StarCraft Remastered

The history of StarCraft started almost 17 years ago. This game was the first one from a series of games that laid the foundation for the well-known science fiction genre. It was released in 1998 and got an add-on named StarCraft: Brood War later the same year.

StarCraft Remastered is a strategy game with an excellent multiplayer, a compelling storyline and carefully balanced races. The twisted gameplay with battles for galactic supremacy, ease of mastering and cinematographic fragments made this game the most top for that time.

Graphics 5/5

If you have played WarCraft before getting StarCraft, you will likely find these games pretty similar to each other. The StarCraft’s interface, as well as the game's basics, reminds the WarCraft’s ones. You still need to search for resources and build structures to create own armies. But even if you’re new to such game concept, you will still find everything quite easy to understand because the interface is done incredibly well. You will learn fast and properly command your units right from the beginning.

Moreover, you will be pleasantly surprised with the Starcraft’s graphics. Aesthetically, the game is impressive. It stands out from other games of that time by its gorgeous 2D graphics. Even so, it lacks some visual innovations. You will unlikely notice that because the game’s animations are uniquely stylish and highly detailed. There are some impressive special shimmering effects, various beautifully illustrated maps and the strong and realistic units.

However, one significant flaw of StarCraft that might distract you from the gameplay is that you have a small viewing area on the screen because the interface occupies the bottom part. Also, the minimap from the left side presents only basic information like combat units, buildings, landscape, places of extraction which might be not enough for some players.

Gameplay 5/5

In StarCraft Remastered, you choose to play as one of three races: the human race Terrans and two alien ones Protoss and Zerg. You can play the campaign game that has a series of linked scenarios, or set-up a custom game in a single player mode. The human Terrans have all the updated combat technology, including tanks and nukes. The alien Zerg remind a slimy organic substance with teeth and carapace and which is controlled by the separately flying mind. The Protoss look like robotic entities with powerful, shimmering shields and energy weapons. If you want to maintain a large army, you will need to invest resources in its supply system no matter what race you’re playing  But for all of them, you will have to find unique ways of expansion.

The StarCraft’s storyline consists of 30 single-player missions in three different campaigns, so you will have to play for three unique races. The story is compelling enough to excite you about playing all of the races. Moreover, the difficulty of each campaign is tiered so that each level is more challenging than the last. As I mentioned above, the game’s concept as well as missions mainly stick to the "gather, build, and conquer" technique, but the game has some narrative elements that will keep things interesting for you.

All the missions are well designed. The single-player mode also has the option of skirmish missions which lets your computer opponents see everything that you are doing and attack your game's strategy accordingly. In this case, the "rush" tactic will be only one of the viable ways to get the victory.

Controls 4/5

Old StarCraft was primarily developed for Microsoft Windows OS, and a bit later it was designed for Mac OS and the game console Nintendo 64. So the game is supposed to be controlled by mouse or combination of mouse and hotkeys from the beginning. Even though it sounds pretty easy, I would say that it’s quite hard to control all the actions within the game and the reason is a high complexity of these game controls. There are so many units within each race available to the player that it’s almost impossible to remember all of them. Moreover, each of these units has special abilities that you can activate by using hot keys.

Therefore, StarCraft Remastered can be named as an action game as well because you need to do a lot of clicks of the mouse and taps of the keyboard in one minute to increase your chances for a win.  

Replay Value 5/5

The original StarCraft is a highly enjoyable game that will likely keep you entertained for dozens of hours. It has lots of various greatly designed missions, various modes to play and it also offers you to play online for free with other people through the Battle.net from Blizzard Entertainment. There you can meet up with seven friends and make own battles, share tactics or improve your skills with whoever you want.

Moreover, StarCraft has an add-on called Brood War that gives to the game some of the new features and storyline twists that unfold after the events of the original game. You can endlessly explore the new worlds of StarCraft, create your powerful armies, perform dangerous tasks and enjoy the game even more and more each time.

In-app purchases

With the launching remastered version of StarCraft in 2017, the original game becomes completely free and doesn’t offer any additional purchases. But to play HD version of StarCraft you must pay $15.

Conclusion

Since the first StarCraft was released in 1998, seventeen more patches have been designed, and the last one was launched in 2017. Undoubtedly, this game has introduced a few innovative changes into its genre of real strategy. Blizzard Entertainment created the game that continues to be popular and on-demand around the world for so many years.

As you might notice, StarCraft is a strategy game. So you need to learn some tactical nuances, build your strategy and pay attention to other people's games so that you will see the new ways to play StarCraft successfully. It will also be useful for you to visit forums and talk to other players, share your experience with them. Master your skills, build the right strategy and get on the winner’s list.

• Graphics 5
• Gameplay 5
• Controls 4
• Replay Value 5

Pros

interesting special effects;
nice graphics;
exciting gameplay;
lots of challenging missions;
three different races of characters;

Cons

the high complexity of controls;
typical game concept;