StarCraft 2 Mod Turns The Game Into Shooter

Blizzard recently spotlighted an arcade mod for StarCraft 2 called Marines of the Dominion: Psionic Warfare. One of the reasons this bad boy has been making the rounds in news lately is because it's freaking awesome. This mod turns StarCraft 2 from a real-time strategy game into a third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter just like Gears of War.

The original trailer for the mod can be viewed below from Crainy Creation's YouTube channel.

The mod is closer to a total conversion than a standard facelift or mode change in Blizzard's popular StarCraft RTS series. The Marines of the Dominion features a four-player cooperative, arena style combat system where players will face off against wave after wave of the Zerg.

Blizzard spotlighted the mod recently over on their arcade workshop, where they described the basic gameplay premise that involves players working together to shoot down the Zerg. The game features slightly revamped assets so that the game looks a lot more engaging completely zoomed in. Players will be able to select from five different character classes who can shoot, teleport, utilize a mech that unleashes devastating fire power and dispense psionic powers against foes. Each character class has a main weapon and a secondary weapon, along with some psionic power.

You can see a demonstration of the gameplay mechanics with a walkthrough video below, showcasing some of the classes and gameplay modes.

Part of the appeal of the mod is that it just doesn't feel like a real-time strategy game at all, but it definitely captures the intensity and themes of StarCraft 2.

If you aren't entirely paying attention, you might even mistaken the game for being Warhammer: Space Marines, the third-person shooter based around the exploits of a group of Space Marines fighting against Orcs and the Chaos. The visual themes are quite similar, but there's a darker, more brooding atmosphere that permeates throughout the StarCraft universe.

In the Marines of the Dominion: Psionic Warfare players will have a total of four game modes to experience, four different arenas, playable Vikings who can be upgraded to Archangels, voice acting and improved graphics fidelity.

Over on the Star Craft 2 Mapster forums, creator of the mod, Crainy, warns that the game does not play well on older or weaker PCs. You will need a decent rig to run this game at acceptable frame-rates. A few of the posters over on the Arcade Workshop complained about the frame-rates, but given that thi is a mod with unofficial support, the best way to fix the problem is to have a beefier gaming rig.

You can download the two different versions of the mod right now from over on the StarCraft 2 Arcade Workshop.