Genre: Real Time Strategy
Year: 1998
Developed by: Blizzard Entertainment
Published by: Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms: PC, Mac, N64
#24
Feeling Like: Jacked up and good to go
You can count the expansion Brood War in this entry, which is partly why StarCraft is at #24. The amount of content in this package from 1998 eclipses what most other developers could only dream of. Three campaigns in the original, another three in Brood War. Each race has different units, build styles, production lines, strengths, weaknesses, personality, characters, music and building aesthetics. The triangular conflict of Human-Zerg-Protoss is so engrained in gaming lore that most strategy games still follow suit. Balance is always tricky, and our tastes have evolved beyond what we saw in Warcraft 2; we want unique races, we want to choose which to play in multiplayer and we want to see some cool-ass space stuff.
I always thought myself as a fantasy guy, but properties like StarCraft showed me I may be more of a science fiction nerd. I wanted to ponder about the future. The notion of colonizing the stars is as timeless a dream as any for humanity. I got into Asimov novels. I started watching every sci-fi show I could. I scoured the shelves for movies I’d missed that took place in the future: Blade Runner, Star Wars, hell even Starship Troopers which in my head came out after StarCraft, but it came out the year before! Did Blizzard copy Paul Verhoeven? I thought it was the other way round! Either way, it’s the best StarCraft movie, sans Protoss.
This wasn’t just Warcraft 2 in space. Blizzard went above and beyond to get the player invested, as every mission pushed the story forward. At the heart of the story were units that were stronger than regular soldiers, but also talked a whole lot. The exposition, twists and orders all came in the form of little video screens featuring animated faces and voice acting? Holy shit, now we’re talking. From Jim Raynor (Marshal o’ these parts)’s country twang, to the arrogant condescension of General Duke, to the horrific Zerg overmind, to the noble and Vulcan sounding Protoss, everybody is interesting here. Everybody. Even if I didn’t like playing as the Zerg (I still don’t, filthy bugs!), I still wanted to know what they were up to.
“CEREBRATE! Zasz is dead!”
I can still recite a ton of lines from the game, they’re just iconic. Enjoyable, memorable dialogue at its best. Real Time Strategy games were not supposed to be this, there was supposed to be an end of mission briefing, not RIGHT in the middle of the action. I was completely swept up in the universal conflict of the Zerg swarm overrunning planets, civil war between the Protoss factions and the Human bickering and plotting. Kerrigan’s evolution was a highlight, I couldn’t believe my eyes. With so many fights going on at one time, I never knew who I was going up against or what they’d do.
Every unit says something cool, or makes a weird noise signifying that you’re about to give them orders.
“Fire it up!”
“In the pipe, five by five” (thank you, Aliens!)
“I have returned!”
“Battlecruiser, operational.”
“Carrier has arrived”
“(random Zerg roar)”
“Get me out of this chickenshit outfit!” (Aliens, again)
“What is your major malfunction?”
“State the nature of your medical emergency!”
“Ready to raise some hell!”
“Goliath online.”
And, the best one.
“POWER OVERWHELMING!”
There are so many timeless design choices for the units, it’s hard to keep track of them all. The Hydralisk (seen above) is the perfect example. It’s the kind of alien species you think you’ve seen before, but maybe not quite like this. They slither along, spit acid and aren’t too much of a step away from the Xenomorph (Alien/Aliens really did have an influence on artists). The Protoss Zealot, Dragoon and Archons seem like they were taken from some classic novel and mixed in with a bit of Klingons, Romulans and samurai. They may have been tricky to play for a schlub like me, but they were easily the coolest race. Just wait until you see the cut-scenes from StarCraft 2.
I’m not even particularly good at StarCraft. My favorite stages are always the ones where you have to bunker down against an oncoming, undefeatable force. Building up bunkers, putting my little marines in there and setting up aerial turrets to ward off flyers is something I’ve done so often, yet I’ve never tired of it. Just hearing the Siege Tanks getting into place (the transition from slowy movey tank to the bringer of destruction is a noise I can’t un-hear) and then viewing the inevitable explosion of units far from my front line is about as happy as I can get while playing a video game. Making sure my resources are set, building supply depots at the right time and finally completing a mission was immensely satisfying, every time. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t even want to play other Real Time Strategies; I might give them a go, but I know I’ll be comparing them to StarCraft the entire time and that hardly seems fair.
It’s one of the few games where I relish in changing up my strategy. I tend to get into a comfort zone and try to peek behind the curtain to figure out what the best units to use are, the best upgrades, or a way to cheese through more difficult sections. Not so in StarCraft. Every unit is useful in some way – sometimes I’ll have a gumbo of an army, sometimes I’ll just mass Battlecruisers. They’re equally satisfying tactics. Sometimes I’ll just throw control groups towards a point on the mini-map and let them wreak havoc, other times I’ll meticulously pick away at opposing defenses before striking hard. It really depends on my mood, the level, and what units are available to me. Blizzard was the master at this, providing a cinematic experience while also giving the player the meatiest entree you can imagine.
The UI is so clean that I never felt confused about what was going on. Oh sure, in mass fracas I had to wait a few moments to see which side had the upper hand, but the HUD showing what you’re selecting, the options available to you and the corresponding facial representations are perfect. It’s sleek as hell, there isn’t a single aspect of StarCraft that’s half-assed. The fundamentals were so strong that you can still see the bones in StarCraft 2. Blizzard changed a ton, but they didn’t change that much if you get my drift. The camera distance, the angles of the map, the variety of environments and basics of resource gathering were solidified to such a high degree, why would you change it?
I’m greedy as hell. I want more co-op maps in StarCraft 2. I’ll go back and try for Achievements, and I never do that. I want a third StarCraft. The hell you can wreak on enemy forces is as joyful as the misery you feel when you’re defeated. Speaking of defeat, I barely touched the online multiplayer. If you’ve been reading the 500 you’ll know that is not my strong suit, but I did play a hell of a lot of custom maps with Eric, more on that in StarCraft 2. This was my favorite Strategy and PC game for a very long time, it was the first instance of Tower Defense I tried. The characters of Raynor, Kerrigan, Artanis and Mengsk are unforgettable caricatures. I can’t name any other game where I can recite a hundred lines of dialogue from memory. StarCraft is a lasting legacy, one of the greatest games ever made and it more than warrants a spot on the Sensational Summit.
The 500 