Customer Reviews

StarCraft

5 star:		(219)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This game is awsome. It's an RTS (Real Time Strategy), meaning that you gather resources, build a base, and raise an ever more powerfull army to destroy your opponent. It's a fast-paced, action-filled, stategic and fun game. The premise is that a group of humans have been stranded in some far corner of the galaxy already inhabited by the mighty Protoss, with the Zerg, classic science fiction hive-bugs, about to attack both. The story is superb, told in three chronological chapters depicting the war from the view of each race. It's full of twists and turns, and the missions scale up in difficulty very nicely.

The best part about Starcraft are the three races. Blizzard has achieved a perfect balnce between them but managed to also keep them utterly different. The Terrans are humans, with tanks, heavy machine guns, nukes and lumbering battlecruisers. The Zerg are a rampaging scourge of giant insects who can be produced quikly and in vast numbers to overwhelm opponents. The Protoss (my personal favorites) are mysterious psychics who use ultra-high tecnology as well as their awsome psionic abilities. Every unit is unique with strengths and weaknesses. For instance, take the first soldier available for each race. The Terran Marine can attack from a distance and stronger than the Zerg's counterpart, the Zergling, but the Zergling is faster and can be produced much faster than the Marine. The Protoss' Zealot is strong, fast, and packs a massive melee punch, but costs twice as much as a Marine and four times that of a Zealot. Every unit has a role throghout the game. Marines constitute a large part of my forces in a game from start to finish. Each race requires individual stratagies that take years (if ever!) to master. This is what makes Starcraft such a tremendous game, and while it will outlast 99% of other games.

The sound is excellent, and the dialogue varies between intreging (sp) and hilarious. The graphics, when they first were released, were the best I had ever seen. I've played this game for yearm and only now are they starting to look outdated, but they're four years old. Besides, if you have time to look at an RTS' graphics, then you're not playing the game! They function and arn't a distraction, which is all that matters in a stratagy game, IMHO.

The coup de gras is the entire interface, which has been plolished to perfection. The curser looks like something space-age, and the moving portraits of units and wire-frame images displaying area damage and hitpoints are just flat-out cool. So is the options menu, with an animated space battle for the single player icon... To select a campaighn you click on a moving avatar of the species in question, which displayes vital statistics of that said species... Little things like this are awsome. I could go on forever.

Multiplayer rules, and has been going strong for years now with no sighns of stopping. Unfortunatly, most of the people are playing maps with limitless resourses and where single-unit attacks actually work, but that's not the game's fault. If you can find a game where people arn't doing either of these, it's a blast. The campaighn editor is also very good, once you learn to use the triggers, which can take time. The cinematics are superb, some seeming as if they belong in a movie like Aliens and not a computer game. If you buy Starcraft, get it's expansion set, Brood War, aswell. It adds alot.

This game's woth it's weight in gold-plated latinum.

StarCraft is a true Blizzard game. From a company known to produce an excellent product, they didn't let the consumer down despite delaying the product repeatedly.

StarCraft has three separate races that you can play -- each with its own flavor (and set of 10 missions in the campaign) that makes the game a different experience and forces you to adopt different strategies based upon what you're playing and what your playing against. The single-player game has a great storyline that feels important and enjoyable all at once. Campaign missions aren't just for training you in how to use units anymore.

When you've completed the campaign, hop online with Battle.net and let the carnage begin! StarCraft lets you play with up to 8 human/computer players via the Internet. Cooperative play with humans is an adventure if you give the computer AI the benefit of numbers (i.e. 5 on 3).

This is a well-balanced real time strategy title with a great story and enough replayability that it remains installed on my computer nearly a year later.

After the success of Warcraft II, blizzard chose to take it's next Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game into the realm of science fiction. Like all good science fiction the plot around which the different campaigns take place allow you to emerse yourself in the Starcraft Universe. The characters and events add imensely to the pleasure of playing the three campaigns. Also, each of the three races (Terran, Zerg, and Protoss) have very different units and tactics. Not just different graphics with essentially the same unit types but completly different limitations and strengths. For example, the Zerg are all biological and will come at you in hordes while the technologically superior Protoss will attack with fewer (albeit stronger) units. So, what is a winning strategy for one species will lead to utter failure with another. So, you will have to adapt your strategies to each species (both attacking with and defending against). Once you have mastered each of the three species against the computer's adroit AI, you have the next level of challenge, playing against other humans using Blizzard's battle.net servers. Beware however, playing against the computer will never completely prepare you for an war with an adaptable and intelligent player, so you will have to re-learn your tactics once more to survive in this and exicting realm of on-line gaming.

