nearby units) and the last ability is Infestation - it means your little Infestor can temporarily infest any enemy building causing it to produce Infested Marines. Wait, I lied, there is one more ability too frightening to even mention - Infestors have the ability to actually move while burrowed...this gives you a neat opportunity to sneak into enemy's base, but be careful not to hit a tree with your head while sneaking in like that.

As previously mentioned, infested buildings spawn Infested Marines. Sadly they no longer carry nuclear bombs in their backpacks to commit highly efficient suicides - now they just use the good old bullets. Only difference from the regular Marines is that these guys are a bit slower and their outfit follows the Zerg's latest fashion.

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Corruptor

Corruptor is yet another interesting unit added to the Zerg's arsenal. It's an air-to-air unit primarily made to deal with threats coming from the skies above your hatcheries. What makes Corruptors fearsome skylords is the ability to make their targets start shooting at other nearby enemies, meaning the stronger your opponent's airforce is the more damage these trouble-makers can cause.

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Ultralisk

Last (and most likely the biggest) unit on this list is Ultralisk. It used to shred enemy units into pieces and now it shreds enemy units into pieces. Don't put a smile on your face so fast, these beasts aren't that identical to their older version. New Ultralisks have a nasty ability to attack multiple targets with those deadly "tusks", but hey, don't worry, this ain't the only bad news...If you happen to sit on a large pile of dirt you might consider asking yourself are you sitting on a pile of dirt or is that an Ultralisk burrowed under your a**. Yes, miracles do happen and Ultralisks do burrow. How do they do it? Anyone lucky enough to witness such a glorious moment apparently wasn't lucky enough to get home in one piece and tell the tale.

After looking at all the scary things improved and implemented there is only one possible conclusion to draw - if imbalance had a name it would be Zerg.

Related links:

myMYM - Main News with all background information
TeamLiquid - related news
ThisIsGame - related news
myMYM - gallery
myMYM - Question & Answer Batch about Zerg
myMYM - Progamers like Moon and NaDa about Zerg (pics, video, interviews)
myMYM - FPVOD of Savior playing StarCraft II
myMYM - Blizzard presents 2 Zerg units: the Hydralisk and the Mutalisk
Starcraft2.com - Zerg section online
myMYM - High Quality Videos to download *new*