Starcraft: Classic Blizzard

The original Starcraft came out in 1998 and was an instant hit in my family.  My Dad ate it up and once he had finished it, my brother and I got our turns.  Starcraft is another great example of the staying power of Blizzard games--I could re-install it and be completely content playing a 16 year-old game.  What makes Starcraft so great?  A great story-based campaign, three very different races to play, and multiplayer.

I really enjoyed the single-player campaign in Starcraft.  I think Blizzard does a great job of amping up the difficulty throughout it's strategy games.  The last scenario in a campaign is always very challenging and could take many tries to get right, but you get that great feeling if achievement.  The story in Starcraft is exceptional and the concept of getting to play as all three races is something I love about Starcraft (and Blizzard RTS in general).  The Terran campaign with it's lead characters Jim Raynor, Sarah Kerrigan, and Arcturus Mengsk is a great lead-in.  The player gets familiar enough with the game mechanics and then is thrust into playing a different race with slightly different mechanics.  Going from Terran to Zerg and then to Protoss kept the game interesting and was considered a revolutionary shift in RTS games at the time.

One other fun aspect of the original Starcraft series is the multiplayer.  I didn't do much multiplayer, but can remember my Dad and brother networking their computers together and having epic battles that would last for hours.  Each of the playable races has their own strengths and weaknesses and that can make multiplayer extremely challenging and fun.  Starcraft (Starcraft II now) is an accepted E-sport that pits the best players in the world against each other.

If you're feeling nostalgic or just want to replay the first entry into the Starcraft franchise, reinstall Starcraft and remember what a great game it is.  It stands up to the test of time--a hallmark of Blizzard games.