Starcraft: Brood War

"One of the best strategy games ever made"

I bought the Battle Chest a few months ago and I'd have to say it's one of the best investments I've made in along time(with Red Alert, my PC, My N64, My TV & Zelda:A Link to the Past). I play it on battle.net just about everyday. For my Review, let's start with graphics.

-----9/10 Graphics------
The graphics are great for a RTS game. The player designs are really good. I really like the seeing the unit animations on the side screen. The FMV's are great. I haven't seen better(great blood shots!). I think this has even better graphics than Diablo & Diablo II(my opinion of course even though I liked them both). Although I wish there were light FX though.

------9/10 Sound/Music-------
Although the music isn't anything special, the sfx are really good. Sometimes I wonder how this game got only a T rating with all the curse words(and also the excessive amount of blood, and the use of tobbaco even though that there's nuthin' wrong with all that),ESRB must of been really dumb in '97. The phrases that the units make when finished are really cool.

------10/10 Gameplay-------
Hotkeys really help the gameplay alot and the double clicking of a unit getting all the units of that type on the screen under your control really help(one of red alert's bad points). I also like making squads or groups using the control button & the number keys. Although being able to control only 12 units at a time it sort of adds more fun making squads. All in All the gameplay is prime.

------10/10 Story-------
Although I'm not going us any spoilers here I'm going to say that story is really good and Brood War Expansion adds alot more to the story. The 3 different races are really diverse and the FMV's add alot to the story. If there is a Starcraft Sequel, I would like to see another race just to add more excitement but for now it's great.

-------8.5/10 Replay Value-------
The value is real high because of battle.net. There's only a few problems with it. First of all is that I think the races are a little unbalanced. I think that terran is a little a little worse than protoss and zerg because of base defense and air unit defense. Another problem is hackers on battle.net. They really get to me sometimes. I really hate people who are sore losers and start cursing you at the end of a game. Another problem is players who want to ally at the end of games. It really bothers me. Unless it's an unfair game(ex. It's 2v2 and someone's ally get's dropped or leaves then i'll ally at the end just to be fair), never ally. I don't care about records that much. People judge each other too much by win/loss records. I hate when people boot each other just because of each other's records. If people want xperts to play in their games, they should say it in thier game names.

Good's & Bads
+Good Graphics
+Great Story and FMV's to back them up
+Great Sound
+It's only rated T even with all the ''STUFF'' in it
+Great Sound
+Great Gameplay
-No light FX
-music could of been better
-Hackers plaque battle.net
-Lots of Sore Losers on Battle.net
-People judge each too much by their win/loss record

------9/10 Overall-------
A great game if you can overlook it's weaknesses. I suggest you tell your friend's about Starcraft so you can play with some people you know personally on battle.net. Well worth the price.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/25/00, Updated 10/25/00