Recently rented an older FPS game, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, the incarnation of Gabe Logan and his adventures on PS2. Style wise its like crossing Max Payne, Hitman, and Splinter Cell. Although putting these four in the same range doesn't exactly sound right, but they are also shooters in some respects. The weaponry varies enough especially with rating unlock bonuses for improved weapons over the starter set or later pickups. The missions are called episodes, which have stages or parts that follow Logan's path though there are occasional switch overs to his partner Lian Xing, another attractive femme fatale. The story was interesting and the locations varied widely. The before and after mission videos add to the storyline providing a kind of blur of before/during/after moments of each mission. The game is linear especially with the shoot outs, which is a change over from the stealth, combat if necessary Splinter Cell, which I played enough of in the past two years. The first game took the longest given the awkward camera angles and what not on the PS2 version. Fortunately the angles improved from one game to the next and the stories largely felt like variations of a kind. Double Agent while not quite up to many people's expectations. I was satisified with despite the frustrations that came with the decisions and of the course the red mercury bombs, allow or not, disarming was a pain in the butt. At least until I found out that you could see which wire to cut using the electro-magnetic goggles, and the later ones had even less time than any of the others. It was the equivalent of being an actual one man bomb squad and dealing with opposing objectives along the way. In the end, you were royally wrecked, thought you couldn't fall any further, definitely wrong there, Sarah's death is another death for Fisher's eroding will.

Williams remains my leading suspect for why what's left of Third Echelon falling apart and turning the same government you selflessly fought for against you. Double Agent missions are dangerous nonetheless, but Williams knew too much about what was going on even for a so-called bureaucrat.

Anyway I found Dark Mirror enjoyable and easy enough to finish aside from those weird EMP grenade vulnerable suits at the end.

The title is instantly recognizable phrase to anyone who has walked/played the path of C&C RTS games. Particularly if you were around for the Red Alert era and the recurrent Tiberian era. I speak more directly of the Tiberian era, which came to my attention through a boxed set of the entire C&C series up to the release of Yuri's Revenge and Renegade. I had initially fought my way through the Red Alert mainly as the Allies and the Soviets then as either trying to stop Yuri. As for the Tiberian era, I came at the start of the Second Tiberium War, the rise and fallof Michael McNeil and Anton Slavik. The actors portraying them in the FMV sequences were physically similar but eventually it became clear they were not the same men. The female character for NOD was familiar from another series except on television as a sorceress. At any rate as either side progresses, there are setbacks of any varierty. In either ending, Kane is still the enigma, but canonically its deemed the GDI endings are the more accurate following the 'good' guy slant common to RTS games unless the developers choose otherwise. The Second War reveals just how insane Kane really is and that he is not actually human either, at least not now. The War comes to an end with a truce that lasts a brief span of time before NOD strikes out again starting the Third War.

After saving NYC, LA, and Nashville, in the so-called good storyline ending to Double Agent, Sam Fisher because of decisions is still made a fugitive at large because Fisher snaps like a twig when one of Williams' handpicked SCs shoots Enrica. The first woman that actually meant something to Sam since his wife and someone he thought he could protect because she was a civilian scientist who by association with Dufraisne is put on the hit list. Williams told Sam/Me that nobody walks away from this one alive, not Dufraisne, Moss, Sykes, Washington, and especially not Villablanca. Sam insists her death is unnecessary, but Williams, typical deceptive bureaucrat, pushes the point. I took out Sykes after eliminating my advocatre Jamie Washington, I helped him escape prison, a die hard loyalist to the end, and he was said to have a brutal streak if you crossed him. It bothered me to kill him, but Sykes wasn't difficult, I didn't know him, he was readily laid blame for my entrance into their group on Jamie.

Moss and his goons were next on the list after disarming the first of three bombs on NYC rooftops.