Starcraft is one of the best combat / strategy games ever ;0). The basic game play is pretty easy to pick up and if you play the single player missions in order you'll quickly learn the strengths and weaknesses of each troop type. Then the fun really begins when you battle against real opponents across the Internet. After you have played the single player missions you'll have your favorite race (Terran, Protos or Zerg). You'll come up with your own tactics on how to deal with your opponents There is a huge on-line community out there defending the `Honor' of each respective race. Buy the game and come play. This game came out back in 1998 and it is still being played now. Few games can say they have that lasting appeal. Starcraft is great on it's own but Starcraft really needs to be played with the expansion Starcraft:Brood war; it adds more depth to both the game and tactics with new missions and new units. If you don't own Starcraft instead of buying starcraft by itself buy the Starcraft: battle chest and get Starcraft, Starcaft: Broodwar and strategy guides for both games. The battle chest is well worth the extra.

I've been a semi-serious computer gamer for over ten years now. I was addicted to the original Simcity, then, a few years later, Duke Nukem 3D, and then WarCraft II, which showed me just how much fun a computer game can be. I've played dozens of others (Half-Life, Civ II, Alpha Centauri, Heroes of M & M II and III, Diablo, and on and on), but none of them are quite as refined as StarCraft. I am convinced that it is the best computer game of all time, but I admit that I've taken a special liking to strategy games. StarCraft can be fairly difficult--if you don't hurry and get ready before the enemy arrives you will get your butt kicked good--but it's not so difficult that you can't win. (The same thing cannot be said for all the campaigns in the excellent add-on, Brood War.)

In a nutshell, StarCraft has a tremendous interface (beginners can just sit right down and start playing), a much better than average storyline, rich characterization, beautiful graphics, an intelligent AI, and loads of the loving detail that Blizzard is becoming well known for. If WarCraft III can top this, I might quit my job, give up sleep, and give my life fully over to the Blizzard co.

If you have ever played a strategic game such as Command and Conquer, and you liked that at all then check out Starcraft. It is by far the greatest game on the market to date. Not only does it have a great Single Player setup that allows you to play all 3 different races(Zerg, Protoss, and Terran) in over 10 scenarios each, but its multiplayer is twice as fun. Logging on Battle.net to play adds a great new way to play, with an average of 50,000 users online during the afternoon and weekends you can always find someone to play with and if you dont feel like playing just that second it is a great place to chat with people. And as soon as you beat this game (unless u play 12 hours a day or cheat it will take you over a week for sure to beat). Then you can go out and buy Broodwar the expansion pack with more units and even more single player campaigns. And one more thing Starcraft offers is a map builder that allows you to create your own worlds to play in. If you dont have it already then go get it... you wont regret it.

Blizzard have always been a respectable computer game company, with good titles such as Diablo 1 and 2, Warcraft, and others, but Starcraft somehow manages to put all other computer games in the background as surely the greatest and most enjoyable Strategy game of all time.

It is very hard to explain what makes Starcraft such a good game, it just is. I think the easiest feature to notice is the incredibly balance in the game. All the sides are perfectly balanced, yet extremely different. While newbies may feel that one of the races is unfairly strong, or that another is far to weak, when used right, all can be equally devastating.

In Starcraft there are three sides, Terran (futuristic Humans who have been separated from Earth), Zerg (genetically stimulated super creatures) and Protoss (technologically advanced Psychics). Blizzard have done an outstanding job in creating a host of incredible units, with a mass of technologies and special abilities. Starcraft actually uses a very similar control style to Age of Empires 1 and 2, but despite them both being good games, it puts them both, and any of the Command and Conquer series to shame.

