Starcraft: Ready to Roll!

Grades? Who needs good grades?

It was my freshman year in college when Blizzard released Starcraft. Let the record show that my GPA after my freshman year was a 2.33 in a school where the only 4 grades you can get are A, B, C, and NR (for no record, meaning there's no record of you even taking the class). To my credit I didn't get any NRs, but the lowest possible GPA was a 2.0. I lost a lot of ground that year that I would have to endure lots of time and energy to get caught up again. I attribute that to a game called Starcraft.

Starcraft was Blizzard's next real time strategy game after its smash hit Warcraft II. It was also Blizzard's first real time strategy game to use the free online gaming service battle.net also run by Blizzard. I used to spend countless hours playing Warcraft II using the online service Kali. I participated in ladders, tournaments, and many different online matches. Starcraft took this formula and fed my addiction.


Starcraft? Wassat?

You never heard of Starcraft? Well, welcome to the PC gaming genre! This game dominated the PC gaming industry during the late 90's. I've heard reports that one fourth of the population of South Korea owns and plays this game.

Starcraft is what you call a real time strategy game. That means you control a group of units on your team and have them perform different tasks based on what their strength is. Your goal most of the time is to wipe out the other team(s) using your attacking units. You acquire attacking units by paying for them. Your currency is minerals and vespene gas. By building certain buildings, upgrading current structures, and researching technologies, you can build more powerful units or upgrade your current ones. The strategy comes in because you have to manage the units and buildings on your team effectively. You cannot spent time and resources to quickly build higher tech units because your opponent might come by before your done with much less powerful units. You can't build tons of low-grade units because a smaller team of more powerful units usually can overpower them. You have to setup secondary resource gathering bases but not before you're capable of defending them and your main base. You have to spend units and/or resources to find your enemy before they find you. All of this comes into account.

You use the mouse to control the game. Anything from building actions, to unit control can be accomplished by clicking the mouse. The right mouse button is used as a shortcut button to do obvious tasks like move to a certain point, repair, or harvest resources. Certain actions can also be performed using a specific keyboard key and clicking on an area or object using the left mouse button. You can select a group of units of up to 12 at once and have them perform a group action. Usually this is an action that they all share in common like moving or attacking. You can also set shortcuts for specific groups using the number keys on the keyboard. This allows you to control up to 10 different groups of 12 units, or 120 different units. Moving your mouse to the edge of the screen scrolls the map in a specific direction. There's also a mini map to move to a specific place that might be many screens away.

Units are very diverse and can exhibit many different characteristics. Starcraft boasts some very diverse units in the game. Some are very cheap and expendable; others are more expensive melee units. Some units can strike from a distance both light and heavy. There are spell casters that can do various tricks from immobilizing targets to attacking them over a targeted area. Some units can fly, whereas others specialize in attacking flying units. Each race has the ability for some of its units to become invisible. And each race has the ability to detect invisible units. Buildings also can serve as stationary units used to defend towns. Each race has a structure that can detect invisible units or attack units in general.


The Story and Campaign Mode

The story behind Starcraft is that it revolves around the struggle of 3 races to control a remote part of the galaxy. The humans (or Terrans) are trying to colonize a remote planet. They are met with heavy resistance from a race called the Zerg. The Zerg are a mix between the Borg from Star Trek and the bug race from Starship Troopers. They are led by The Overmind whose goal seems to be to infect the entire region of the galaxy. The third race is called the Protoss, they remind me a lot like a more rational and magical form of the Kligons from Star Trek. Noble and honorable, they also are out to stop the Zerg, but they also have issues with the Terrans. Being the honor bound race they are, they oppose the backstabbing nature that many Terran leaders possess.