The trick with them was they had night vision googles so I had to once again hide the bodies and myself in lit spaces. After floors of light hopping and goon sticking, I made my way to Moss and the second bomb. I think back to my last in-game conversation with Enrica, the last peace she or I would ever have together. The relationship isn't overly visual in the PS2 version of Double Agent yet the e-mails, notes, and the brief pairing together on various missions made me actually understand why Sam would feel for her. A beautiful, brilliant, yet vulnerable woman....

I couldn't save her, no more than I could save Sarah, does distance make a difference? The questions burn their way up even in a snow covered rooftop world. Dufraisne's men are all that'sleft between me, him, and the third bomb. They however like the men with Washington and Sykes are just ordinary gunmen with torches. Never underestimate your enemies or overvalue your allies, a hard lesson this time around. Before I was just a disavowed, unacknowledged operative for a covert agency protecting the world from itself, was I the watch man or just a man that followed orders? Questions aplenty without much of an answer, but someone, somewhere within Echelon framed me for things I didn't do, someone altered my records. The man at the top of my list is Williams, he wanted to pull the plug after Fisher and Lambert went after the missing Red Mercury and Dufraisne.

He called us untrustworthy for endangering lives on the subway robbery, he marked us for Cozumel even though I corrupted the bomb's trigger sequence, he made it personal with the tanker, with the bombs at JBA HQ, with Lambert's capture and near exposure as a government infiltrator posing as a weapons dealer. I stopped the proving ground test, I saved as many as I could with the train shipment, I averted a potential disaster on the tanker, I disarmed the bombs before they went into play, covered Lambert's cover, and stopped the last fatal swing at NYC. I put my life on the line knowing that nobody would ever know and the only ones that did used to be my colleagues, maybe even friends, but now I was a traitor, I was owned for the entire operation and for killing another SC who was ordered to eliminate Enrica. I have become a Shadow Rage, Williams had much to answer for, but so did I though not nearly the same as he, a political manipulator he has become to me.

What happens next just have to wait for Conviction to find out...

Splinter Cell takes a far more sinister twist as Sam Fisher must cope with Sarah's death and a mission into the heart of darkness. The first mission introduces you to the dynamics of old and new features mixed together. You have a partner initially who like some of your future partners possess a twitchy trigger finger. If you don't make the first move, they probably will take the initiative. The first mission puts you on the trail of an arms dealer making a sale of weapons and a dangerous new substance called Red Mercury to an unknown terrorist organization led by a man named Emile Dufraisne, an American. You finish the mission only to get an immediate extract call from Lambert, Fisher gets a bit aggravated until Lambert reveals why other SCs were sent in to finish the job.

Sarah was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver, Sam goes off the deep end unable to save his only daughter because he was an Echleon mission halfway around the world in Iceland. After months out of action, Fisher and Lambert go eyes open into infiltration ofDufraisne's organizationafter Fisher assists Jamie Washington escape Ellsworth Prison. Fisher walks a perilous line between operative and terrorist as a double agent. He must show loyalty to both sides, but inevitably the choices will be costly for more than just him. The tapping of the JBA HQ in New Orleans is just the beginning and the next phase is hijacking a gold shipment being transported through an isolated network of NYC subways. I sneaked, KO'd, and ultimately got aboard the train. I disconnected the cars to shore up the damage.

The only cars that made to the end of the line were the ones with the gold. The tanker mission was a tightrope for me as a NSA loyalist and the same went for the Congo. The meeting exposes their devastating plan to detonate bombs in Los Angeles, Nashville, and New York City at the same time. After this, its back to JBA HQ despite saving Hirsham, I was still hanging barely Dufraisne good graces. I covered the Echleon objectives only to get Dufraisne on my case though I got back to him in time. After that I had to quickly for my NSA loyalties disable the LA and Nashville Bombs then make a stealth dash back to Dufraisne a second time. A 'masked' intruder was seen on camera at the Nashville bomb location, but the rest of the way back, I was not seen so I restored Dufraisne's faith in me for a moment.

