Now it is time to review Island Hop. This campaign was made by RoughRider in 2023.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Nhl5OBkQpp0wDMnAd8oVqqGpaRqPDi3t?usp=sharing
Mission 1 - “Surf’s Up”: I enjoyed the character interaction in the briefing. As the campaign name indicates, islands will probably be there in all missions. It is an interesting theme for a campaign, and the combination with the tech limitations of the first mission, as it is common in campaigns, is what makes this map original. I haven’t lost a Dropship, so not being able to build them wasn’t an issue. I used Defensive Matrix to unload in the enemy base, although there weren’t many Photon Cannons in the islands. Tom Kazansky with Defensive Matrix can clear Photon Cannons as well. I attacked the Protoss expansion first, after having controlled the free mineral expansion in the bottom. Five full Dropships was enough for each Protoss base. I think I lost 8 infantry units attacking the expansion, so I trained more to replace them and attacked the main island. Protoss attacks weren’t critical as I had Bunkers in every base, but during the first attack with Zealots I didn’t have one, so Kazansky and SCVs defended the main base. Wasn’t really necessary but I expanded in the central island, the Protoss left some minerals there.
Mission 2 - “Tropic Storm”: I tried this one twice. My mistake during the first attempt was the low rate of mineral income. It took me a while to gather a force strong enough to match the Protoss enemy. While I was training units I used Defensive Matrix on purple units to boost their attack a little bit. When I was prepared with six full Dropships I cleared the bottom left base. There weren’t any minerals on that island anymore. I was about to clear the orange Protoss base on the right when I lost, because Kazansky got killed by a Scout while trying to destroy a Stargate by himself. I should have taken caution, as he was severely damaged already and that Stargate was building a Scout (I saw it).
When I restarted I mined faster (used more SCVs to mine minerals) and attacked earlier. I also built more in the secondary island rather than in the main, as it had more space (before, I had little space in my main). I expanded in the left Protoss base and then eliminated the Protoss. Once the Protoss were eliminated I attacked the purple bases, the one at the corner being the last one. It was interesting and very intriguing to see the change of alliance status of the purple Terran during my attack to the Protoss. Flinch seemed friendly. I was trying to relate the supposed betrayal with something said earlier about the people’s distrust of the Dominion. But of course things start to clear out when Fiagros shows up at the end.
Mission 3 - “Sink or Swim”: The mission briefing was funny. But as far as the story goes I’m trying to catch what Fiagros’ intentions may be. I know Fiagros from Forsaken, which means I have some characterization from the start. In my opinion Forsaken has a story that is easier to follow up, so it would be better for the player to have that one completed before Island Hop. Anyway, I’m still half way through the campaign. The concept for this mission was very interesting. I had to accostume a bit at the beginning, because I was required to pay attention to enemy air traffic while protecting the Shuttles and occasionally my base. At first I thought that five Shuttles was enough, when I actually needed to escort a group five times. Only one Shuttle from the first group survived, that’s what happened. From one group to another I learned the strategy and completed the mission, using exclusively Wraiths.
I played this mission again to complete the objective of destroying the enemy base. For that purpose I built Battlecruisers, and kept the Shuttles close to that base so it was easier to protect them with Wraiths and the Magellan. During both of my playthroughs of this mission Kazansky’s anti-air was very valuable.
Mission 4 - “Aquamarine”: I was able to see my units being healed, which was handy before each section. Since there’s a hidden counter, I have two suggestions. One would be adding a hint saying something like “bring your units after each section” at the beginning. Or the other option could be using gas canisters as powerups, which would allow Montag to use his flamethrower (in my early years I thought Firebats cost gas because they burn Vespene). With powerups you can control when the player will be able to heal units. Besides, it’s a big map, which I explored completely. For example, the player could be rewarded for exploring the area before entering the floor lift.
Although I completed the first section, I wasn’t quite sure at the moment how the bomb was supposed to be used. There isn’t a Beacon to place the bomb, I was just moving my units around. After a little while the bomb was placed (I thought that maybe it was a Wait trigger?). Upon checking in the editor I saw there wasn’t a door placed in Location 10. But that was actually intentional, as it served to the story design. Clever.
I couldn’t save the Ghost in the third section. The fourth section is connected to the third one through a small passage, so I completed them simultaneously.
I moved very carefully all the time because it was not possible to save game. That’s something I enjoyed, and never seen in an Installation map.
Mission 5 - “High Tide”: I completed this map building mostly Siege Tanks. I’d have liked to claim the central island with minerals as early as possible, but it seemed too strong. So I attacked the island at the bottom, with free resources. I was running out of resources, so that island was important. After expanding the rest wasn’t much trouble. Like in Mission 2 I wasn’t careful enough and lost Kazansky. As far as the story goes, it’s very interesting to see the interaction between the different factions.
Mission 6 - “Shipwreck Cove”: Spider Mines in this map made quite a difference in the difficulty. I should have cleaned more with Kazansky. I expanded counterclockwise, the gas-only expansion being the third one; however, I should have cleaned the mini islands in the middle, because I lost Dropships that were intercepted, thus wasting a lot of money. I built a lot of Siege Tanks in this map too. The enemy had a lot of Tanks as well, so I couldn’t conquer the island above the enemy’s main base. I prepared a new attack, this time directly to the main base but my units were gradually reducing while I was trying to establish a base there. So I reloaded (good thing I saved right before the last attack) and went directly to the Glorioso’s location and completed the mission. I liked the jungle island maps, it’s a good tileset for such types of missions. This last one particularly reminded me of Mission 5 of Flags in the Dust, which included sound effects that made the map resemble an Age of Empires mission even more.
I liked the ending of the story. Flinch’s death is sad, but I also think he kinda looked for it. Overall this is definitely a very good campaign.
8 out of 10.