In the game itself each race has its own characteristics. Terrans have the ability to repair buildings as well as mechanical units. They also have the ability to lift some buildings up into the air. They possess the strongest defensive units in the game. The Zerg can mass-produce many expendable units quickly and cheaply. While they can't repair other units, their buildings and units regain hit points at a slow rate. Protoss specialize in heavier units as well as spellcasters. You produce less of these units at a slower rate, but they pack a huge punch. They can quickly overwhelm the enemy very quickly. Each race will generally have at least one type of a certain unit from cheap expendable units to units that can attack from afar. While the units are similar they aren't the same as each unit has its distinctive strengths and weaknesses.

You advance the story line by doing the campaign missions in order from Human to the Zerg campaign then finally doing the Protoss campaign. The campaigns are the best way to learn how to play the game. Each chapter in the campaign increases the difficulty a little bit and a few new buildings, units and upgrades are added to your arsenal. However, the more units you're allowed the build, the more advanced the enemy units become. The campaign missions are challenging but few are really frustrating. The situations you're put in allow you to add different techniques to your skill set from managing small forces to being able to repel large ones. This is all while never overwhelming you with the different variety of units. The campaign also features hero units. While only available in campaign mode and maps using the default setting, hero units are more powerful units types that can dish out and take more damage than normal units of that type. In the campaign mode, they typically have to survive the round so they never really play a huge role.


Multiplayer and Other Game Modes

The reason why Starcraft was seen as such a success has as much to do with its gameplay as it does with its multiplayer environment, Battle.net. There are many different ways to play Starcraft against other people. You can play over an IPX LAN using a TCP or UDP connection. You can play over a modem too. However, the most popular connection is to play through Blizzard's Battle.net service. Battle.net allows you to meet other players from around the world to play in different types of multiplayer games. Battle.net contains a chat client so you can chat with other people, not only who are playing Starcraft, but people playing other games like Diablo and Warcraft on Battle.net as well. Battle.net also contains a ladder system that allows you to showcase your abilities. Battle.net is also a good way to get any of the latest patches as it downloads and installs it as a required action.

If you're done with the campaigns and don't want to play against other people, you can play a game against the computer on a custom map. The game comes with roughly 20-30 custom maps for different amounts of players. However, Blizzard provides many new maps available for download off their website. There are so many there and off the web in general that you'll be playing for a while before you get used to all of them.

In multiplayer games against other players or the computer (or both!) you can either play many different types of games.
Melee is the default option, you win by destroying your enemies structures, alliances are legal with other human players and the computers will team up against the human players whether they're allied or not.
Free For All is where everyone has to fend for themselves. You cannot team up because the game won't allow you to. Even the computers have to fight each other.
One on One is like Free For All only 2 players are allowed in the game.
Capture the Flag Each player has a flag that can be moved for a set period of time in the beginning of the game. In order to eliminate another player you must bring their flag to yours.
Greed is where the player wins by accumulating a certain amount of resources first.
Slaughter is where the player who has the most kills when the timer runs out.
Sudden Death is where a player loses if one of their Command Centers, Nexuses, or Hatcheries is destroyed.
Ladder is like Free For All only the "Fastest" game speed may not be used, only official ladder maps are allowed, and the game results are automatically reported. This is only available on Battle.net.
Use Map Settings uses the map's preset starting forces, resources, and enables any map-specific Triggers and Objectives.
Team Melee is the same as Melee, except Team play (shared units) is enabled.
Team Free For All is the same as Free For All, except Team play (shared units) is enabled.
Team Capture the Flag is the same as Capture The Flag, except Team play (shared units) is enabled.

Finally there is a campaign editor that comes with the game that allows you to create your own campaign missions. You can create a map from scratch using the game's various tilesets. You can change the statistics of existing units. You can create your own hero units as well. The campaign's ability to create and manage in game triggers is what makes this editor extremely powerful. This allows you to break out of the mold of Real Time Strategy and create a map like "Zerg Soccer". There are many different ideas that can be thought of using this editor. There is also other editors available through third party sources like StarDraft that allow you even more freedom with the game.


