LogFAQs > #959417598

2. StarCraft: Brood War (PC, 1998)


I truly do not know what I can say about StarCraft as a game that hasnt been said a hundred times over. The Games Contest back in 2004 close to exhausted the discourse on the game, and for good reason; that run was both deserved and legendary.

StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War, both came out in 1998, a feat that seems impossible in todays climate, given the money-grubbing nature of companies like Activision-Blizzard and the increasingly long development times. Consider that StarCraft II came out 11 years ago, and its expansions took roughly two and a half years apiece. Itd probably take longer now. In comparison, the 9 months between StarCraft and Brood War makes for a sort of Irish twins situation. Where the original game gave a 30 mission campaign, spread across the series three races, the expansion comes in at a robust 26 missions, with new units, cinematics, and rebalanced/reinvigorated multiplayer. We didnt know how good we had it back in 98.

The late 90s were an interesting time, technologically speaking. The internet was still a relatively rare resource. Most of us, if we had internet access at all, had 56K dial-up. StarCraft came out during a time when several developments were happening that would contribute to its long-term success and popularity: the peak of LAN parties, the dawn of more available broadband internet in the States, and the proliferation of CD burners available at the consumer level.



I first played StarCraft midway through 98, and Brood War in early 99, after someone my dad knew copied a bunch of PC games (and music) onto CD-Rs. Somehow, copies of each made their way to our computer room, and I was almost immediately hooked. Id played some RTS games before (see previous entries on this list), but this one had a more compelling story, better visuals, and more engrossing gameplay than the others could have hoped. I have to assume its because, as we all know from Schoolhouse Rock and/or De La Soul, three is the magic number. Most RTS games prior had two factions. Soviets/Allies. Humans/Orcs. Arm/Core. Subsequent RTS games tried to go bigger, to mixed results. But StarCraft perfected the triangular balance, and no one else has really tried to beat it since.

I was fortunate that we got DSL pretty early, in the grand scheme of things, and I played Brood War online pretty extensively through that 2004 Games Contest run. I wasnt, and still am not, particularly great. I can be a solid contributor to a team match, can win some mid-tier 1v1s, you get the idea. But while winning was nice, it was never (entirely) the point. It was the thrill of competition, seeing how you measured up, seeing if you could outsmart dumb cheese - or pull it off yourself. Early on, it was about feeling like you were in on something other people didnt really know about. That last part changed pretty quickly, of course, but it still was a once-in-a-lifetime situation, being able to enjoy an instant classic game in its early days and into its peak, all because me, the game, and the right technology each came into the world at the right time.

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The Thighmaster