Everyone paradrops over NYC, three bombs are going into play and so I'll to disarm those 3 to save New York City. Dufraisne however learns that I'm a government infiltrator after I make my drop from the back of the plane. He drops after me upon hearing this news. My last words before the drop were don't thank me yet... so this is where I am, going eventually to stop this last fatal swing. Fisher is probably finished as a Splinter Cell, but at least the people of New York City will survive this attack.

World War Three barely averted again thanks to Sam Fisher. Shetland left one hell of a mess to clean up after. Morgenholt, Lacerda, Zherkezhi, Displace HQ, Milan Nedich/Milos Nowak, himself, and finally Otomo. A chain reaction that did not count on one thing being able to stop it, Splinter Cell.. Sam Fisher. The game begins somewhere along coastal Peru on SAR-info op for Morgenholt, Lacerda, and Masse Kernels. Morgenholt is tortured to death, Lacerda escapes, the data is recovered and eliminated, but Lacerda's departure presents an information breach. Maria Narcissa is his floating grave and his weapons shipments prove he is a pawn in much larger scheme. Zherkezhi is under the protection of Displace, possibly a renegade in Shetland's band, one Milan Nedich aka Milos Nowak. Nowak enters the hit list for the game in relatively short order, but Zherkezhi meets a bloody end at the end of blade slit across his throat by Shetland.

A man that Fisher saved in East Timor (PT 2006), a military veteran turned corporate security turned into a vigilante. His manueverings were with the intent of sparking another war that end the 'futile' attempt to maintain the status quo as he called it during his last talk with Fisher at the end of the Bathhouse mission in Tokyo. Lacerda's goons killed Morgenholt after kidnapping him at Shetland's behest. His field man, Nedich/Nowak is a Bosnian war criminal, and his other computer geek, Zherkezhi is a dead man from the start. Shetland literally killed the man in Hokkaido. The algorithms were used to cause mass power blackouts in America and Japan.

They were also used to launch missiles that sunk the Walsh and the oens that attempted to sink the Reagan. They were also used as a preemptive gesture to ignite World War Three between the Koreas and America. The attack on the Reagan was successfully aborted with little time to spare, but fortunately those sailors were spared the fate of Partridge and his command. I was horrified to see the devastation possible by the Dvorak program. As the mystery began to unravel, it became disturbingly apparent that the real source was a lot closer to home than I initially imagined after believing that nearly everyone that Fisher was associated with was trustworthy. Shetland's actions were shocking to say the least, but I felt no satisfaction, nothing human when I stabbed him rather than shoot him.

Old friends are blunt, eyes front when the moment comes, and so Fisher stabs Shetland while saying I couldn't shoot an old friend. I guess I tried to give Shetland a dignified death of sorts despite his misguided actions. Utter destruction, senseless war never solved or changed anything, the world has got to want to change, abandon the old ways, someone pushing buttons cannot force this change of mind, of heart. Shetland's death is not the end and now the final mission is to Otomo's underwater facility in Tokyo Bay. Its a KO if necessary mission until you are way down inside the base, and even then I choose to try to avoid killing anyone or being taken prisoner after learning that my capture would make the remainder much harder. After KO'ing everyone from the get-go if I had to do so, I worked my way to the inner levels disabling the escalator and its lights luring the first of three guards up to investigate the 'power outage'. I stick shocked him, and took his body back upstairs while the other two continue circling like vultures.

In a rather haphazard way, I sneak past them, but get spotted going around the corner yet its dark enough to cause them to go it was probably nothing though stay alert. I KO one of them and the other comes running so I hit as he leans down to attempt to smack sense into his buddy. They both remain down so I hide their bodies in the nearby bathroom before heading down to the servers. This is where it got messy until I found a good method by repeatedly zapping those pesky quickster cameras. I zapped it three times and hacked the date then got a safe distance behind the first row of servers and zapped it three more times hoping it was enough to sneak out without tripping any alarms. It worked after being a fast man on the hacking, which i had gotten better at since earlier in the game. The slipping into the war room was next challenge.

