Why StarCraft is One of My Favorite Games

So why is StarCraft one of my favorite games ever? Well I’ll tell you, even though I’m the one who actually asked the question.

It has a solid, original story. How many real-time strategy games can you name with even decent stories, that aren’t based on an existing franchise? (Insert your jokes about Warhammer 40K here.) I can hear the voices of a thousand nerds cry “WarCraft” all over the internet. But let’s face it; World of WarCraft has caused some serious problems for the WarCraft universe. Blizzard has been forced to contort the WarCraft lore all sorts of ways in their search for ever more epic content and bosses for players.


Then there’s the fact that StarCraft has three totally different races, and they’re all balanced… balanced! I know that this has since been done by other series to an extent, but usually the races aren’t as different. In StarCraft’s case, all three races have been able to remain viable in the midst of professional gamers trying to find every advantage they can. That’s huge. Remember how unbalanced and glitchy Halo 2 was? Well, admittedly, that didn’t require a genius to figure out, but my point is it’s extremely difficult to make a game accessible, enjoyable, deep, and balanced all at the same time.

Who can forget about the map editor for StarCraft? UMS made StarCraft enjoyable for anyone who wasn’t able to compete at high levels of play. Why play RTS when you can play an RPG? Why macro when you can stick to micro? The map editor provided endless hours of fun, and kept me playing StarCraft far longer than I’ve spent with almost any other game. I can’t wait to see what people will do with the map editor for SC2.

Plus there was the campaign. Sure, it is a little dated, and it was unfairly difficult in the expansion, but Blizzard went to a lot of work keeping things fresh. I’ve played so many real time strategy campaigns where basically they just keep throwing you into the same scenario over and over. Blizzard kept things mixed up. While not my favorite mission, the medic tutorial will probably always be in my mind with how creative it was. Solving puzzles in an RTS wasn’t something I ever thought I’d do.

There are also all sorts of extras that aren’t enough to make the game stand out, but they really add to the feel of the game, and help it age well. The voice acting was excellent. They could have just thrown in some generic, nondescript voice acting like Age of Empires,
but they didn’t. They went the extra mile, and the game is all the more memorable for it. Plus, over a decade later, it still isn’t unusual to find a game with voice acting that will make you laugh or grimace… sometimes both at the same time - anyone who can send me a picture of that gets 10 bucks. There was also the graphic style of the game. It feels dirty, grungy, and dark, with the exception of the Protoss at times. You didn’t have to play StarCraft for long to realize what direction the game would take in terms of plot.

So there you have it, my reasons for loving StarCraft. I’m sure a few more things could be listed. And since this is the internet, I’m sure you’ll let me know what they are - vocally. But these are the main differentiators between it and all the games that came out in ’98 but we never think about any more. You know, besides the fact that StarCraft is only finally getting its sequel now. I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane as we gear up for SC2. I've massively enjoyed the beta, and I wouldn't be surprised if I'm writing another
article like this for it ten years down the road.