1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
 The high point of real-time strategy gaming, 2004-04-21
Real-time strategy games from Blizzard have always been the benchmark in the genre, and it was perhaps with Starcraft that the company's name became definitively established. Even after seven years, Starcraft is still for many THE RTS, and for me too. Competitors in the business, most notably the Command and Conquer Red Alert franchise, have their own distinctive qualities, but they never approach the idea of `pure gameplay' that hangs around the titles of Blizzard. And for me, Starcraft has this most of all. I just loved the game from the first minute and have never really tired of it.What is it that makes Starcraft that good? The sublime atmosphere, first of all. The storyline of the missions is so good that it should have been brought out as a book! The story is about three races: the Terran (human), Zerg (insects) and Protoss (developed aliens) who come to conflict in the outer universe. It gives you the idea you aren't just playing for fun: instead you are part of that great science fiction story yourself. The Terrans face internal conflicts and meet their alien neighbours in the meantime; the Zerg fight for total dominance over the Protoss, and in the Protoss campaign you have to resist the Zerg invasions and finally get back to liberty. The missions get more difficult as the story goes on, and probably ten times more challenging than the average Red Alert mission. Yet it never gets to an insane level. At any rate, finishing the campaigns gives a very satisfied feeling. But the three races aren't just a case of the same units with different colours and different names. In fact, the Terran, Zerg and Protoss don't even hint at each other. Even the construction of buildings and the training of units are very different! So, each time you take on a different species, it looks like you enter a completely new game. With so many differences between the sides, it is very difficult to achieve a good balance in the game. But here, the makers have achieved it. The Terrans are probably the easiest for starters: they use solid units that aren't too expensive and are easy to employ in combat. They also have the possession of a nuke. The Zerg are an insect race with a lot of weird bug-like units. These bugs are cheap, but often vulnerable and are best used in mass attacks. Finally, there are the mysterious Protoss, probably the most difficult of the three. This is a high-tech alien race that possesses very advanced, but also rather slow and expensive forces. It takes some patience to know how to resist a Zerg assault on your Protoss base therefore, but it is possible, and generally there isn't one better side. It's up to your tastes what to prefer. Units from all sides have lots of special possibilities but you'd better figure them out yourself. One important thing to remember in this game is: never underestimate the enemy. It's often surprising to see how quickly your army can be beaten by a few nasty tricks from the other side. In the more challenging games, it's important to use very well balanced armies to make a chance against the AI or a human opponent. The graphics are fine: they are of course from 1997 and two-dimensional but I actually don't have the least problem with that. Units, buildings and maps are all beautifully designed with lots of fantastic colours, and the entire picture gives a very credible image of the Starcraft world. The only problem I have is that the resolution is rather restricted: the maximum is 640X480. As a result there's sometimes a lack of overview over the battlefield. But it never becomes really problematic. My only other complaint is that most units are rather large, compared to the map: sometimes this leads to chaotic situations. For example, when you send 15 tanks to a plateau, there's often not enough space and some tanks will start looking for alternative ways (and fall in the hands of the enemy). Anyway, this is a great game and possibly the best RTS ever released. Even with these old graphics! Of course I hope Blizzard will once release Starcraft 2: imagine, huge hordes of 3-D Zergs running over the plains, while gigantic Protoss robots are trying to stop them... But until then, this is all you need!
4 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
Nothing matches Starcraft, including Red Alert 2, 2004-04-15
I got Starcraft 4 years ago. I still play it all the time. No other game has been able to keep me hooked for so long. The single-player campaign is great, and I am not a fan of most single player RTS'. There are 3 races, the Terran, the Protoss and the Zerg. The races all have completely different units, different strategies, different everything. For example, the zerg rely on mass amounts of cheap units, while the Protoss prefer smaller numbers of powerful, shielded units. However much appeal there is in the single-player game, the real fun starts when you log onto Batlle.net. Battle.net is Blizzard's online service, and it has to be the best i have ever seen, including Westwood's. The multi-player is what has kept me hooked. The computer will never be able to match a human in 1 on 1, and the human element supplies much more challenge than your CPU does. There are new challenges every time you play. When you think you've seen it all, there will be another strategy to contend with, more challenges to face. Even though I have used multiple names, and my record is 61/20 (wins/losses) i still never have an easy victory. Pick this game up and love it. You won't regret it. If you really like Starcraft, get the expansion pack, Brood War
3 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
Probably the best game ever, for ten bucks, 2004-04-01
Starcraft and its expansion pack Brood War are probably the best games ever made. It's real time strategy war game at its very best, with tens of units and abilities to combine in countless ways without ever exhausting possibilities. Easy to approach but hard to master - this is the key to great computer games and Starcraft scores A+ in both. Along with a great gameplay comes a great story of an epic battle between three races in a science-fiction world, illustrated in superb cinematics.At 10 dollars, this Best Seller edition of Starcraft is, in my opinion, the best deal you can get for a computer game. It would still be at 100 dollars.
1 of 65 customers found the following review helpful:
 Crap, 2004-02-22
Man, this games blows. I played it for a 10 minutes and that's all I could take. I never would've bought this thing if I had known it was a strategy game. Talk about some really boring crap.
36 of 37 customers found the following review helpful:
Blizzard outdoes itself, 2003-12-09
Starcraft is the ultimate real-time strategy game. In a world of games that lose their appeal within a year of release, Starcraft keeps bringing players back. Blizzard Entertainment is known for its excellent RTS-type games such as the Warcraft series, but the company's high water mark is Starcraft. The set-up is that a long lost space colony of humans finds itself in mortal conflict with two alien races, the Zerg (nasty reptiles) and Protoss (ancient psionic warriors). The game allows you to play all three races in turn, and revolves around the collection of resources to buy more units, buildings and technological improvements as you try to fulfill mission objectives. As we've come to expect from Blizzard, the gameplay itself is superb - intuitive interface, interesting units that complement each other in interesting ways, and graphics that are adequate even if they are showing their age. In my opinion, the balance between the three races is as close to perfection of any game I've played. Each race is utterly distinct and requires completely different strategies to play, but none has an obvious advantage over the others. But where the game really goes over the top is in the storyline. Blizzard is NOT known for great plots. For example, the Warcraft III storyline has some unbelievable plot twists that have to be overlooked to keep playing. In contrast, Starcraft has an absorbing plotline that flows seamlessly throughout the single player campaign and actually made me gasp in astonishment a few times, which has never happened since in an RTS. I assume that any fan of real-time strategy computer games already has this one. If you have any interest at all in RTS, get this game. If you passionately hate RTS, Starcraft is the best bet to change your mind.
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