Where do I begin when reviewing a game like this. Starcraft began as a successor to Blizzard's immensely popular Warcraft series. However, the original production of Starcraft looked clumsy and uninspired and was often jeered at as "Warcraft in Space". Taking its fan's cries into consideration, Blizzard delayed the game and completely rewrote the game engine for Starcraft. From its frankly, ugly, beginning, Starcraft exceeded any expectation that Blizzard fans could have had of the game, delivering one of the smoothest, most well-rounded games to be produced in the history of the RTS genre.
One of the most important parts of an RTS game is the balance between races. While Warcraft consisted of races with largely similar units and just a few specialists to differ between the races, Starcraft went into territory where very few games ventured, with each race having completely different units right down to the mining units. Through sheer ingenuity, Blizzard managed to create three separate races with completely different units, but none of the three races has a distinct advantage over the other two. The balance is overwhelming, down to the minutest detail. For instance, the insect-like zerg produce all their units and buildings from larvae, which are generated by central hatcheries. This allows them to create units faster, but they must also sacrifice units to create their buildings. On the other hand, the human race, the Terran, create their construction units separately from their attacking units, and do not have to sacrifice the unit in the construction of the building. Finally, the Protoss with their psychic abilities warp in units, meaning no unit has to be dedicated to the construction of a building, but their units are far more expensive. This is part of the magic in Starcraft; that no one unit, strategy, collection of units, defense, or anything you wish to create in the game is "perfect". In a very complex rock, paper, scissors relationship, any strategy, base design, or unit can be countered efficiently. This incredible relationship that Blizzard created is one of the reason that Starcraft is so addictive; players can spend literally an infinite amount of time perfecting their strategies.
Control of units in the game is also surprisingly intuitive. The controls are designed for a keyboard/mouse tandem, but new players will find that they can perform all the basic functions with only the mouse, if at a slower rate. Units are selected by the left mouse click, and a movement or attack command can be issued with the right click. Starcraft also includes more sophisticated commands, such as attack-move, patrolling an area, and movement queues, all of which can be accessed with the mouse on the bottom control panel, or more efficiently through keyboard shortcuts. Speaking of which, the bottom control panel is extremely useful and intuitive, showing the status of as many as 12 units at once, having a collection of buttons for specific unit abilities, and minimap. The limit of being able to select only 12 units at a time is one of the major gripes some have about Starcraft, however, it is arguably a benefit towards the game, as it rewards more experienced players who can manage large masses of units more efficiently than novice players.
The graphics in the game are outstandingly sharp and aesthetically pleasing. Units and buildings stand out clearly from the terrain, and it is easy to distinguish flying units from ground units. The artistic involvement in the game is excellent, with a wide variety of terrain types, from charred ashlands to space installations. Also, each of the races has a distinct style which carries over throughout their unit and building hierarchy. The cutscenes in the single player campaign are enjoyable and were suitable for the standards of quality in 1998, when the game was launched. The largest concern about graphics is that Starcraft runs only at a native 640x480 resolution, and no windowed mode is available without a third party "hack".
Voice acting in Starcraft lives up to, and even exceeds Blizzard standards. The heroes in the single player campaign all deliver a convincing and memorable performance, while the units in general each seem to have their own attitude. Clicking on units repeatedly incurs them to say comical lines, a traditional Blizzard easter egg.
The single player storyline is decidedly linear, taking you through the story as you play the three races in succession. Thankfully, the first few missions are easy enough for anyone to beat. The difficulty increases at a manageable rate, but some will find the final few missions as quite a challenge. The storyline is rich and deep, and to my delight, supplemented by an excellent game manual, which gives the background stories to each race. The campaign is overall a little on the short side, but not lacking in variety, as missions range from the typical base building and destroying the enemy, to managing a limited group of soldiers through an installation. What sets the Starcraft campaign apart from other games is that each mission is significant to the storyline; it doesn't feel like you are limited to 12 units just because the game designer wanted variety. All missions are dictated by the storyline and related to you in mission briefings. By the climactic cinematic at the end of the game, you'll be screaming at units on your screen, "No, don't do it!!!!"
Multiplayer games are facilitated by Blizzard's free battle.net services. The never-ending appeal of Starcraft is apparent through the multiplayer aspect, as tens of thousands of online players can be find around the world at any time. The variety of online modes is also staggering, from ladder matches, to so called user created "money maps", to user created "map settings" maps, which through triggers and heavy modification, can turn Starcraft into almost a completely different game. Blizzard shows constant vigilance in updating the game for imbalances and new improvements. The patch installation mechanism is seamless, and Blizzard has patched the game to version 1.12b now, with the latest patch coming out this year....7 full years after the games initial release!!!
Well, you've heard me rant about this game for long enough. Is it perfect? Reservedly, I say no, but it is probably the closest to perfect that an RTS game will ever come. The few faults in the game do little to detract from the overall masterpiece that Blizzard crafted.
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