Blizzard Entertainment, Starcraft $40, Brood War Expansion $28. Requirements: PowerPC, 16MB RAM (realistically closer to 28 Meg); Mac OS 7.6 or greater; 86MB free hard disk space; 2X CD-ROM. 28.8 modem or higher for internet multiplay. For more information, visit Blizzard at http://www.blizzard.com/star/star.htm Review by Bill Jahnel Starcraft is sublime. Go buy it. In some ways, I am tempted to leave my review at that. . . not because that there is little to say on this spiritual grandson of the Warcraft series, but that I want to get back to playing it. Only a few people, having had the unfortunate accident to miss the last few years of multiplayer real-time strategy genre, are unaware of Starcraft. But we’ll breeze over the beginnings and then talk substantially to the improvements Blizzard made to a game that is more innovative than inventive. Tell Me a Story, Mister Overmind. . . Starcraft has a detailed background story, building on and in many ways excelling far beyond the original scope of the background of the Warcraft series. Three distinct races, the Humans (Terrans), the alien hive-like Zerg, and the psionic mechanistic Protoss, find themselves at war with each other and among themselves. In an epic background story that then is developed over a 30-mission single-player campaign, you play first as Terrans, then Zerg, then Protoss as the story unfolds. In a touch that seems not unlike echoes of Babylon 5, both Protoss and Zerg are locked in a hateful battle against each other based on their shared history as species created by another, superior race. The alien-like Zerg wish to assimilate (in an organic Borg-like equivalent) the Protoss; the Protoss wish to wipe out the Zerg infection. The Zerg happen upon the Terrans just as a civil War is breaking out among the Terran colonies. The Zerg’s arrival leads to the appearance of the Protoss, who have factions amongst themselves, as the leaders of the Protoss find the only way to eradicate the Zerg is to destroy the planets upon which the Zerg have landed. . . whether other species live on the planets or not. Amongst this jockeying for power and shifting power lines, continuous and interesting characters, tightly woven plots, and double-crosses make single-player Starcraft a gripping joy to play. The Game Mechanics In game terms, Starcraft resembles Warcraft mechanics: harvest resources, build structures that lead to new unit upgrades, and pump units out to destroy the enemy bases. Along they way you’ll gain access to sexier and more deadly units and explore the map. What is amazing, though, is not how Starcraft’s mechanics differ so radically from its predecessor, but how its subtle changes make the game extremely impressive. Consider the terrain. The new isometric viewpoint makes elevation a very important factor in attacking and defense. Being able to seize a mesa can prove to be a crucial launching point or defensible base. Units are easier to group with a few simple clicks; Starcraft saves groups, so that option-clicking on a unit that has been grouped summons its previous grouping. The best fun is that you can command-number key save a group OR AN INSTALLATION. This is a crucially clever addition to gameplay, as it allows you to return to a building (such as a scanner) or to quickly zap back to a production facility to pump out more units. Starcraft has also excelled in taking some of the frantic clicking out of the game. Build queues allow you to select the next four units to be built, therefore automatically setting those beings into production. You may also set gathering points, so that units, once constructed, can rally to some place on the map (for defense or to join in the fray). Waypoints help unit pathfinding (though truly smart pathfinding remains elusive at times) and most helpfully, units cry out when they are in trouble or newly produced. . . and a single smack on the space bar brings you directly to the unit in question. (Iso)metric Units What truly makes Starcraft a winner, though, is that it compensated for the terrible sameness that pervaded most of the opposing units in Warcraft. Whereas Warcraft’s units really only became slightly different through a few different spells to generate different strategies, the strategies in Starcraft are all more complex because many factors of the game are each tactically dependent on the manner in which the race you are playing develops, expands, and defends. What boggles the mind is how remarkably well-balanced play remains with all the differing factors of the races are permutated. Consider something as simple as base creation. Peon units act very differently in each species. The Terran SCV units act most like Warcraft’s peons, in that they work on building structures and then can be returned to gathering resources or set to building new structures. They also can repair structures or non-organic terran units. (As a side note, one big improvement from Warcraft is that SCV’s are still out in the open and can be seen and attacked while they are constructing buildings, something that makes them less prone to the tactic known as "barraxing" in Warcraft. "Raxing" occurred when you sent your peon between an enemy’s gathering building and their resources and built a structure, usually a barracks, in their peon line. Since pathfinding was poor, the peons would get confused and it would screw up the line, but since you couldn’t attack the peon constructing the barracks it could severely cripple your opponent’s game.) Compare this to peon units for the Protoss, who only need to click and designate where a building should be warped in and then can go back to resource collection, or the peon units for the Zerg, who organically metamorph into structures (and therefore are destroyed as they build.) Bases work differently for each race. Protoss buildings must be near pylons that power them or they fail to function; Zerg buildings must exist on a carpet of organic "creep" that is generated by a creep colony and slowly grows outwards in a radius. Human buildings have no such restrictions, and many of their buildings (especially the barracks) have the ability to fly at a slow pace and reposition themselves. On the other hand, human buildings, while mobile, are more fragile: if they get severely damaged and are not repaired they will continue to burn unit they explode. Zerg buildings slowly heal themselves over time. Protoss buildings have shielding that accounts for half their hit points; while their physical damage cannot be repaired, the shielding slowly regenerates over time. Starcraft’s units also excel at encouraging combined arms. Units tend to divide into different categories that require combinations of units