Product description
-------------------
USED VERY GOOD CONDITION. JEWEL CASE + + MANUAL. FROM AMAZON
PRO MERCHANT. EXPEDITED SHIPPING AVAILABLE. ---- As the
leader of our species, the player must gather the resources to
train and expand the and lead them to victory in a
battle for land and power, as human exiles in the far-future
struggle to survive on the rim of the galaxy. Engage in three
different campaigns and 30 different missions in the battle for
control over the e of the galaxy.
.com
----
StarCraft puts you in charge of a small group of humans exiled
to the edge of the galaxy. Your mission is to acquire the
resources needed to train and expand your to defend
against the Confederate Nations, who are also battling for
control of the galaxy's precious resources. This game is designed
for multiplayer use.
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Review
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Passing judgment on the most eagerly anticipated game of the
last few years is no easy task; it's difficult to set aside
prejudices that would sway one's opinion either way. Let's face
it: Starcraft comes with a great deal of anticipatory baggage,
and it would be easy to say that it's either a huge
disappointment or the greatest thing since real-time strategy
became a household phrase. Truth is, it's neither. Weighed on its
own merits, Starcraft is an extremely well-crafted game, albeit
one with a few notable problems. It doesn't stray far from the
blueprint created by its predecessors (namely the Warcrafts and
Command & Conquers), but it is, without a doubt, the best game to
ever adhere to that formula.
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 nents 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.
Starcraft offers an equally nice suite of options on the
multiplayer side: There's head-to-head and up to eight-player
battles over LAN or Internet (though Internet play is only
available over Blizzard's Battle.net server, which includes a
ranking list and seems to be as lag-free as it gets nowadays).
There is a good variety of multiplayer game types, and you can
easily download new s. Multiplayer has its own set of
negatives, the major one being the predominance of rushing. Like
it or not, creating a horde of the most basic units and attacking
the enemy immediately is an effective tactic. Only a heavily
defended base will survive an early rush of Terran Marines or
Protoss Zealots. Starcraft has a built-in safeguard to discourage
rushing, but it's one of the game's most problematic areas.
This safeguard is in the interface, which only allows you to
select 12 units at a time. This isn't especially effective,
considering six Zealots will smoke a base early in the game. The
selectable unit cap does make rushing more difficult, but it also
becomes frustrating at times, especially for those used to the
ability to select unlimited units at once. Often, selecting the
chosen units from a large group becomes a time-consuming effort.
During battle, it can be an exercise in frustration. You can
assign groups to hotkeys quite easily, however, lessening the
frustration of the selectable unit cap - but this system isn't
nearly as good as in Total Annihilation or Dark Reign, and units
aren't marked by their group number like in said games.
Multiplayer battles can often be decided by who has the best
manual dexterity and can overcome the built-in limitations of the
interface the most quickly.
Recent real-time innovations regarding unit control are
included, with mixed results. Each production facility can have
up to five units queued at once. There's a waypoint system,
patrolling, and the like - but many of these options aren't
particularly well implemented, and some of the options seem
tacked on. On the other hand, pathing is great, with only
occasional glitches (where a unit will run around in cute little
circles). Starcraft most notably lacks the ability to define unit
behavior (as in Dark Reign or Total Annihilation), leading to
much micromanagement.
What Starcraft does have, though, is personality. Playing any of
the three races is a notably different experience. You have the
Terrans, "space trailer t" 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 s
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 mini 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.
Starcraft's personality goes a long way towards rendering its
minor shortcomings obsolete. The game has so much life in it -
whether in the great, narrative-driven single-player campaign or
the multitude of multiplayer options - you won't grow tired of it
anytime soon. And even if you blow through it all, there's an
incredibly versatile editor that allows you to create your own
full-featured campaigns, right down to spoken introductions and
triggered events within missions. It all comes down to this:
Starcraft may not do anything particularly new, but it does the
real-time thing as well or better than any game before it. If
you're willing to give the formula another go, Starcraft is
highly recommended. --Ron Dulin
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot Review
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- Three unique Alien species: The mystic Protoss, the adaptable terrans, the merciless Zerg.
- Multiple theaters of battle.
- Revolutionary special effects.
- Unequaled campaign editor.
- Intense internet competition.