StarCraft Expansion Pack: Brood War

by Blizzard Entertainment

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001IVR9
• Item Weight: 4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: July 1, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,287 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Fans who mastered the original StarCraft's three races and survived its well-crafted story were quickly clamoring for more. A worthy sequel, Brood War delivers further plot twists and bigger battles.

In keeping with StarCraft's groundbreaking design, this expansion pack--which requires the original game--presents you with three sides of a galactic conflict. Scheming Humans, insidious Zerg, and proud Protoss collide again, with stunning new cinematics setting the stage. Old friends and foes and ominous new arrivals give the story a breakneck pace, while a handful of additions to each race's arsenal makes for tense battles.

Some missions require a bit of finesse, breaking the resource-gathering routine while making good use of the new units. Humans now have Valkyrie missile frigates, as well as Medics that automatically try to heal your grunts. New for the Zerg air force is the acid-spewing Devourer; the new Lurker unit provides heavy-duty (under)ground support. Along with the Corsair fighter, the Protoss re-enter the fray with Dark Templar, which can merge to form the devastating Dark Archon. Unfortunately, units old and new still suffer from some weak pathfinding.

Brood War also features stellar new environments and ambient art, as well as more than 100 additional multiplayer maps. Real-time strategy games don't get any more epic or any more satisfying. --Jack Gardiner

Pros:

• New units open up more strategic possibilities
• More of StarCraft's great storytelling
• Missions are challenging and varied

Cons:

• Unit pathfinding is still a little clumsy and requires careful micromanagement

Product Description

StarCraft: Brood War continues the award winning saga of galactic warfare as the Zerg, Protoss and Terrans struggle for their continued survival. With the shattered Zerg hive torn apart by fierce in-fighting, the Protoss seek to reunite with their Dark Templar brethren and begin the rebuilding of their homeworld, Aiur. The battle for galactic domination rages on with new units, new campaigns, and more explosive strategic combat.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best expansion pack to date., December 28, 1999

By 

Ted Wallace (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: StarCraft Expansion Pack: Brood War (CD-ROM)

How often have you gotten an "expansion pack" only to be rewarded with lackluster efforts from a development team that has simply moved on from the title? Brood War delivers almost an entirely new game for less than the original cost. As expansion packs go, this one is about as close to perfect as I've seen.

In addition to ~30 new missions (with each of the three familiar races from StarCraft), you get more multiplayer maps and new units to explore and enjoy (roughly 2 per race). In addition to new units, many existing units have had their abilities enchanced or changed.

Like StarCraft, you can jump into multiplayer on Battle.net and play with up to 8 humans/players. You can only use Brood War against other players who have Brood War (sorry! no mixing versions) -- so make sure your friends pick up a copy as well.

If you liked StarCraft, there's simply no excuse not to own this.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best RTS Game ever, March 13, 2001

By 

Marc (Ottawa, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: StarCraft Expansion Pack: Brood War (CD-ROM)

With its low requirements and amazingly quick pace Starcraft (and Bw) are IMO the best computer games ever. With Starcraft, you have three races of equal abilities and power but are completely different.

Bw adds to the mix with 6 new units, (Valkyries, Medics [Terran], Devourer's and Lurker's [Zerg], as well as Dark Archon's and Corsair's [Protoss]). On top of that, the Protoss can now access Dark Templar's (though their stats aren't really worth the price and tech) and both Zerg and Terran have new upgrades. BW also includes three new tilesets and three new critters (YAY!)

The races are still even, regardless of what you may have read in some other reviews. Also, all the new units are useful, IMO, except the Dark Archon and Templar (but I'm not a very avid Toss player). Medics make fields of marines and firebats that much more of an annoyance, whereas lurkers will cut infantry down in seconds. Corsairs are quick to fire and good against smaller groups (and their disruption web is awesome when playing a terran tanker), whereas the Valkyrie is amazing for, say tons of Mutas. And the devourers spores help slow down the enemy fire.

With the new upgrades Guardians become less a threat than they previously were to Terrans, and Ultralisk's are muuuch more useful.

The only thing that wasn't improved was the campaign. The story was close to the last, and you could tell who the traitor was and who would die etc. The cutscenes aren't even that great either. And by the end you're left with so few characters, that you find yourself not caring anymore, and wanting Kerrigan to destroy all of them. But the never tiring multiplayer saves the game. And even though there weren't too many new good 8player maps, we still have hunters!

Other than that though, awesome game, and I sure can't wait until Blizzard releases news about Starcraft 2! (If they do:D)

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, November 10, 1999

By 

Theodore Stavrianos ([e-mail]) (Rhodes, Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: StarCraft Expansion Pack: Brood War (CD-ROM)

I bought this game as soon as it arrive in my country and I have never stopped playing it since. It equilized the power of the three races and made the game more addictive than ever. It is a must for all that have only played the original starcraft but it is also recommended to those that don't know what starcraft is, to buy blizzards battle chest, with both the original and expansion starcraft plus a strategy guide. GET IT.