New life is being breathed into a classic. With Star Craft Remastered, Blizzard wants to polish up the graphics and sound of the celebrated intergalactic battle between Terrans, Protoss and Zerg. We have now played the beta and compare the remastered version with the original. But first, we’ll give you a little review of what made this cult title so successful.

The success of StarCraft Brood War

It has been almost 20 years since Blizzard Entertainment released StarCraft, one of the most successful real-time strategy games. In 1998 the title was released, which resembled the previous successful game Warcraft II. However, it laid down a model of game balance with its three different races. That same year, Blizzard released the Brood War expansion, which continued the story and added new game contents. In the following years, StarCraft became a popular sport, especially in South Korea. Professional players were able to earn a living playing the game, and tournaments of national importance were held. TV stations began to broadcast the tournaments and spectators gathered in public viewings with up to 20,000 people.

The plot of StarCraft is conveyed to the player through missions, dialogue sequences and cutscenes. In the process, you go through all three playable races in three episodes: Terran, Protoss and Zerg. The races are based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Terrans are human exiles who use space marines and armored ships. Since they can build and repair anything, this class requires a high level of micromanagement. Protoss are the technologically advanced aliens with psi abilities. They have shields and usually produce few but powerful units. The Zerg are an insectoid swarm intelligence. Each Zerg is subject to and guided by the collective consciousness. Individual drones can morph into buildings and with its slime the swarm spreads further and further.

Starcraft’s success is based on its history in addition to its role as an eSports pioneer. Vice President of Creative Development at Blizzard Chris Metzen created a monumental work with the backstory, which has also been continued in novels, comics and artbooks. In addition to Jim Raynor, the character Sarah Kerrigan – The Queen of Blades – is noteworthy. She was betrayed by the human rebellion and kidnapped by the Zerg. As a result, she developed into their most important fighter and later their leader. Due to the depth and credibility of her character, she was considered one of the most important female video game characters by Tom’s Games.

What does the new edition offer?

On August 14, 2017, the remake of StarCraft will be released for 14.99 Euros. But what is it good for?

In any case, the basic gameplay has not been touched. The remastered version is fully compatible with the old StarCraft and the balance from StarCraft: Brood War is completely preserved. But it is noticeable that you can zoom out much further and thus get a better overview of the map. The familiar soundtrack has been re-recorded and refreshed. Apart from that, all changes are of a purely graphical nature. New textures, new character portraits and better animations for the units. However, nothing has changed in the gameplay. The strange wayfinding of some units has been kept, as well as the limited army selection. This was a conscious decision by Blizzard to offer the eSports scene the exact same game. However, this is no longer up to date. Only the setting of individual hotkeys is a sensible improvement.

Playing StarCraft in a decent resolution is much more pleasing to the eye. In addition, all units and buildings look much higher quality. The new unit portraits on the bottom right look much better and don’t show much difference to their successors in StarCraft 2. Furthermore, there should be improvements in the campaign. This was not yet playable in the beta. But one thing is certain: The dialogues in the missions have been re-recorded and the cutscenes have been completely reworked. Experiencing the story in new splendor should be a special incentive for StarCraft fans.

Nevertheless, the overall impression of the new edition doesn’t really turn out to be impressive. It might be due to the fact that one is used to even better visuals with StarCraft 2. But also the effects and animations don’t look much different in relation to StarCraft. It is noticeable that the buildings have been remodeled, but the difference is still only marginal. With unchanged gameplay, this is a bit too little for the price. Starcraft: Remastered will be released on August 14 at a price of 14.99 Euros. You’ll need to own the original game for the remaster, but the Starcraft Anthology is already available for free.

Conclusion

There is a lot of nostalgia but little change in StarCraft Remastered. True fans of the first part should consider buying it. For them, the remastered campaign could be especially interesting. Nevertheless, although graphics and sound effects have been improved and a widescreen resolution is supported, the visual difference in the new edition of StarCraft is not as strong as in Age of Empires II, for example.