A repeated zapping of similar fast cameras got me around the weird hallways to the vent overlooking the war room.

Some general and Otomo were planning a nuclear strike against Japan courtesy of hijacked warheads from the Koreas. A repeat of the entry method for exit gets me back to the elevator, which gets shorted out halfway down. Three guards and a slew of wall mines are at the bottom. I pulled all, but one guard into the water in the shaft. The third I zapped, and lightly made my way past the wall mines into the laser lit tunnel and shutting them thus shutting off this unseen turret. I got into the final area and dropped into a subfloor. I hacked the I-SDF data and then planted the charges on the servers. It exploded nicely though three more commandos pop up. I used a non-lethal to take out the closest then gassed the second, which hid me from the third after stabbing number two. The third I shot from behind in the subfloor after tricking him over to side where I was moments ago.

Otomo attempts ritual suicide, which you must avert so that he stands trial for war crimes. The escape from here is by far the most unusual, but more interesting then the one from any other SC game so far for me. An underwater escape is not a first for me, but its unexpected and cool somehow to watch Sam swim up with Otomo over his shoulder. The world is saved again thanks to Third Echelon and its roving shadow Sam Fisher.

Months ago, I bought the first of Splinter Cell series and to my own frustration or rather lack of stealth based game experience found it troublesome. In the last 3 months however I began to adapt to the nuances, the tricky concept of stealth, silencing or evading enemies, and ultimately completing the mission with minimal or no detection at all. The first game is a literal crash course in the world of splinter cell yet the training level only teaches you the very basics of things you'll have to do in the field. In some cases you will have to go a lot further to accomplish objectives in the field while avoiding detection. The ultimate objective is preventing an act far worse than mere electronic shutdown. Georgia, former Soviet satellite is making a mess of things largely due to the activities of its current and later former president Nikoladze who has initated what's to be called the Information Crisis, which Fisher has to discontinue, prevent additional attempts, and stave off international conflicts. Nikoladze despite losing his political position remains an active threat especially when China is implicated in helping him.

Fisher prevents a US-Chinese War by proving that Feirong was acting alone in his support of Nikoladze while also destroying the nuke platforms before they can get to him. Fisher has to double back to get Feirong later and the aforementioned nukes after saving the American soldiers and the Chinese delegates from a painful death at the hands of Grinko, the mercenary that killed Blaustein and Madison in the opening movie. His death scares the heck of the Georgians, but hardly deters Niko. Ultimately you have to go after him inside the Presidential Palace only to be nearly caught by palace security, some of whom are still loyal to the ex-president. The guards left to kill you after he exits the vault are easily taken out if you hand this situation correctly. Finally for all the trouble he has been, you kill him courtesy of Fifth Freedom.... thus ending the threat posed by him. A 'gas leak' evac saves the people at zero site in Maryland, and Fisher goes back to his daughter on their boat at sea where you were picked up to begin with last month.

The first extract guy, Wilkes, is killed in the line of duty and replaced by Coen, a lovely Asian woman. She remains with you until some after the events of Pandora Tomorrow. PT proves to be a different challenge as that things as always are not as they seem and allies in reality are enemies playing both sides against the middle. Shetland's saving grace is that he covers the situation as an op by his company Displace Intl while its actually you doing most of the job on the inside. Norman Soth aka M. Penguin is a double agent who is later responsible for nearly unleashing ND133 on the entire population of L.A. from the LAX terminals. Sadono's goons cover him though bypassing is not difficult if you know who to go after. Sadono's capture earlier proves that the fanatic is not the end of chain, just another link. Soth's death leaves you with a ticking ND133 bomb, which Fisher cleverly takes back to the ground level while wearing a maintenance guys' uniform and drops in plain sight before slipping away. Airport security calls in the LAPD bomb squad to contain the explosion as Fisher slips away in Coen's SUV.

