Starcraft

"Starcraft is the perfect gaming experience."

The genre of Real Time Strategy (Known as RTS) has for a while been overshadowed by the Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, and Warcraft series of games. Though these games were notable for their originality, none of them brought the same limelight into the genre as the genius creation that is Starcraft.

Starcraft, released in 1998, has to this day sold more copies than any PC game ever made, to my knowledge which is around 7 million thus far. It has become so widely played that there are Television Channels devoted to it, Tournaments with big prizes created for it, and books and DVD's written and created for it. It has become its own cultural icon. Why exactly has this game received such praise? Quite frankly, there is no game to this day that can match up to what Starcraft has to offer, none. Be it storyline, gameplay, controls, graphics, sound, or replayability, Starcraft has got it all.

The storyline is set in the far future, in our Universe. Human technology has become MUCH more advanced, allowing the travelling to other worlds by space. Going into too much detail would spoil the game, but the game revolves around the Terrans (the human race) activating a strange device and attracting an entire race of vicious aliens known as the Zerg to its location, as well as other planets nearby. The Zerg, hungry for domination and destruction, destroy all in their path; even a powerfully advanced race of beings known as the Protoss are outnumbered by the sheer mass of their armies. Starcraft tells of each race and its battle for survival or domination over the other species, which gives you the opportunity to play out each race's campaign, and each of these campaigns have their own separate storyline which intertwine with the overall plot.

I won't give away any more than this, because in doing so would ruin the plot for you; as each new level the in campaigns progresses the storyline in its own important way. The great thing about the story are the characters; each have their own important role in each species' survival and war effort, and the plots around each character are truly magnificent.

The graphics are what you'd expect from a Real Time Strategy game: top down view, with a zoomed out view of each building and unit. Though small in stature, each building and unit is shockingly detailed with great color and other minute details. The extent at which the designers have built each race's units and buildings is remarkable. Alien buildings pass off as realistic as they possibly can, instead of looking like some cheap creation out of a 50's Sci-Fi movie. The units for each race move smoothly without glitches, and you can actually believe that they're real.

After beating a few levels, in each and every campaign, the player is treated to Cinematics, which are Blizzard's tech teams at their best. These Cinematics easily topple anything big game companies like Square and Nintendo can put into their Cut Scenes, and you'll only have to see some of these to find out why. Humans as well as the Zerg and Protoss look incredibly realistic and buyable, the action sequences look like they could come straight out of Hollywood. When you select a unit, a close up of their face is shown. These close ups look very real, and even talk well. Their voices match the movements of their mouths, something many companies have trouble doing. All in all, the game looks fantastic.

The gameplay of Starcraft is simply stunning. It is built around the "Build up, command armies, and destroy the enemies at all cost" system. You start out with a species' capital building and construction unit in a regular Melee game, but in most campaign levels, you are given a few added buildings to help you learn the aspects of the game. Each building and unit requires material that can be found in each level, either minerals or vespene gas. The gameplay is the deepest part about Starcraft...there are many actions and abilities that each unit for each of the 3 races to learn and use not only to the benefit of your race's defense, but to help your armies' offensive against the enemy. Each race has roughly 25 units to build, and, depending on which race you choose, 15-20 different buildings you can construct.

The best part about the gameplay is that Starcraft is balanced perfectly. Each race has their own strengths and weaknesses which can be exposed for the betterment of each race. For example, the Protoss are extremely powerful at attacking, but their units are very expensive to make. The Zerg aren't very powerful, but they can create many units in a smaller amount of time, allowing you to try and outnumber your foes. The Terrans have great defensive units, as well as powerful air and nuclear capabilities. Each unit plays its own role in working against a certain race, and it is this balance that makes the game very interesting.

There are many different types of scenarios you can play in Starcraft. For instance, there is a melee type, where you and your allies (if any) build up and attack the enemy on a map of your choice. There is also a team melee type, which allows you and a friend to control all three races at once, if you choose. There are roughly 8 different game types to choose from, but most are exploited on the game's online Battle.net.

In conclusion, nothing can beat Starcraft's perfect gameplay.

The music of Starcraft is great. All three races have their own songs which are combined and looped, almost like a playlist, during each skirmish you participate in. The Terrans' is fairly fast paced and exciting, the Zerg have a dark and moody theme which adds to the atmosphere and mysterious presence they have in the game, and the Protoss have a more spirited, patriotic theme song. Each song (or songs, since more than one is played at random) have an important role in adding an atmosphere to the action in this game. The music is just plain great.

The character voices are equally impressive as the score of the game. The voices don't come off overacted or cheesy as in some games (notably the Resident Evil Series), and they do a good job of showing emotion in a character. Whether it be the Terran, the Protoss, or the Zerg, each voice has its own specific sound and dialect, and each unit of each race reacts and talks to the player as he/she controls them. Simple stunning voiceovers.

If you thought it couldn't get any better: here's the kicker. The replayability in this game is, without a doubt, higher than ANY game ever created. There's no rival to Starcraft in this category. Starcraft sports online playability for free, allowing users to simply create a User Name and Password and log on to any of their gateways, US West, US East, Europe, and Asia. Players can challenge the thousands of players that log onto Battle.net every day, playing all different types of games. The most intriguing part of the Battle.net service is the UMS (Use Map Settings) games that users can create themselves, exploiting the game's Map Editor to make their own campaigns, games, etc. Its a very interesting feature added in to the game. I myself have spent over 500 hours over the past several years on Battle.net, and it never gets old to me. Chances are, it will never get old to you either.

Overall, there is absolutely no reason to skip out on Starcraft. To this day I cannot find any flaws, and any flaws that do exist are fixed in monthly updates by Blizzard in the Online play. The game doesn't take a powerful Gaming PC, and it is VERY cheap. As an added bonus, you can buy it with Brood War as the Starcraft Battle Chest for not even 30 dollars at any store. If you see this game, you mustn't hesitate to buy it.

It's a shame that its not possible to give a game more than 10 out of 10...

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/04