StarCraft: Brood War

The infamous StarCraft. A Sci-Fi themed Real Time Strategy game, from the one and only Blizzard. Three races, dozens of units, infinite maps, one goal: conquer. StarCraft puts you in command of a force of one of three different races: the human Terrans, a balanced force with the ability to bounce back; the Protoss, an incredibly advanced race with sheer power on its side; or the Zerg, a horde of mutating creatures with strength in numbers.

Like many Blizzard games, the story has a nice duality; it's incredibly deep in writing, but in gameplay, is simplistic and doesn't get in the way. The ancient Xel'Naga race created both the Zerg and Protoss, and the game begins when the domineering Zerg make their way to Terran space, and the Protoss try to stop them. Through misunderstandings, convoluted power struggles, failed plans and unforeseen twists, the story develops intriguingly in the campaign mode. The original game has 30 campaign missions, and Brood War adds 26 more.

While all three StarCraft races rely on the basic principle of attacking the enemy and defending your own base, the differences in gameplay between them are astounding. Each race differs in such fundamental areas as how workers build things, where structures must be placed, and unit creation, and each race has several unique abilities all its own (most Zerg units, for instance, can burrow underground, and Terran buildings can lift off and fly around). Every single unit is balanced excellently, between power, speed, defense, and price. Some units have special techniques, like cloaking or casting a psionic storm, which can really make battle very interesting. StarCraft has dozens of unique buildings and units, and Brood War brings in a few more for each race.

StarCraft's graphics are very clean and polished. Units and environments look good, as do effects. Sound effects are very fitting, and very well done; the music is barely noticeable most of the time, but is also a good production.

Though the single player campaign and multiplayer settings are well thought out, there are two things that really keep the game alive today: Battle.net, and StarEdit. StarCraft can be played online via Battle.net for free, with up to eight players (human or computer controlled) in a single game. And StarEdit, Blizzard's accompanying map editing utility, can be used not only to create new terrains on which to battle, but also for unique Use Map Settings maps, which can take the trigger systematics of the campaign missions to all new levels (with UMS, it's possible to transform a map into an RPG, a puzzle game, or almost anything else you can imagine).

The replay is endless. The game is well thought out and fun. Between massive armies clashing on an alien landscape, and twisting the game's mechanics in UMS games, StarCraft and its expansion Brood War are classic games that keep on kicking.

Progress: Gave Up -- Haven't finished single-player campaign