Coen becomes a TE field op some time later giving you a new extract guy, William Redding. A bit of Rupert Giles type, but very well up to speed and informative. You get support from Lambert, Grim, Redding, and for awhile Captain Arthur Partridge. Partridge however dies in the destruction of the Walsh. Shetland's playing both sides against the middle, some surprise, annoying what the hell was he thinking? I haven't finished yet so who knows... I am at the Bathhouse...

Starcraft II is shaping up to be a sign of things to come, a call to arms for those of who played the original and its expansion. A bid for time it was for those who still play the game to a degree even to this day. The Protoss are back after staving two near annihilations the last time around. The Terrans somehow came through alive as well. The Zerg are another story still likely lead by Kerrigan for the time being. However there is still the mystery of Duran, the Hybrid, and who exactly Duran was/is working for in bringing the Hybrid into the fold. Questions will be answered, more will likely follow, but one thing we can be certain of is the SCU is about to change forever when we come back to the Koprulu Sector.

New and old faces will be there waiting for us and the ongoing war for survival. A challenge and a welcomed return for many who have been waiting a decade for this. I had my doubts as any gamer might for another starcraft game following what happened to Ghost, but Blizzard is not in the habit of disappointing for it has given as before games of the highest standards and quality. At least for the ones I have played namely Starcraft, Brood War, Reign of Chaos, and The Frozen Throne. Soon SC II will join those ranks for me and I am eager for the chance as well as thankful to Blizzard for the opportunity and the challenge.

I finished the first of the Splinter Cell games and I may advance to the next if I want and finding copies is usually a trick sometimes. As frustrating as it got, there were good moments and things you just had to laugh at eventually no matter how annoyed you got with the situation. I ran out of SC-20K ammo trying to fight off the remainder of the guards before getting outside. Some would call that foolish, but I went into the library with a near full clip. I clipped them with fewer shots than ever. I used ammo conservation as the lights were going to shut off later anyway. The floppy accent soldier counting down was my way of saying zero whack. His buddies followed me to the corner behind the huge stack of boxes but I got rid of them. The last guard in the library on the way out was a doozy as I spent the last of my shots trying to get him as he came too fast after detecting me.

I set off only one alarm in the entire last mission, darn lasers should have looked, but oh well. I snuck pass the remainder after plugging the guard earlier before the library. Any flashback to now outside so I climb the pipe near the ledge opening. Ammo sitting there waiting for me, so I quickly load in only to find the gun has to reset, which takes less than ten seconds. I set the scope and aim for the back of his head as he stands there. Time is of the essence, hit the trigger, the bullet flies, the body falls, and he is dead. My escape follows as I take out the two guards on the same level as me now followed by the three in the interrior. I avoided the one downstairs in the yard completely.

The last obstacles are gone and I exit the Palace for extraction. I take my leave and silent thanks of saving countless lives without reward. Its not about rewards, its about doing what you must do, pay it forward in a way so it ends with Fisher and his daughter watching the news on the boat. Lambert calls, another mission so soon? The job is never done, but at least they will have this time to themselves. I was highly amused by the interviews in the extras especially Sam's remark about a sequel....

at least I can say is I finished Splinter Cell as a friend of mine couldn't believe how I gave up early on months ago, but I came with a vengenance to finish what I began... I don't leave things undone forever.

I continued along with Splinter Cell following my review of the game. The official review was accurate about it in terms of trial-error methods as the levels kept revealing as I went along. The first level at the Farm had proven challenging after entering the situation where live bodies were involved, but I got through that in fewer tries than the ones to come in the streets of T'Bilisi and its police station. I had not expected to find the MIA agents alive, which is why their corpses in the station's cell block morgue was not surprising for me. The suicide bomber was unexpected by the brief interrogation of him got me towards getting out alive. I knocked him out and hid him in the broom closet along with the silenced cops employed likely by Grinko or Nikoladze.

