Starcraft Review

This review originally appeared in E59, June 1998.

Two years ago Warcraft II began notching up its quietly astonishing million and a half accrued sales. Diablo and talk of Warcraft Adventures has only infuriated fans who’ve been waiting for the comeback of C&C’s old rival. Finally, after another four months slippage Blizzard has been carefully tweaking the game, though Warcraft II fans are unlikely to be disappointed – less partisan gamers might have expected more.

Paradoxically, Starcraft is both Warcraft II in space and an abandonment of the Warcraft legacy. Marketing men must have relished the prospects of a game boasting its dwarfs, elves and goblins shoehorned into space suits. To its credit, Blizzard has opted instead to create a new mythos. This proves to be its greatest achievement.

Initially, Starcraft is redolent of Warcraft II. The gameplay boils down to the same battles over finite resources, with crystals and ‘Vespene’ gas replacing the wood, oil and gold of Warcraft II. The first of the three single-player campaigns concentrate on infighting among the easily managed human Terrans. It’s only as the story unfolds, with the Zerg and Protoss aliens expanding their bit-part appearances to full blown roles that the game finally assumes its own identity.

The alien races are the focus of Blizzard’s innovation, anyone who has played Total Annihilation will curse Starcraft’s antiquated control mechanisms and its sprites, but the units themselves will delight. No other game’s opposing forces have been much more than mirror images. In contrast, Starcraft offers three unique races.

The Terrans are techno-freaks. They can move their buildings and get reasonably powerful armies quickly up-and-running. The Zerg are parasitic swarmers – weaker creatures who attack in force – while the Protoss are the aristocrats, few in number but heavy-hitting.

In multiplayer gaming, the months taken play-balancing the individual races seems well spent, they feel different. From superficial distinctions in the interface and music to the Protoss’ reliance on psychic energy and shields or the Zerg’s ability to burrow and spread underground, Starcraft is a true melting pot of extra terrestrials.

Combine this with the dependable structure of Warcraft II and the result is an enjoyable game that, despite apparently ignoring the advances of the likes of Age of Empires and Total Annihilation, can still teach the pretenders a thing or two. [7]