The construction sequence and technological research tree is perfect, with many interesting twists in game play if certain abilities are used together. The units are all entirely different, and even the way units are produced works in a different way for the Zerg Army. TO top it all off, Starcraft has the most extensive background story line and historical detail I’ve ever seen in a Strategy Game. The Manual comes with over ten pages of background info, and the three ten mission campaigns take hours to complete and continue along a compelling story arc. Finally, the game comes with an incredibly powerful campaign editor, even better than those of the two Age of Empires games, and any one of the missions in the actual campaigns can be made in the editor using triggers and events. You can even make your own fully animated briefings.

Starcraft is an absolute must for any Strategy Game fan, even if your thinking about purchasing some of the newer strategy games, such as Earth 2150, Red Alert 2 or Emperor Battle for Dune, get Starcraft first. As it’s an old game, you can get it from amazon...(I’m not being paid to do this) and the expansion pack (which I also strongly recommend)...

Enjoy

I have had this game ever since it came out in 1998, for the first few months, my entire family was addicted (my DAD, who never played games, was the best of the family ;-)) After that, I got new games, and it settled some dust on the shelves.
A few months ago I decided to put it back on the computer, and give it another try, and gues what, it was just as great as when I first got it, if not better, for now I had dsl so I could play it online!
I've read threw many of the 1 star reviews here, and a few comments:

-About no strategy: If you play online you live or die on strategy, sure, if you only join noob games there is little strategy, but play with some better players and you will see you have many things to learn.
-Bad graphics: It came out in 1998! And it is pretty good for 2d graphics, they have never bothered me in the least.
-Boring story: This is one of the most expancive, most detailed storylines in a game ever (and I'm a big RPG fan so I can know) With many emotional moments that will bring tears to your eyes at times, sometimes of happynes, sometimes of grief (OMG the last cinamitic made such a large lump in my throat)

Now for the good sides:

-Very diverse races, I had specialised in one race, and when I tried another one I had no clue how to build and was brutally slaughtered in a noob game (while with the other race I could almost play in expert games)
-Best singleplayer story ever, it is so detailed, so emotional, to understand everything you also must read the 6 page history PER RACE in the instruction book, it tells how they came into being, their history, and how they ended up where the game starts, it adds such depth to everything, you understand everything so much better then.
-GREAT custom maps, such as the battle of Helms Deep, my personel favorite (LOVE to be flamethrower Gimli ;-))
-Good tactics needed, whether you like it on small or large scale, if you want huge massive battles go for a round of Fastest, where in no time you can have huge armies battling eachother, in which you need to develope tactics for that kind of battles. Or, if you like small scale, very tactical play where the player with the best tactics wins, go for a round of Lost Temple, or Hunters, so for everyone, the kind of map that fits your playing style!
-HUGE online community, there are tens of thousands of people playing thousands of games almost all the time, with clans you can join and clan wars organised. There are always games you can join, of all sorts of game types, even in the early hours of the morning ;-)
-Best game for the very low price, don't know what it goes for now adays but I'm sure it's pretty cheap, so do yourself a favour and buy this game ;-)

As a closing note, don't waist any more time and get this game! ;-)

Starcraft has wonderful graphics and is always interesting. Although the primary missions are frustrating to inexpierienced strategy players, custom scenarios etc. can build up your skill. I have never seen a game with a better custom scenario and multiplyer system. For all those age of empires fans out there who hate the "population" limit, BEWARE! Starcraft has one as well. The expansion is also a great addition to this game. If you like a game where you can stop and think like in turn based games- watch out again. If you like fast paced action that actually includes a bit of strategy- this is the right game for you. The beauty of this game compared to Blizzard's earlier titles (Warcraft I & II) is that each team has different weaknesses than the next, so, for instance, the zerg can build billions of units in a few minutes, while the protoss are still dawdling along with a few nearly invincible units. Starcraft comes with the ULTIMATE map editor- so that you can create your own campaign custom scenarios etc. Although the triggers take more than a little getting used to, once you've mastered them, your missions can be as good as the campaigns that come with the game (especially if you download the graphics editor) Hope I was of assistance.

... titles in real-time strategy games.
Starcraft didn't really set a new standard when it was release for graphics, engine and gameplay. However, as people played it they realized how perfect this rts title really was. Easy to learn, difficult to master. It retains its flavor and fun even after all these years and so many other titles that came out after it.
A great sci-fi rts game that should be in the collection of any fan of the genre. Don't miss out and make sure you also pick up the expansion back: Brood War.