The seemingly unrelated missions follow an on-going manhunt for the rogue former president who dropped out of sight following the cyber attack prompted by your exposure of the military invasion planned for the neighboring Azerbaijan. The missions varied, but time and again, stealth remains the best weapon. The knockout/kill option comes only when absolutely necessary otherwise game over, death or mission failure, either way, you learn to be the silent operator through and through even if it annoys you (or in my case me). An original storyline for sure and my attraction to game in a way came from years of reading Tom Clancy novels. A bit humor was hearing things in the news cinematics about my exploits or sparring comments about international events. It made great relief when incidents were adverted due to my activies in the shadows especially the aborted exectuions, the adverted U.S.-China War (WWIII?), the death of Grinko, etc.

I took a bit pleasure out of killing Grinko as he killed Blaustein and Madison when nearly exposing his employer Nikoladze's military operations set for his neighbors. The game was rewarding when you could accomplish the objectives with fewest tries necessary, but the repeats could drive you nuts unless you stopped at a save for another day. I found this the better way to advance through the game. The American accented bad guys were odd, I mean you hear these floppy Russian, Georgian, and Chinese accented voices speaking English throughout though that was okay in the sense that if Fisher had to translate for you it would take longer on the dialogue. The newer tools were fun once you got them handled right especially the distraction cameras though the sticky shocks were cool too as they made a quieter stun K.O. if you had to take someone out who was a civilian non-combat or someone too far into the light. The non-lethal rounds were useful too and the sticky cams allow for views blocked by current hiding position. As of now I had gotten through over 90 percent of the game and eventually going onto the final mission to stop that mad Georgian's last foil at causing further chaos. I hardly expect it to be easy after all this especially the two embassy missions and the meat packing plant site.

However duty calls and I am in Splinter Cell, the shadow guise of Sam Fisher.

Not quite a decade ago, I set foot, in the gaming capacity, on the world of Mar Sara. A misdirected resettlement of the planet's population closed and opened different doors. The fight staggered on the surface until the military arrests of Raynor and his men after that there was no turning back. The lesser of two evils or so one would think yet in the land of blind, how could you tell one from the other as everyone kept their own agenda. The enlisting with Mengsk and his organization had lasting repercussions during the advance into the heart of the crumbling Confederacy. Many know this story, but for many in the beginning, we thought we were on the right side until the psi-emitter came into play. Questions simmered in mind about how much Mengsk or the Confederates really knew about the aliens now warring through our scorched home lands. After several battles, the campaign brought the hammer in the form of the psi-emitters and the aliens, the Zerg followed by the Protoss.

The Protoss arrival at Tarsonis caught Mengsk off-guard for the first time in front of the player and Raynor. New Gettysburg was a massacre among massacres, more senseless and pointless deaths. The abandoning of Kerrigan would reap its own consequences when she returns as the first Terran-Zerg hybrid, the Queen of Blades. She was still herself except she was totally loyal to the Zerg, to the Overmind. Raynor's horror was our own when she emerged from the Chrysalis, the very same that the player Cerebrate and his/her brood had been guarding against the remnants of the Confederates, the Dominion, the Protoss, and finally Raynor and his privateers.

She would uncharacteristically show Raynor mercy, allow him an exit as long as he would not involve himself in the ongoing fight against the Zerg. Raynor without much choice left her to the Zerg yet he would not forget what she had meant to him, to others aside from Mengsk and his disposable pawn method. She would later rally the Broods and the Swarm against the remaining Protoss under Tassadar and these Dark Templar led by Zeratul. The separate theologies had not prevented the two from forming an alliance as it was one of necessity out there beyond the false paradise of Aiur. Zeratul saw into the Zerg and they saw into him. He discovered how to beat them and they learnt the location of Aiur.

