StarCraft
Windows version
I love the smell of napalm....
The Good
Just about EVERYTHING! This game may not be the most technical strategy game ever made, but boy does this come close to being perfect! I'll start the actual review by going through the three campaigns.
The Terran. This is the only campaign with a tutorial level so be warned. It starts off easy enough. Move some units, kill lightly scattered Zerg, find people, you know the drill. But around level five is where it gets interesting. The plot turns (I won't reveal any of it) and things get hectic. Building units was a breeze, and attacking with HUGE amounts of siege tanks was very fun. All the characters are well fleshed out and superbly acted. I love those funny one-liners from the fire-bats the most. "Got any questions about pro-pain?"! Hilarious. The landscapes could have been better but all the units were highly detailed and very fluid looking. Plus the sound effects were fantastic. Who doesn't love hearing the sound of twenty siege tanks go off ?
Zerg. Apparently if you are on the receiving end. The Zerg campaign was fun, but somehow forgettable. But doing the Zergling Rush was always fun! Now one thing that sets this campaign apart from the other ones is nothing is built. All the structures you need are mutated from lower units. This is cool because all you'r buildings and units heal over time, saving precious minerals. While you can have units come two at a time, it unfortunately has negative effect later in the game that give you a throw-away attitude towards your units if your not careful. The graphics get their most detailed here, because everything is alive, everything moves. It's actually kind of creepy seeing your buildings bleed. The sound gets excellent props too with lots of ear-splitting screams and shrieks that sound great!
Protoss. But they don't sound so great when those screams are attacking your forge. The Protoss campaign is the hardest one of them all, but the most rewarding. The Protoss have shields but they are not as good as having units heal themselves. This campaign by far has the coolest looking graphics of all. Lots of blues and greens give it a very technical, and mystical feel to it. And the units are AW-SOME! Strong, nearly indestructible against any other units but your own! But the best feature in the whole game is here. You can take a probe and have it open a rift to bring in a building, and LEAVE IT TO BUILD SOMETHING ELSE!!!!!! Talk about time saving! And to wrap up this section with the sound. Best sound effects ever. Period. You have to hear it for yourself.
General.
There isn't much actual strategy in here but different rush attacks, but it's still cool to see a attack come off without a hitch. Overall the graphics were some of the best 2D graphics I've ever seen. The sound and acting were superb, and the story ALONE is worth playing this game.
The Bad
TOO @!#%^$ HARD! Near the end of each campaign, better get in lock down mode or you'll be obliterated
before you even get established! The last three Protoss levels demonstrate this perfectly. I have wasted so many hours trying to finish this game I will dwell on it no longer. And my last gripe is that there are NO video options whatsoever. Even Age of Empires Gold had better options than this. And the in-game con-trolls don't tell you where the screenshot key is.
The Bottom Line
Get it if your willing to put up with massive frustration near the end, but get it if you love story and rush attacks ! And the sound of twenty siege tanks going off. Unless you'r on the receiving end.
by GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on December 14, 2007