review, mpog, stragegy games, space games, 3700 AD, the Sims 2, grand theft auto san andreas, ragnarok, everquest, world of warcraft, need for speed 2 underground, enter the matrix
Game Magazine's Games Review - Starcraft
Starcraft offers a lengthy single-player campaign featuring ten missions for its three diverse races, totaling 30 single-player missions in all (there's also an unsupported veteran campaign included as part of the campaign editor). The story is compelling enough to make playing through all three worthwhile, and the campaign difficulty is tiered so that each is more challenging than the last. While this may seem like an uninteresting point, it helps Starcraft to avoid the problem that has plagued every other game in the genre: Each side is not the same. You don't have to go through a set of training missions once you've already mastered one side. The missions themselves mainly stick to the "gather, build, and conquer" philosophy, but there are a few innovative missions thrown in, and Blizzard has added some narrative elements to the missions themselves that help to keep things interesting. With the exception of the installation missions (in which you are given a handful of units to raid an enemy base, an attempt to break from the mold that is only occasionally successful), the missions are well designed. The solo player also has the option of skirmish missions, though the computer opponents have the annoying ability to see everything you are doing and defend accordingly, making the dreaded "rush" tactic one of the only viable means of emerging victorious.
What Starcraft does have, though, is personality. Playing any of the three races is a notably different experience. You have the Terrans, "space trailer trash" with moving buildings; the frightening, insect-like Zerg who can burrow underground; and the hi-tech Protoss who can easily construct many buildings at a time. Each race features totally different units, often with no equivalents on the other side, differing construction and repair principles, and even different (though equally effective) interface art. Blizzard has managed to keep it well balanced despite the great diversity. One of the greatest things about Starcraft is that no unit is ever rendered obsolete during the course of a game. Each unit is key in certain situations, and you'll still be relying on your most basic ground units in the endgame.
Aesthetically, Starcraft is impressive. Graphically, it stands alongside Age of Empires as the best-looking 2D strategy game around. What it lacks in visual innovation it makes up for in style; the unit and building animations are highly detailed and imaginative. There are some nice translucency effects, such as the flickering shields on Protoss units. The tilesets and maps are varied and interesting, and the unit portraits are expressive and realistic. And the cinematics, of which there are many, are outstanding. The only real complaints about the visuals are that the viewing area is a little small (the bottom quarter of the screen is occupied by the interface), and the minimap presents only rudimentary information. The music, apart from some new-agey Terran tunes, is appropriately melodic and dark, the sound effects are believable and distinct, and the voice acting is great, bringing the characters to life.
Click here to play other games like Starcraft
Games that made it into our Hall Of Fame list~Enjoy!:
RPG
- 3700 AD
- The Sims 2
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- Ragnarok
- Everquest
- World of Warcraft
- Need for Speed 2: Underground
- Enter The Matrix
Strategy
- Space Federation
- Starcraft
- The Lord of The Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth
- Rome: Total War
- Unification Wars