Released: March 1, 1998
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platform: PC and Mac
Type: RTS
Graphics: Narly
Game Play: Narly
Originality: Meh
How many hours I’ve wasted: Meh
The Nostalgia Factor: Meh
The original Starcraft with the Starcraft: Brood War expansion pack was one of the few games I owned for my brand new (at the time) Apple iMac 333.
As RTS games go, Starcraft was a mature RTS product and a great game.
The game featured three playable factions (Human, Zerg and Protoss) each hosting a suite of fully unique units.
Each factions forces and support buildings differed vastly in their capabilities requiring the player to shift tactics and strategies to achieve victory depending on who you chose to play as.
Story mode was available across all three factions making it for a versatile adventure from three very different perspectives... and due to the well developed nature and execution of the plot, it was, and remains very re-playable.
This was also one of the first games I'd encountered that hosted multiplayer capability, and my friend and I would spend many hours at his house playing Starcraft over his LAN.
Unit mobbing is still an issue in this game, but troop control was significantly improved as compared with most other RTS games, and indeed, mobbing was used as a central tactic for the overall Zerg swarming strategy.
This made for some pretty intense battles against the Zerg. One level in story mode was essentially a replay of the historical Battle of Rourke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu war. The Human defenders were required to defend a position with minimal support and materials while fending off increasingly large swarm assaults from the Zerg. This level was particularly interesting as it was intended that regardless of how well you fought (and unlike Rourke's Drift) you were supposed to lose.
I don't like to lose.
One of my strengths in RTS games is my rather tight static defenses. In this particular level, while I still lost because it was a unavoidable part of the story arc, I was technically victorious, as despite the final massive wave attack, my defenses held and completely annihilated the enemy. I'm still a little ticked that my characters started screaming that they were being overrun, when very clearly, the Zerg had been vanquished.
My favourite unit: The Siege Tank (which I think is one of the most innovative units I've seen in any game over the years) part tank, part heavy artillery which fits very well with my strategy of heavy static defenses and overwhelming offensive firepower. As people that have played with me over the years will know, I don't like to just win, I like to obliterate the opposition. I think "Bomber" Harris and I would have gotten on well.
The only real fault I have with this game is it's reliance on the most powerful units being generally the main key to victory. One merely had to sit back, build a good defense, wait out opponent attacks while building a large group of heavy units (like the human Battle-cruiser), and then simply unleash them on the enemy. It was certainly fun, but not particularly challenging.
The original Starcraft while looking a little dated now, is still an excellent RTS while it's sequel, Starcraft II: The Wings of Liberty (released in 2010) while as playable as the original, adds very little innovative content or graphics to the series after a gap of so many years and is ultimately rather disappointing.
As RTS games go, Starcraft was a mature RTS product and a great game.
The game featured three playable factions (Human, Zerg and Protoss) each hosting a suite of fully unique units.
Each factions forces and support buildings differed vastly in their capabilities requiring the player to shift tactics and strategies to achieve victory depending on who you chose to play as.
 |
| A Human base in flames |
This was also one of the first games I'd encountered that hosted multiplayer capability, and my friend and I would spend many hours at his house playing Starcraft over his LAN.
Unit mobbing is still an issue in this game, but troop control was significantly improved as compared with most other RTS games, and indeed, mobbing was used as a central tactic for the overall Zerg swarming strategy.
This made for some pretty intense battles against the Zerg. One level in story mode was essentially a replay of the historical Battle of Rourke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu war. The Human defenders were required to defend a position with minimal support and materials while fending off increasingly large swarm assaults from the Zerg. This level was particularly interesting as it was intended that regardless of how well you fought (and unlike Rourke's Drift) you were supposed to lose.
I don't like to lose.
One of my strengths in RTS games is my rather tight static defenses. In this particular level, while I still lost because it was a unavoidable part of the story arc, I was technically victorious, as despite the final massive wave attack, my defenses held and completely annihilated the enemy. I'm still a little ticked that my characters started screaming that they were being overrun, when very clearly, the Zerg had been vanquished.
My favourite unit: The Siege Tank (which I think is one of the most innovative units I've seen in any game over the years) part tank, part heavy artillery which fits very well with my strategy of heavy static defenses and overwhelming offensive firepower. As people that have played with me over the years will know, I don't like to just win, I like to obliterate the opposition. I think "Bomber" Harris and I would have gotten on well.
The only real fault I have with this game is it's reliance on the most powerful units being generally the main key to victory. One merely had to sit back, build a good defense, wait out opponent attacks while building a large group of heavy units (like the human Battle-cruiser), and then simply unleash them on the enemy. It was certainly fun, but not particularly challenging.
The original Starcraft while looking a little dated now, is still an excellent RTS while it's sequel, Starcraft II: The Wings of Liberty (released in 2010) while as playable as the original, adds very little innovative content or graphics to the series after a gap of so many years and is ultimately rather disappointing.
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