A remaster of StarCraft
StarCraft: Remastered is a reverently crafted modernization of Blizzard Entertainment’s original sci-fi real-time strategy game. StarCraft: Remastered will offer a full graphical overhaul of the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion, bringing a modern look and feel to the timeless classic with widescreen UHD support for up to 4K resolution. StarCraft: Remastered will include all of StarCraft’s and Brood War’s campaign missions with enhanced storytelling via new comic-book style interludes. While this rejuvenated version of StarCraft is locked and loaded for the modern era, the gameplay and balance have been precisely preserved, for an experience that will feel identical to veteran players. 4K Ultra HD Graphics and Upgraded Audio: StarCraft: Remastered will include high-resolution unit models, buildings, doodads, and tilesets, as well as high-fidelity music and sound effects to bring the original game into the modern era, while retaining the classic StarCraft style. Same Timeless Gameplay: The gameplay balance and idiosyncrasies have been painstakingly preserved from the original game. Mutalisk stacking, magic-boxing, unit pathfinding, control-group limitations, and more will all remain intact, allowing veteran players to enjoy playing and watching high-level competitive matches as before. Includes Original and Expansion Campaigns: Return to the planetary battlefields of the war-torn Koprulu Sector and command the forces of the terran, zerg, and protoss across more than 50 story-driven single-player missions. Fall in Love Again: Relive the epic saga of some of gaming’s most memorable and beloved heroes and villains, including Marshal Jim Raynor, Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan, and Praetor Fenix. Enhanced Storytelling: Original cinematics will be improved to 1080p resolution, while mission interludes and introductions will feature new comic-book style illustrations. Blizzard’s Gaming Network Brings a Bevy of Features: In addition to accurate matchmaking and enhanced ladder functionality, players will also be able to stay in touch with and chat with friends playing other Blizzard games. The classic functionality of named custom games and custom game lobbies will be retained, for the familiarity of long-time StarCraft players. Localized in 13 Languages: English, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish (LatAm), Spanish (European), Polish, Italian, Russian, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Japanese.
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Anyway, the game is still good.
Blizzard used to try when it came to making their games - a novel idea, I know. With the recent drama involving their company and their disappointing output of games over the last five years, I found it fitting that destiny stated I should play one of their most classic titles - "Starcraft", remastered five years ago to try and propel it into a modern era of gaming. Now I wouldn't consider myself a fan of the RTS genre nor one that is very well-read in many of its most prominent titles, but I know that this game is one of those that top a "must-play" list for it. So, I decided to test my chances at liking this game.
The plot for this game is cool enough, though I found it to be too much of a mixture of dull at times and slightly overcomplicated. There are three factions to see the events of the story through - the Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss. I only found myself getting through half of the Terran campaign before giving up, though I do admit that the story has a decent amount of depth, intrigue, and narrative having watched a summary on YouTube afterwards. Unfortunately, I didn't experience this myself due to not enjoying the gameplay that much.
The gameplay here is fine at times, but I found myself irritated by many things. Navigation felt clunky, even with the inclusion of the mini map to quickly click to wherever you need to be. Additionally, grouping characters was inconsistent and really required a certain distance between them to trigger, which meant small changes in combat couldn't quite be completed in a timely manner for a beginner. Lastly, units loved to disobey orders and find the longest possible route towards an objective, something which became annoying with trying to micromanage multiple things at once (especially during times missions). These annoyances made the inevitable combat more cumbersome than needed, and I already found the idea of automated combat to feel a bit boring.
The visuals are solid, and the soundtrack is repetitive but catchy. My really gripe with the game was that I personally just didn't find it that fun to play. I didn't feel rewarded from successful attacks and messing up meant replaying an entire section of the game that I already found repetitive, cumbersome, or frustrating. I decided to not continue to the expansions (rare for me) as they seemed to just add more of the same in terms of gameplay.
There is a classic game to experience here for sure, but I didn't find it super fun as a non-RTS fanatic nor engaging enough to convince me to become hooked into the genre. I think for RTS fans this is a must-play, as its presentation quality is high for its time of release and it provides some context for one of the most influential games in the genre, let alone the medium. For casual gamers, I would advise looking into the game before playing to see if it is worth your time - the genre has pumped out some consistent titles over the years, but it is also one that is tough to get into. This one is almost as good as it can get for a game in a genre I'm not particularly interested in, especially being a game that I just couldn't enjoy at the end of the day.
Final Verdict: 4/10 (Below Average)
