Resurrection: StarCraft

Resurrection: StarCraft

LoveCraft

Resurrection is a regular feature in which we reminisce about a game from way back when. This week Greg Giddens takes a look at RTS legend StarCraft.

StarCraft is a remarkable game, and its most remarkable feature is just how remarkable it is. StarCraft is a standard RTS game, with obvious traits from the WarCraft series and Command & Conquer series. What makes it stand out, however, is its personality, consisting of its interesting races and the serious narrative with a downright hilarious undertone.

StoryCraft

The narrative involves a vast backstory for each race; The Terrans’ (Humans) internal conflicts, and the Protoss’ and Zerg’s rising and vicious war. The game’s specific narrative, however, only touches on this backstory. Instead it concentrates on the meeting of the three races and the mutual understanding between elements of the Protoss leadership and the Terrans regarding the threat that the Zerg represent. Taking you through the perspective of each race, you witness the narrative as a commander in each respective military. Through excellent voice acting in briefings and in-game – as well as cut scenes that pull off an impressive balance between serious story progression and humour – you discover the drive behind each race and glimpse the vastness of the universe Blizzard has created.

StarCraft remained very true to the setup of other RTS titles of the late 1990s, with its resource gathering, base building and unit production feeling identical to other titles. The originality was found in the distinctiveness of each race. Whilst it was common in other RTS titles of the time to have each race using similar units to counter each other, StarCraft had unique units for each race which required different tactics to use successfully. As a result StarCraft was inherently tactical.

The Terrans were highly adaptable; units could deal with multiple situations – close range or long through artillery and nukes – and buildings could be placed freely, with major buildings being able to take off and fly away if things looked hairy. This adaptability made the Terrans ideal for learning the ropes, and the campaign reflected that by having the Terrans as the starting race.

The Zerg had some fairly weak units but they were cheap and quick to build, allowing you to raise a large force very quickly to overwhelm your enemies. This made popular the rush tactic of the same name. Zerg buildings were organic and required being built on land rich in organic mass, limiting their building locations significantly. With the weak but cheap units in mind, the Zerg required a more aggressive set of tactics then the Terrans.

The Protoss were the most difficult race to use thanks to being initially difficult to understand. The reliance on power restricted building placement, and the units were more expensive with more specific roles in battle. As a result tactics – once again – needed to change, with the Protoss requiring more careful flanking and hit and run strategies to be victorious.

MultiCraft

The distinctiveness of each race made StarCraft unique compared to every other RTS out at the time and this originality and strategic quality translated well into multiplayer.

Impressively, despite the unique qualities of each race – they remained balanced. Whilst there wasn’t a counter unit on each side for every unit, through the use of tactics no race could claim an advantage over the others. This impressive quality made StarCraft’s multiplayer highly competitive as well as dynamic, which is why – even today – StarCraft is so popular online and via LAN.

With such strong unique qualities behind it – and such excellent implementation of the standard ones – StarCraft became a huge hit that to this day remains a benchmark RTS title. The strong narrative has spawned several novels and in just a couple of weeks time we’ll see the next chapter in this epic story in the form of the long awaited sequel StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. If the sequel has a fraction of the magic the original had then we are all in for a treat, and I for one am hugely excited.