It's difficult to give this game a good note and it's difficult to give it a bad note.
Why? Because Starcraft is one of those games you forget, then re-discover only to forget and then find again, ceaselessly. Problem with that is that every single time, you're reminded what made you get away from it.
Whether it was its childish multiplayer community, the lack of interest put in the Single Player campaign (most people I know skipped straight to protoss or Zerg in SC) or just the fact it becomes mind-numbingly repetitive... You can never like Starcraft for too long. Unless you play it for a living, of course.
First of all: In 1997-98, the world of video games belonged to FPS like Quake 2 and Half-Life. Real-time strategy games by then up and coming Blizzard were all seen as grandiose. The initial two games having been inspired by the engine used by Dune (Warcraft 1 and 2), they were looking for something to revolutionize. So how about replacing squares with circles? It seems like a simplistic thing to do but it's the kind of revolution that got SC going. The graphics for this game were impressive for 1998. Forget about 256 colours and midi-music. How about 16-bit and industrial techno? It was visually very attractive and extremely fun and simple to play.
Once you played it for a few hours, though... The creativity began to falter. The campaign being done and forgotten, you turned to UMS(use map settings) and melee and free-for-all. Blizzard's way of saying "If you find what we gave you not enough, go ahead, make something better." This is the kind of recipee that works: Simple, addictive fun... for a while. You buy it just because it's popular, then you tell your friends to buy it because you find it kicks ass.
If you're nostalgic, play it. If you're of the next-gen generation, give this a miss. You will only be able to complain about how crappy the graphics are and how much more complex RTS games are nowadays.
Back when I was 10, I didn't care. I loved this.
Why? Because Starcraft is one of those games you forget, then re-discover only to forget and then find again, ceaselessly. Problem with that is that every single time, you're reminded what made you get away from it.
Whether it was its childish multiplayer community, the lack of interest put in the Single Player campaign (most people I know skipped straight to protoss or Zerg in SC) or just the fact it becomes mind-numbingly repetitive... You can never like Starcraft for too long. Unless you play it for a living, of course.
First of all: In 1997-98, the world of video games belonged to FPS like Quake 2 and Half-Life. Real-time strategy games by then up and coming Blizzard were all seen as grandiose. The initial two games having been inspired by the engine used by Dune (Warcraft 1 and 2), they were looking for something to revolutionize. So how about replacing squares with circles? It seems like a simplistic thing to do but it's the kind of revolution that got SC going. The graphics for this game were impressive for 1998. Forget about 256 colours and midi-music. How about 16-bit and industrial techno? It was visually very attractive and extremely fun and simple to play.
Once you played it for a few hours, though... The creativity began to falter. The campaign being done and forgotten, you turned to UMS(use map settings) and melee and free-for-all. Blizzard's way of saying "If you find what we gave you not enough, go ahead, make something better." This is the kind of recipee that works: Simple, addictive fun... for a while. You buy it just because it's popular, then you tell your friends to buy it because you find it kicks ass.
If you're nostalgic, play it. If you're of the next-gen generation, give this a miss. You will only be able to complain about how crappy the graphics are and how much more complex RTS games are nowadays.
Back when I was 10, I didn't care. I loved this.