Starcraft

"Perhaps the greatest real-time strategy game ever made"

Starcraft is a sci-fi real-time strategy game that takes place in our universe but many years in the future. The game has both single and multi-player modes. It also includes a map editor where fans can create their own maps for multi-player or even single player campaigns. Released in 1998, it came out late in typical Blizzard fashion. The game turned out to be one of the most played real-time strategy games in history. The game is still popular online to this day.

A different kind of world
The game starts out with a good cinematic to put the player into the game. The game has the feel of an old sci-fi movie doing a good job of making the player feel like they are in an alien place. The game takes place in the far reaches of space. Outcasts and criminals from Earth are sent out to space but somehow end up surviving after their ships crash land on a few planets. Over time they relearn how to build space travel ships again. Humans on different planets start to fight each other and scouts start finding signs of hostile aliens nearby. Thus begins the struggle of different races for power.

Overall, the story is pretty good. It starts out somewhat overused but by the end feels like it's very original. When the story starts to get boring a new twist happens and the player is left questioning what's going to happen again. The story is helped by the various characters in the game. Each one fleshed out over several missions.

Story: 9

Fast-paced and compelling
The single player portion of the game is made up of three campaigns, one for each race. Over the course of the game, the player is introduced to each of the races. Whether it be the mechanical Terrans, the insect-like Zerg, or the psychic Protoss, each of the races is very fun to play. They all have a different playing style. The Terrans, or humans, are based on multipurpose units. Each one can be used for multiple things. The Zerg completely different then the rest in that they are completely organic. Every unit is a living insect including the buildings. The Protoss are the most technically advanced race. In addition to special psychic abilities, they also have personal shields. The races are very different from each other in play style, which keeps the game from getting boring quickly.

Each level the player is treated to a mission briefing voiced by the main characters. The general level objectives are listed and explained. Then the player is sent into the level as the commander. During the course of a level, the characters may speak to each other as events happen. New objectives may be added to the existing ones. The player is free to choose how to complete the mission in most cases.

There is a short tutorial mission and then the actual game starts with the humans. The game is fast-paced and encourages efficiency. Many times there are time limits or limited resources to stress these principles. By the end of the game, the player will have mastered these two skills. Each level more requirements are put on the player's shoulders and they are forced to adapt by retrying the mission.

The races have about 10 units that reflect the style of that race. Only a few of the units are actually used in every level. Most of the units are best for support and only a few need to be trained. Certain levels are made to introduce new units and have perfect situations for their use. For instance, the Terrans with their multipurpose units have the Marine which is cheap to produce but pretty strong in groups against land and air targets. The Zerg, on the other hand, have Zerglings, small dog-like insect, that in groups excels at taking down slow moving, large units.

One of the few problems in the game is with the controls. You can only select twelve units at a time. The same goes for creating preset groups. Each group can only have twelve units and you can only have ten groups total making the total number of quick access units 120. The problem is that there are a few times when the player will have more than 120 units in their army and you just don't have enough space for all of them. You end up having to manually select units often in this situation. This is not a huge problem though because this situation can only occur in a few of the single player missions and even less in multiplayer games.

The second gameplay mode is multiplayer The two most common options for multiplayer are LAN and Battle.net. LAN allows friends to play together on the same network. The real meat of multi-player, though, is in Blizzard's free online service, Battle.net. Once logged on, the player starts out in a chatroom where they can find people to play with. Battle.net is not just a chatroom though. It is a place for finding and creating games of Starcraft. The player can look through a list of games to find one with the desired options or create their own. Before the game starts all the joined players are in a private chatroom with each other.

Another problem in Starcraft is latency. Online play is very fun if you can find a game with little lag. Most games will have lag. Frequently, players will be kicked out of games because they lost connection as the game started. The game handles disconnections by letting the current players choose who is kicked, but this can turn into a problem. It takes over a minute before the game allows people to be kicked. This just ends up slowing the game down for the players who are connected.

There were a few balance issues at launch but since then Blizzard has released many patches tweaking the game. The game is very balanced now and new patches are still released every so often to fix various bugs and exploits. This has not stopped everything, however. There are still hackers and abusers online. Blizzard can only do so much with patches.

Gameplay: 9.5

2D animation at its best
Graphics are one of Starcraft's strong points. While not quite as realistic as Age of Empire's, they are definitely just as good. All the units are animated fluidly. The sprites are very detailed. Each race's console has its own theme. The unit portraits are all animated which was quite an improvement over the still images of previous strategy games. In similar Blizzard style, the cinematics are simply wonderful. They really help to put you in the universe. You get treated to close-ups of some of the units in the game, which helps to show how they really look in person. The maps all look good as well. There are a number of different tilesets used throughout the course of the campaign. Each map has a number of doodads to add some personality to the level. Two levels may have the same tileset but look completely different because of the doodads.

Graphics: 10

As humorous as always
The sound is also good. While some of the sound effects are not original, most of them are. Some of the sound effects you'll hear in movies and commercials as they were just cheap, generic sound effects. The original sound effects are great though. Every unit has its own set of sound effects. Units can be clicked on multiple times and different sound clips are played. Many of them say comical things if you are persistent. The voice acting is also good. All of the main characters have a professional voice actor helping the story come to life. What they say is believable because it sounds like they really care about what's happening. The music was a little different though. The music puts you in the mood but you won't catch yourself humming any of the songs after playing the game. The music fits with the race but just isn't that interesting to listen to. Also, there are only a few tracks for each race, which means you'll hear a lot of looping in the longer levels.

Sound: 9

Combining the best elements of every RTS before it
Starcraft doesn't innovate a whole but does everything well. It just takes the best elements of every RTS before it and combines them into one complete package. Everything in the game is high-quality. It feels like care was taken to make sure everything worked well. Nothing feels two rushed.

This doesn't mean that Starcraft is not original though. Starcraft introduces three unique races. Units of one race are not just parallels of the units in the other race. The units are all unique and all fit the style of the race. Players can master one race but be very mediocre with the others. This helps to extend the replay value of the game especially in multiplayer. Mastering all three races is a big feat to accomplish.

Value: 9

Near perfect
Starcraft has some of the best graphics and gameplay of any RTS in its time. There are few problems in this masterpiece. The controls can seem somewhat limited when there are large unit counts but that's a rare occurrence. The music isn't all that interesting and there aren't a lot of tracks but it fits the different areas well. With Battle.net, it also has the best multiplayer component for strategy games. Starcraft is such a great game it's hard to call it anything but legendary. Combining all the great things of previous real-time strategy games and adding a number of improvements it's possibly greatest real-time strategy game ever made.

Story: 9
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 10
Sound: 9
Value: 9
Total Score: 9.2

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/12/06