Friday 12 January, 2007

StarCraft, Conclusion

I learned several things from these brief sessions.
The game is genuinely engaging. There is a simple, basic thrill of commanding armies of units to victory or death.
Gameplay is smooth and dynamic. However, much of the freedom is lost in single-player mode... The first campaign levels leave little up to the player's creativity, by following a linear story-line. Also, much of the experience is lost when you have to play the same mission over and over.
The story and mission objectives are not narrated effectively. I often found myself skipping over this part.

Overall, StarCraft is a solid RTS, but the campaigns are nothing special.

What I've found about Starcraft is that the campaigns are much more enjoyable after getting a firm handle on the online game. Since most people online play the hacked maps with a ridiculous amount of minerals, it becomes fun to try and implement the same strategies with a limited amount of resources. It also becomes apparent after playing online how poorly the computer plays, and it makes it more fun to exploit the computers weaknesses.