Graphics, Sounds, and Control

The graphics I think are very well handled even for a game that's almost 6 years old. Although the game uses sprites to represent units and the surrounding environment, it works very well. The sprites are very well polished and you're never left wondering what a certain unit is. Cut scenes in the game are very well done as well. The Computer Graphic animations give excitement to the different cut scenes. My biggest gripe about the game is that many of the tilesets are too dark. I understand that the game for the most part is set in space and that it does add to an authentic look. However, it does take away from the great looking sprites and graphical effects the game offers.

The sound is just as good. Voice acting is very well done and very clear. Many of the voices and lines from the different units have a lasting effect. With some minor exceptions the sound effects are spot on and very accurate and diverse. You know exactly what unit is attacking what based solely on the sound effects. The music is a mixed bag in my opinion. I like the Terran music, but the Protoss and Zerg music lack an upbeat sound. I usually end up turning off the music in general and popping in a CD into the stereo or something. The music fails in its attempt to excite you about playing the game.

The controls really seal the deal for Starcraft. In order for a real time strategy game to succeed you must have some really good interaction between your mouse and the game. Starcraft accomplishes this really well. The mouse responsiveness is great in that it allows expert players to do many different tasks in a short period of time, but it also allows new players to pick up the game quickly without being frustrated. The use of keyboard commands is great as well. Most actions are appropriately mapped to the keyboard. My only complaint is that for certain combinations of units, it would be good to be able to remap some of the action hotkeys so that they all exist on one side of the keyboard.


Replay and Value

There are many reasons this game succeeds from a replay value standpoint. The game is very balanced. The three races all have roughly equal footing after all the patches released to balance them out. The only problem is that for equal skill levels it can be somewhat of a rock-paper-scissors match. However superior tactics always wins in Starcraft. Some races have a slight advantage over another so that it's slightly easier to develop a winning strategy or combination of units.

In addition to the balance, the high availability of multiplayer gaming through Battle.net is a huge plus. There are no fees to join or use the service; rather all you need is the CD key that comes with the game. Playing against new players, developing friendships and possibly joining a clan all enhance the enjoyment from this game. There is one dark side to Battle.net is that it's filled with people who use cheats like map hacks and other hacking utilities. Although rare, they do pop up. The ability to save the replay from your game and review it will allow you not only to identify you opponent as a cheater, but also report them to Blizzard. Blizzard isn't shy about banning players for cheating. If you're a proactive person when it comes to cheating and other abuse, you'll probably like Blizzard's policy and tools to report these people.

Playing against the computer in Free For Alls, Melees, or Team games is a great way to make the game last. I like to do this a lot when I want to brush up on some of my skills. One big drawback to playing against the computer is that its artificial intelligence leaves much to be desired. There are many different computer profiles, but they all don't adjust to the situation. If it builds units that are weak against air attacks and it finds out that you're building a huge fleet of planes, it won't change tactics to defend against it. Even worse there are some computer profiles that won't build any buildings just harvest resources. These profiles seem to be randomly assigned to different computer players. It really doesn't make sense when you're team might be randomly assigned a dud computer player. Other than that, the computer is playable and very challenging at times.

Finally the campaign editor adds life to the game. For those with creativity, you're allowed to let your imagination run wild with the campaign editor. Even for those who aren't that creative, you can benefit from the different maps that are all over the internet. There are enough custom campaigns to keep you busy for months after you've finished the single player campaign that comes with the game.

I would place a value of $30 for this game. While it's a great robust game, that has great graphics and sound, it is somewhat incomplete. In order to really open up the wonders of Battle.net you really need to get the expansion pack "Brood War". Just about everyone who is playing this game has the expansion pack installed and is using it online. Alone this game is very good, but you're missing out on so much more by not buying it. Together they are a $50 value in my mind even though the Starcraft Battle Chest (Starcraft, The Brood War Expansion, and the Strategy guide) can probably be bought for half that amount these days.