Retro Binge: StarCraft

I'm not a fan of Real Time Strategy Games. I didn't enjoy WarCraft 3 or the much more simple Halo Wars. Infact, the only one I have enjoyed fully is Pikmin 2. (Pikmin one is awesome too, but I hated the fact that you couldn't go back once completed and explore at you're own liesure.) So I was put off StarCraft for a while. That was until I was watching the StarCraft 2 previews on Youtube, and it looked exactly the same as anyother Strategy game. Build the army, build a base of operations and don't die. Same old story and same old song and dance. I guess you can tell i wasn't looking forward to reviewing this for Retro Binge. I'm guessing you want to know how the hell I was convinced into playing this. I have to thank Adam from OverTheGun.co.uk (http://overthegun.co.uk/) for suggesting that I give it a go.

So when you start, you get given a rather nicely animated intro scene. I have to say, I like Blizzard's art style for this game. It isn't too WarCraft and it isn't too Sci-Fi. The human's are depicted as stero-typical American badasses. (I began to think I was leading an army of Vin Diesals at one point.) The tutorial is a little confusing, as it explains what to do, but not what each unit does. I thought that the huge mecha's would be strong and capable of killing hordes of enemies. No, they do the building and collect minerals and gas.

The story is pretty nice but isn't groundbreaking. It has to be the best from any game like this, but again, it isn't really needed. The story is here just to give you a mission, and sometimes the missions don't coincide with the story and are there for the hell of it.

The missions are fun and challenging. Although I do find myself using the same tactics over and over: Keep the "HERO" character back at the back and send say, 10 troops out into battle to clear the way. Build a base near any minerals and resources and then just build my army up and send them round to patrol. I guess this is the point, but I find it makes the game a little linear once you discover a ryhthm that works.

The graphics, even today, are infact pretty nice. The fact that this was released in 1996 and the cutscenes and gameplay begin to show there age, but this was quite an achivement. It isn't full 3D, with most of it prerendered backgrounds and layers in 2D put at such an angle that it almost looks 3D- ala Resident Evil. The cutscenes, are like early Pixar short films, although not as nice looking but they do the job. The artstyle is still one of the top I've seen and I'm glad they've stuck to it for StarCraft 2, released this year.

This was one of Blizzard's almighty three at the time, (along with Diablo and Warcraft) and probably to date, the most popular. With Asia still playing this over todays modern games and huge events held around the world for this in particular, I'm just a little upset I missed out on it all.

Looking onto the multiplayer side of things, this is where the game shines. The ability to quickly connect to Battle.net and battle against foes all around the country is fasinating. Different strategies and maps bring out the best fun I've had in years. Even when playing my brother over a LAN connection, and hearing him whisper, "Bugger." as I Zerg Rush his base, is much better than hearing some frat boy call me a N***er over Xbox Live. I guess, that is what seperates PC gamers to console gamers. The community. StarCraft has a loyal fanbase and yet if this where to be on console, it would be forgotten about about 3 months later, and not 13 years later until the sequel is completed.

Overall, this title was a blast. I think it does deserve a 10, but the fact is, it isn't the best looking anymore, the lip syncing was off and multiplayer was hard to find an open server. But it is a solid game, and I can't wait for the sequel. I'm feeling generous. 9.8/10. An A*. Yeah. I feel good about that.