Customer Reviews

StarCraft: Frontline Volume 1 (Starcraft (Tokyopop)) (v. 1)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I didn't know that this book was a manga at first. Originally I thought it was another Star Craft novel. If you are really into Star Craft you will enjoy this, but if you are looking for a good long reading book I would recommend looking up the other Star Craft novels. This manga is a little short. The book consist of several short stories set in the Star Craft universe.

First, a story: I had no idea that StarCraft, one of the stapes of Real Time Strategy gaming, would be adopted into a manga. I found my copy (by complete chance!) in my local bookstore one day. I am a huge fan of StarCraft, so much so that I can tell you the cost, HP, strengths and weaknesses, and even a few quotes of the many units of the original game. I tell you this as a warning about my review, I will try to be as unbiased as possible but keep in mind that you will be reading the text of a StarCraft geek. "Nuclear launch detected."

StarCraft: Frontline is a collection of four stories set after the events of StarCraft: Brood War and just before the events of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty(?). Here are my scores, brief summaries, and reasons for scoring as I did for each story:

Why We Fight: 5/5- The tales of three warriors, one from each of the races of StarCraft (Terrans(humans), Protoss, and Zerg), are told. From thier training as soldiers to thier first engagements with the enemy. If you want to know what the game and mythology of StarCraft is like without actually playing it, this story explains it perfectly. If you are already familiar with the game then this gives you a glimpse at what the brutal warfare of the Universe is like for individual units you command. Art style is also very well done, the manga style works surprisingly well when it comes to portraying classic units such as the Marine, Dropship, Zealot, and Hydralisk and newer units like the Immortal and the redesigned Ultralisk.

Thundergod: 3/5- The Pilot of the Dominions most recent and powerful ground vechicle teams up with two other mechanicaly based units for a treasure hunt, bringing thier advanced weaponry with them. As I have said before about Richard A. Knaaks' storys set in Blizzard Entertainments (Now Activision Blizzards) games is that they may be well written, but they do not feel like they are truely taking place within the mythology. The same applies for this story. It tries to teach a lesson that felt out of place in a game about conquest and conflict. The art is pretty good and the detail on the main unit, the Thor, is nice.

Weapon of War: 5/5- A senator and his son become traped on a mining colony after their world becomes the latest target for the horrific Zerg. This tale has a very different art style then the other stories, which I mean as a complemet, and a great story that gives you an idea of what life for some people is like beyond the galactic battlefeilds (much like the Novelization of StarCraft: Ghost did in my opinion, except to a lesser extent here).

Heavey Armor Pt.1: 4/5- A pilot must confront a rogue soilder who was once his mentor. Art and story are pretty good for this one, although the whole "master v. apprentice" thing has been done before (and will be done agian, it is a staple of life both real and fictional). I liked the fact that the younger pilots apperence seems to be based on the unit image of the Goliath unit from the first StarCraft (Bald guy with aviator oxygen mask and goggles). As you can guess, the story is a two parter and is the finally is the first to be told in the second volume of the series.

Overall score: 5/5-I felt that this was a very faithful interpritation of StarCraft. Most of the stories are told from the human perspective, but you could say that the Terrans are easier to relate to then the mysterious, communial Protoss or the chittering Zerg for a story. Perhaps the other races will recieve more stories of thier own in future volumes. Speaking of which, this was a wrothy and enjoyable first book in a new manga series. En taro Adun!

The cover is awesomely shiny. The book itself is 4 different manga stories that will be continued in the next Starcraft Frontline manga. It has some good art, but not a huge amount of story/plot in such a short selection.

This are a series of very short comic book (black and white) stories, explaining life around the starcraft universe and creating a link between starcraft and the (hopefully) soon-to-be-released starcraft II