Tassadar, Zeratul, the player Excecutor, Raynor, and the resurrected in a way Fenix rally their forces against the Zerg and the Conclave's remaining forces in their return to Aiur. Until the bitter end, the Conclave battled the combined forces of all those it thought against the Khala. Tassadar surrendered only to be later freed by his companions and their safety was assured by the return of Zeratul's forces. Aldaris inevitably accepted the necessity of the Dark Templar in order to save Aiur The convinentional assaults subdued the critical broods while Zeratul and his men bisieged their Cerebates and kill them in order to weaken the perimeter around the Overmind's stronghold at the site of the ruined Xel'Naga Temple. Wave after wave only maimed their numbers and decimated the combined forces assaulting the stronghold.

After weakening the Overmind's outer defenses, Tassadar infusing the Templar and Dark Templar energies into the Gantrithor makes a suicide run at the Overmind as the energies come together in one off-the-scale blast that incinerates him, the ship, and the Overmind. The Overmind was dead, the Protoss were hardly feeling victorious as their greatest warrior was gone. His death was a fatal blow, but Zeratul takes up the cause alongside Raynor, Fenix, and the new praetor Artanis. The Protoss survivors/refugees make an exodus from their homeland via Warp Gate as the Broods remain scattered by the Overmind's death, but the Cerebates still prove trying opposition in their attempt to escape the Swarm.

The Protoss refugees join up with Zeratul's people on Shakuras only to find the Renegade Swarm as they are called now are already here. The only way they could know this is if the Overmind learned both of Aiur and Shakuras when the minds of Zeratul and the killed Zasz were one just before Zasz's demise. Kerrigan helps the Protoss against the Renegade Swarm, but as always she has ulterior motives. You share the mistrust the others feel, not even after helping you get the crystals did I trust her. Her treachery was expected and the others would share the burden of guilt for hoping against hope, siding away from actuality. The demise of a bulk of the Renegade Swarm on Shakuras staves off their total annihilation a second time.

The Protoss were now out of the equation temporarily leaving Kerrigan with only the Dominion and the newcomers, the United Earth Directorate. The UED unseats the Dominion turning Emperor Mengsk into Citizen Mengsk who feels aboard the Norad III only to be warped away by Raynor and Fenix. Mengsk and Raynor sudden escape angers UED Admiral DuGalle. DuGalle orders the player Captain and his/her forces to track down the traitors and kill them. Planet fall at Aiur is quite different from Braxis or Dylar or even Korhal. The Zerg are hitting the Protoss encampment hard. I allowed the Zerg to shatter the Protoss perimeter before assault the weakened Protoss and Zerg directly. However Duran's unexpected yet later understood move through the hunt into chaos again.

Duran's bizarre tactics finally convince Stukov, they have an enemy agent in their midst, namely Lieutenant Samir Duran. He seems an agent of the Swarm unlike Kerrigan however, he shows no outward mutation like her. His true identity remains a mystery even after the hidden bonus mission Dark Origin. A different voice speaks through Duran annoncing that the Hybrids would change everything. A hybrid of Protoss and Zerg, the very thing that Overmind had sought to accomplish by invading Aiur. He never got around to fulfilling that part of the plan. Duran's identity is mysterious, the Overmind in human form, a Xel'Naga, or something else entirely.

Kerrigan's ultimate plan unfoils after the UED enjoys the shortest reign in the history of the Koprulu Sector. The UED, the Dominion, and the Protoss simultaneously assault her position. She runs them all into the ground yet allows what's left of the UED to flee only to be later annihilated by the pursuing the Zerg. Mengsk would have to live with the fact that his betrayal of her led to this. Raynor vowed retribution for all the lives including Fenix's that Kerrigan had destroyed. Stukov was killed earlier by Duran and DuGalle shot himself before the Zerg destroyed what was left of his forces. Kerrigan had gained the upper hand but had not won, she could only wonder what else would come now even as she was the master of the Swarm after having Zeratul kill the young Overmind on Char.

In the depths of space something waits for its moment while the triumvirate rebuilds as another fight is upon them.