to have success: ground vs. flier; organic vs. inorganic; can attack only ground, only air, or both air and ground; can cast "spells" or not. Special abilities range all across the board, from personal invisibility(Terran) to generating invisibility to others (Protoss); goops that slow down units in the affected area (Zerg); paralyzation (of multiple units with a Protoss Unit or of only a single non-organic units with a Terran unit), area of effects spells that can damage only organic creatures (Terran) or all creatures but not buildings (Protoss). These special abilities not only fit in well with the unit design itself but also offer strong variety in using the right unit for the right opponent. Another major innovation in Starcraft is that some units are not built separately but instead must be evolved or created from units already on the board. For the Zerg to make their high-powered flying artillery units (the Guardian Mutalisk), Zerg players must not only have the upgraded Greater Spire but must take a normal mutalisk and let it go into a cocoon and evolve. For the Protoss to make the powerful Archon unit, two spellcasting Templars must sacrifice themselves and merge. Finally, some units simply take more hands-on maintenance than others do. Protoss Fleet Carriers and their artillery Reaver unit have to build their attacks: Reavers shoot powerful bombs called scarabs, but you must build each one individually; carrier have many small interceptors on bay that you must build and attack for them; if they are destroyed you must build new ones for the carrier to deploy. Devoured Bugs The only bugs you’ll see in the release of Starcraft are those related to the Zerg invasion. Try as I might, nothing would cause Starcraft to misbehave. In addition, play balance was better maintained because Starcraft released on the Mac not with the 1.0 Windows version problems but at the mature 1.05 (current) version rules. This meant better play balance to avoid Zerg rushes and some stronger towers for the Protoss, among other play tweaks. Multiplayer is solid and varied, with everything from co-op play against computer opponents to free for all bloodbaths to team games where a peon must capture the flag. While there is some sadness that Blizzard moved away from TCP/IP direct connections and that you must use Battle.net, there are advantages as well: You can play with up to 8 people over battle.net and there are always a ton of folks online and ready to play. No Brooding, Be Happy As for the expansion title, Brood War, you can’t help but be excited to see more units available. Two rules dictate whether or not you should buy an expansion pack: Is its additional scenarios worth the price of admission for single player play, and do the new units or abilities greatly enhance multiplayer games? Brood War is a solid yes on both counts. The new storyline and campaign scenarios are as gripping as the first, although not one of them compared to the difficulty of the Protoss 7 level of the original Starcraft (not that this is a complaint; Protoss 7 was a bitch.) There is also apparently a secret Zerg level, which can be unlocked if you complete one of the Zerg levels In under 25 minutes. As for new units, the ones that exist help increase the battle for an air war and diversify some of the options available. Terrans get medics so they finally can heal their organic units, although the medic’s optic flare is a bit of a bust. The Terran Valkyrie, Zerg Devourer, and Protoss Corsair all make ship to ship combat more versatile and give new options for both air defense and offense (the Corsair’s Disruption web with a bunch of zealots underneath it can be extremely unpleasant to goliaths and dragoons.) The Protoss get the Dark Templars and Dark Archons: the templars are transparent hand to hand combatants that do strong damage (seen originally in infamous and previously mentioend Protoss 7 level of Stasrcraft.) The Dark Archon is the single most interesting new unit, with its ability to Mind Control opponent’s pieces. Although expensive, taking over a Terran flagship or Protoss Carrier, with all the cost expended on creating them, makes the Dark Archon a power to be feared. Brood War also tried to buff up the Ultralisk, a unit for which I rarely find much use because of its slow speed and the need for it to head-butt things to cause daamage; the new armour and speed upgrades for the ultralisk make it a more viable unit. Goliaths were already better tuned in Starcraft 1.05, but the new missile upgrade makes them even more potent for base defense and makes them more versatile (and more even with the Protoss dragoons, who already had a similar upgrade.) The Final Word Starcraft did not invent the real-time strategy genre, but outside of Total Annihilation, few of the second-generation RTS games have combined the ease of use and powerful play that Starcraft delivers. It’s an extraordinary game, completely worth every penny you pay for it and then some. Brood War is an essential upgrade, if only because the single-player campaign is totally engrossing. The new units expand the air to air battles and antiair defense. Go now, young cerebrate, and buy them! (It was the Overmind’s dying wish that you do so!) Starcraft Pros Starcraft Cons Everything! (Okay, well, let’s be more specific…) Unit pathfinding, while improved, still needs tweaking. Amazing and addictive gameplay. Computer AI sometimes ignores intervening enemy units when it is running towards another objective. Single-player campaign is engrossing, compelling, with both interesting objectives and continuous characters. No more direct TCP/IP connection games over the net. New methods of grouping and finding units make interface a breeze. Lip-synch on videos occasionally a little off in campaign expositions. Distinctive units and styles of combat and building for each of the three alien races make for differing play strategies. I’m getting "Warcraft Wrist" once again from furious clicking of my mouse button. Solid and extremely satisfying Battle.net multiplayer experience. . . if only I’d win once in a while. Supremely well-balanced power among and between the three races. 1.05 version is current with the PC counterpart for netplay. Brood War Pros Brood War Cons Excellently developed new campaign. Medic’s flare kind of useless power. New air units for all races expand flight combat strategies. May have to use cheats to finish the zerg scenario in 25 minutes so I can see the secret level. Ultralisk upgrades almost make it worth building. When playing the Zerg in Brood War, hit ENTER then type "radio free zerg" and ENTER. Serve the Hive! Dark Archon’s gonna steal your expensive units, just watch me!