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Author: scharfschutze

Type: PC Game

Released: 1998

Designer: Blizzard Entertainment

Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment

Genre: Real-time strategy

Few games can boast such a large and loyal following as StarCraft. Blizzard's follow-up to their smash hit WarCraft II, this sci-fi real-time strategy game enthralled RTS gamers the world over with a stunning combination of top-of-the-line graphics (at the time), interface, and gameplay that has proven difficult if near-impossible to beat; even today, many would rate it as one of if not the best real-time strategy games of all time.

StarCraft's storyline is set in a distant sector of the Milky Way Galaxy, several hundred years in the future. The overpopulated Sol System sent out several hundred thousand convicts to "colonize" a nearby star system; on the way, their ships malfunctioned, and they proceeded to barrel through the galaxy at light-speeds for over forty years. StarCraft is set several hundred years after this event, and the new Terran colonies in the Koprulu Sector have grown and (for the most part) thrived, although they are consumed by constant factional in-fighting. In the midst of the Terran Confederacy's attempts to completely unify the Sector under their rule, problems begin to crop up in outlying colonies: stories of strange illnesses, unexplained disappearances, and sightings of bizarre, insectoid creatures skulking around the outskirts of human settlements. While the Confederacy moves to investigate these rumours, a massive alien fleet suddenly appears over one of these outlying colonies, Chau Sara, and proceeds to unleash a massive orbital bombardment - completely scouring the entire planet. Identifying themselves as the Protoss, these aliens withdraw just short of another colony, Mar Sara, leaving the Confederacy to deal with a second alien threat on the colony's surface. These insect-like invaders are called the Zerg, and their motivations are completely unknown. At this point, the player takes control.

StarCraft was (to my knowledge) the first RTS to present its campaigns in chronological sequence. That is, the Terran campaign occurs BEFORE the events in the Zerg campaign, and both campaigns occur BEFORE the events in the Protoss campaign. The campaigns are also graded in terms of difficulty - the Terran campaign is the easiest, the Protoss the hardest, while the Zerg campaign falls somewhere in between. The game's story is rather lavishly told, with well-designed briefings before every mission and at least three rendered cutscenes per campaign to move the story along. Each campaign has a certain angle on the war that has erupted in the Koprulu Sector. The Terran campaign tells the story of the colonists of Mar Sara, desperate to survive the invasion of their world; the Zerg campaign plots the Zerg Swarm's unstoppable crusade towards Aiur, the Protoss homeworld; and the Protoss campaign charts the final desperate resistance of the Protoss forces to the Zerg invasion of their world.

Each race is fully fleshed out, and (unlike most early RTS games), there are NO unit "equivalents". To be more specific, take a look at the three "basic" units, the Terran Marine, the Zerg Zergling, and the Protoss Zealot. The Zergling has far less health than the Zealot and slightly less than the Marine, but it's cheap as hell and you get TWO Zergling for every ONE resource investment. By contrast, the Zealot is insanely tough but just as expensive; the Terran Marine is in the middle, with a reasonable cost, relatively good health, and the ability to engage at range, which the other two cannot. None of these three units share the same stats as the other (like in WarCraft II, where a Troll Axethrower and an Elven Archer are the same unit stat-wise), and all three behave in a different fashion. Every other unit is split along these lines, reflecting the three races' ideologies and physiologies. At higher levels, the Protoss rely more on advanced robotic units; the Terrans rely more and more on high-tech machines like tanks and space fighters; the Zerg simply get bigger and nastier. Each side's "spell-casters" (so to speak) are different as well. Terran "casters" use special EMP-based weaponry and advanced technologies to provide these effects; Zerg "casting units" engage in bizarre (and somewhat disgusting) biological activities to produce effective results; and the Protoss rely on advanced telepathic capabilities combined with advanced technology to wreck havoc amongst their enemies. This also allows the three races to balance themselves out. The Protoss must rely on the individual characteristics of their units in small-scale actions rather than massive, all-out attacks; by comparison, both the Terrans and Zerg will get wiped out by a reasonable player in anything short of a total offensive.

The building tree has been substantially modified. While StarCraft uses the "Blizzard-style" building system of having a construction unit (a "peasant", so to speak), each race has, in effect, its own construction system. Only the Terrans can build anywhere they want; some Terran buildings also have "add-ons" that increase the functionality of said buildings. Several Terran buildings are also mobile - that is, they can take off and fly (slowly) to another location. This ability makes the Terrans great at evading enemy forces because, at a moment's notice, their important buildings can all lift off and leave the area. The Zerg have to build on a biological "soup" called the Creep, that extends outwards from their buildings; the Protoss have to build within an "aura" that extends from Pylons, one of their buildings. As well, Zerg builders are "used up" in the construction of their buildings, while Terran builders have to "go in" to the structures and can thus only build one building at a time. Protoss builders can lay a "warp beacon" down to call in a structure and proceed on to do something else; the building will appear by itself.

StarCraft took a leaf out of Command & Conquer's book and introduced elevation into gameplay. In other words: HEIGHT = GOOD. If a unit is on high ground, enemy fire coming from low level will have a chance (somewhere close to 50%) to miss completely, and thus not do any damage to the unit, and thanks to the fog of war, units on low level can't even SEE units on high ground until they fire. Blizzard also added "doodads" like trees, rocks, and ruined buildings, and gave them an effect on line-of-sight and the fog-of-war. As well, different terrain types actually exert an effect on the movement of your units. Take this, add Battlenet support, a highly useful map editor, and the end result? A massively interactive game environment that, in 1998, was completely unlike anything the RTS sphere had yet seen in such a well-publicized game.

StarCraft's map editor still ranks as one of the easiest to use yet powerful editing tools around. In order to allow even novices to program in advanced behaviour like in-game conversations, mission briefings, and ever-changing mission objectives, the game's designers utilized a "trigger" system, defined by "locations" drawn up on a map. Triggers consist of a "who", a "when" and a "what/where" section. When combined with the unit statistics editor, this system allows skilled users of the editor to create entire campaigns with multiple endings, various mission paths, and even completely new characters and units.