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Starcraft

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9.3 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 143 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Genre(s): Real-Time Strategy

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: February 28, 1998

Summary

In the distant future a small group of human exiles have been doomed to fight for survival on the edge of the galaxy. Through military strength, espionage and deceit, a unified Terran government has maintained an uneasy peace. As resources run short, however, these Confederate nations find themselves looking towards the rich worlds of their alien neighbors, the enigmatic Protoss. To further complicate matters, it seems that a previously unknown and deadly species known only as the Zerg has entered Protoss space and is destroying everything in its path. The time for war has come... As the military leader for your species, you must gather the resources you need to train and expand your forces and lead them to victory. 30 unique missions will challenge you across three different campaigns as you control the fate of the galaxy.

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: StarCraft II

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Gamers' Temple

One of those rare games that is not overly complex, but provides a challenging and fun gaming experience. It never seems to get old or boring.

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Electric Playground

Another glowing aspect of StarCraft is its absolutely brilliant Campaign Editor. This is the very best make-your-own game interface ever made.

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IGN

The distinctive races, units, spell abilities, and bases are all unique and clever, so it's amazing that the game is as well balanced as it is. This is what gameplay is all about.

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Gamezilla!

The cinematic animations are outstanding, dramatic and funny. Even the voice-over acting is really good.

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TotalGames.net

If real aliens turn up while you are playing this, they don’t stand a chance of getting your attention.

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PC Gamer

Strong strategy, great graphics, and variety make this one of the year's best. [July 1998, p.114]

GameSpot

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.

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Yahoo! Games

You get a fun, instantly appealing, easy to play-hard to master real-time strategy, with character and an endless amount of playability.

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All Game Guide

It truly revolutionizes and sets a new standard for real-time strategy games on the PC.

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Computer Games Magazine

Its well-developed plot, unique races, intuitive interface, and excellent campaign editor make it worth the price of admission, especially for those that liked "Warcraft II."

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GamePro

By virtue of simple, solid gameplay, Starcraft has managed to rise above a predictable approach and been-there-done-that mechanics, and the final product (much like "Warcraft II" in 1995) seems fresh and new.

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Cincinnati Enquirer

It won't win any awards for originality, but it's good enough to shrink your nightly sleep to just a couple of hours.

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Adrenaline Vault

While the game isn't necessarily revolutionary, it is refreshing in the gameplay it provides and the ability it gives players to create new challenges and prolong their gaming experience.

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Happy Puppy

If you're looking for something new, if you're looking for groundbreaking gameplay, you won't find it here. What you will find is a very solid game engine, with fantastic multiplayer support, and nice units and technologies to choose from.

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Game Revolution

All in all, if you buy StarCraft, you're buying it for the multi-player. The single-player is just too short and disappointing...The game just doesn't live up to the lofty goals of its predecessors, and for that, it suffers.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 143 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Euen Fan gave it a10:
Rash M obviously doesn't know anything about Starcraft. "The actual strategy/tactics emphasis was quite low..." Are you kidding me? Starcraft is the ONLY RTS which has been in every single WCG. No emphasis on strategy/tactics, psh. Don't judge something you obviously have no idea about. Starcraft is by far, the most complete, most balanced RTS ever made. After 10 years, Starcraft is still being revolutionized in terms of gameplay. If you don't believe me, just look at the Korean Starcraft scene. This game is golden.

Louis P gave it a10:
What hasn't been said? I played it for years at end, I don't regret all the time which was spent on the multiplayer. It set the standards for any RTS, it revolutionized the entire genre.

Steve S gave it a10:
I think if the world ended in 1999, the would would not have missed much in terms of P.C. gaming. Fallout 2, Half-Life, Grim Fandango, Balder's Gate, Thief, Unreal and Starcraft all came in 1998. Starcraft had a killer matchmaking system and A.I. Coupled with diverse units, races and maps. Ran on a low end machine and was fun, fun, fun. A good fulfilling single player campaign to round it out.

Bono V gave it a10:
Well, what to say thats haven't been said, I played it for years, first back in the late '90 on my old P233 with 32 MB of RAM, was late in high school because of it :-). Have spent on it hours and hours and don't regret a single minute. By my humble opinion the nearest thing to perfection the game can get and my all time personal favourite. Maybe I'm not 100% objective but it is still 100/100 game from it's huge and interesting singleplayer to multiplayer to expansion Broodwar and hopefully StarCraft 2. Thanks Blizzard. Greetings from Zg.

Rash M gave it a4:
A very traditional RTS game that brought nothing new to the table. The interface was quite unwieldy and dated considering it came out in 1998. The actual strategy/tactics emphasis was quite low, and battles were mostly stats vs stats and numbers vs numbers.

Wojtek W gave it a10:
The score for this game needs to be updated. There is no way its only 88. "Thank God for cold fusion" "You Pig ! ; What? I didn't say anything. ; no, but you were thinking it ! " "I love you sarge" I lost jobs and GFs for this game. No game ever came close to the perfection of starcraft. Best game ever made. Awesome single player. (with awesome cinematics) Bnet was amazing when SC came out. The ease of finding games. I wonder how many milions of Big Game Hunters matches have been played.

Alex R. gave it a10:
Ten years later, this is still the RTS I personally recommend. So the graphics aren't as pretty as other RTS (COUGHTODAYCOUGH), so what? The gameplay is still addicting, some later campaign missions are still difficult compared to other RTS of today, and the three races are virtually perfectly balanced. Not to mention you still have a massive online community for a game ten years running. But the campaign/story itself. Yes I did say that it would be very challenging later on but the beginning is quite novice friendly with the difficulty. But the story overall will MAKE you want to get Brood War and later SC2 once it comes out in the near future, yes it is a pretty good story. Honestly I don't think I've ever run into a problem in this game. Sure the online connectivity to other users computers can be frustrating once in a while. But even if you took out the online part of the game, the single player part of it is just as fun.

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