- Simply one of the best games ever made"Starcraft: Brood War" is possibly the best game of all time. I'm definitely not the only person that can support that theory.
"Brood War" is an expansion pack to the original "Starcraft," meaning you need both installed on your computer to play it. It came out in 1998 for the PC, but it's still as fun as it was upon release. It's a real-time strategy game (RTS), which means you manage your units, resources and buildings while strengthening your army, locating new stockpiles of resources and crushing your opponents, all seen from a "bird's eye" view. There are many RTS games out there, but the "Starcraft" games struck a perfect balance between complexity and simplicity.
The story is one of the most compelling in all of gaming. It is set several hundred years in the future, with humans living all over the galaxy. In a nutshell, some chance meetings occur and a war between humans (or Terran), the Zerg and the Protoss aliens erupts. From the beginning of "Starcraft" to the end of "Brood War,' there are six full campaigns to play. Collectively, they combine as an epic space opera along the lines of the "Startship Troopers" movie from the late 90's. You get to see the war through the eyes of the three different species, which keeps the narrative from ever becoming boring. There are also different factions within the races, so awesome twists and surprises are commonplace.
The campaign is lots of fun, even if the challenge eventually becomes insanely difficult. Fear not, as there are many cheats to help you through the journey. The story mode is extremely satisfying from beginning to end and it should be experienced by every gamer, especially if you have even the slightest interest in sci-fi.
As good as the story is, all gamers know it wouldn't be worth it if the gameplay isn't fun. Fortunately, "Starcraft" and "Brood War" both excel. "Brood War" has an edge because of more balance, new units and new environments, which is why it is the best game ever and the original game is not.
Managing your army is very intuitive after playing for a little while. The tutorial should give you some good advice, so you'll be having skirmishes with the enemy in no time. It plays similarly to other RTS games, but it's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't played "Starcraft" or "Command and Conquer" or the "Warcraft" series. It takes lots of thinking and awareness of the situation, along with efficient use of the keyboard and mouse. Your best bet is to go to Blizzard's site and check out the Starcraft page.
The gameplay experience can vary greatly depending on which species you choose. Each of the three races play completely differently, with special ways of constructing buildings and acquiring warriors. They have their strengths and weaknesses, and new strategies are being developed even today. The gameplay moves along at a brisk pace, so scouting the terrain and thinking up a game plan is extremely important early on. After all, "Starcraft" is all about knowing your terrain and enemy and adapting to it in order to conjure an efficient combat strategy. Though in campaign mode, you are somewhat restricted since you have to complete objectives that can only be finished in a few ways.
The free-for-all online portion is what keeps people playing after all these years. You can play with up to seven other computer controlled armies, and no two games ever play out the same. Some can focus on small battles, others on mass destruction with nuclear bombs and siege units, "starving" your opponent of resources through quick expansion and solid defense, hit-and-run raids with stealth units or giant all-out wars with hundreds of units that can literally go on for hours. Of course, this can all happen within one game, too. The depth and variety makes this "Starcraft" incredibly addicting.
The feature that makes "Starcraft" so replayable is the very user-friendly Map Editor. With it, anyone can build a map from scratch. You can put in mountains, rivers, trees, mineral deposits, creatures and lots of other details, including your very own story elements. Throughout the years, countless downloadable maps have been posted online by Blizzard and gamers alike. Some of the most popular ones are role-playing games (RPG's).
In many of them, you select a class of character (such as warrior, spellcaster, shaman, etc.) and go around completing objectives or killing things for experience while. As you level up, you get stronger and acquire new abilities while uncovering the homemade story. There are hundreds of RPG's available online, so you can probably play forever by yourself or with others. Surprisingly, many of them can be as fun as the main campaigns. If you don't like them, make your own.
If you worry that playing online will be a dreadful experience because of technological hiccups, you are stressing out over nothing, since online play is smooth and plays like your competing offline. This can't be said for many of today's online games, which slowdown and lag because of the crazy 3D graphics that require expensive hardware. This makes "Starcraft" and "Brood War" enjoyable for the Average Joe. The graphics aren't jaw dropping, but they get the job done. Slowdown is rare and everything is easy to spot. It's also got an appealing artistic style and isn't too cartoony or too realistic and gritty.
On the audio front, you get some great music. The battle themes help suck you into the game. The species all have different music. The Zerg even have one unlockable techno song. None of it seems to ever get repetitive, even if you play for over nine years. The sound effects and voice acting are both equally terrific, as well.
The gameplay, story, nice graphics, and wonderful sound combine to make these games great experiences. Can Starcraft 2 top this? Well, let's just say Blizzard has a monumental task ahead of them...
