Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
StarCraft: Remastered – Review
Almost 20 years ago Blizzard’s futuristic variant of WarCraft hit the world, and just like its fantasy/medieval predecessor, StarCraft proved to be a hit release. Not only was the Sci-Fi setting an ideal place to create new stories, new characters and heaps of lore, it also proved to be the new standard in the strategy genre when it came to game mechanics, and gameplay as a whole. Even now there are massive communities still playing the first game rather than its sequel. Now, with the original game becoming free, the Remastered upgrade has hit the digital shelves to give a much appreciated update to an old classic, making it ready for this day and age.
We reckon most of the people who are buying the Remastered edition either used to play the original game, and its expansion, or have recently played it because of the second game. Nonetheless, we will not be going in-depth when it comes to the overall story and game mechanics, and thus we will discuss the updates a bit more. That being said, we’ll start out with a few of the basics.
The first StarCraft revolves around the three races many will already know, namely the Terrans, the Zergs and the Protoss. The Terrans, or otherwise the human race, have expanded far into space, creating colonies, without ever being bothered by a different race, or species. When all of a sudden the Zerg start raging havoc on colonies, the humans face an unseen threat, one they can’t properly handle. When another race is also thrown into the balance, who start raiding infected settlements, it’s easy to say that the shit has hit the fan. While the last of the three races, the Protoss, don’t really mean harm to our race, the Terrans still look at them as enemies. That’s basically the plot for both the base game experience, as well as the expansion, where during both parts of the game you’ll have to play as all three races to finish their individual campaigns.
As far as game mechanics go, nothing has really changed compared to the original version, and thus it’s all about building up a base, training units and annihilating the enemies’ forces. Things are fairly straightforward, as the game tells you what buildings you need for what specific units, and in the meantime you can also spend your funds on upgrades for your troops. Stay within a 200 unit limit, where some of your minions count for more than one unit.
Graphically the game has changed quite a bit, even though it’s mostly a sharper view than what we got treated to in 1998. The units look a lot more detailed, the rough pixilated look is gone, and the small character portraits have gone through a complete overhaul. The latter seems to be more in tune with StarCraft II, making the visual gap between both games smaller. Nonetheless, there’s only one thing that’s bothersome when it comes to the new avatars, namely their lip syncing is way off, making it rather annoying to watch something that looks so modern being acted out in such a dated fashion. The new moving portraits can also be seen during the mission briefings now, if you have the HD Graphics switched on. Those who are numb looking how to play the ‘Remastered’ version will be pleased to hear that you will simply have to switch the HD Graphics on, in the video options menu.
With the original version being pretty much limited to LAN capabilities only, Blizzard decided to make this updated version a bit more competitive again, by adding proper matchmaking and leaderboards, drawing the full potential of this 19 year old game. There is not that much to be said here, safe for the fact that matchmaking works properly, and creating private games works just as easily. Nonetheless, there seem to be a few bugs in this first release of the game. If you wish to play together with a friend in the same team, more than once said friend will not spawn, or will have no control over any of the creatures that spawn. AI opponents on the other hand, automatically fill all slots of the opposing team, even if you just wish to add only one computer controlled opponent.
Conclusion
StarCraft: Remastered might just seem like a reskin for the original, and in many cases for those wading through the single player experience it will never become more than that. Nonetheless, with the base game becoming free, the Remastered version is worth investing in, if you’re in the mood to replay the original StarCraft, or want to start playing it online, because, let’s face it, the first game is certainly equally as good as its sequel. We enjoyed reliving this classic, with crisp new visuals, revamped character models and of course improved audio.
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