Accordingly, StarCraft has been part of my game collection since the early days, and thanks to Battle.net client, it was possible to get the old ham in digital form and play it occasionally. Only the outdated graphics with 640×480 resolution on a large 4K screen drags the gaming experience down nowadays – you have to be one of the hardcore retros or suffer from cataracts. It’s like comparing Lego technology and Lego Duplo.

So the announcement of the remaster in July 2010 was worth a silent prayer of thanks to me in the direction of California. And lo and behold, seven years later, the Blizzard Classic Games team, led by Rob Bridendecker, has turned its lofty ambitions into reality. After a quick download of the free classic as a base package followed by an update to the remastered version, I finally get to dive into one of my favorite franchises (again).

My expectations and hopes for the most contemporary graphics possible with clean audio were not disappointed. From the first chords of the upgraded soundtrack, the old excitement returns. And via F5 button press, the blocky graphics are magically replaced by the new, revamped 4K textures. They turn the RTS veteran back into a game that could have just landed on store shelves. I quickly realize that very elaborate work has paid off and SC is ready for the years and RTS fans to come.

In terms of scope, there is nothing new for the old StarCraft, as the biggest innovations are the revised graphics and the newly recorded sound files. New game content isn’t mandatory either, as SC beats just about every other RTS on this topic anyway. Besides the base game, everything that has ever existed for StarCraft belongs to the remastered version. That means the Brood War add-on and all subsequent patches up to version 1.20.

StarCraft Original’s campaign alone offers ten missions for each faction. And Brood War adds just under that many more missions. Back then, people still took the time to create long campaigns, rather than quickly cobbling together ten combined missions for all available races. The campaign also shows that storytelling was one of the developers’ greatest strengths back then.

For days now I’ve been sitting in front of the screen grinning and reliving the beginning of the whole Starcraft saga, after the end with SC2 wasn’t that long ago. I’m not quite through with the Brood War campaign yet, but even if I am, there’s still a lot to do: tons of single player maps, scenarios and online maps are ready to be played. Not to forget: the multiplayer mode, which, as in any RTS, provides long-term employment.

In the remastered version, the multiplayer mode has undergone a few necessary revisions. Among other things, the matchmaking system has been relaunched and a ranking system has been introduced. The observer mode has also been beefed up, giving it a slightly better overview. More importantly, it has been trimmed for performance, which will benefit viewers of e-sports broadcasts.

Nothing has been changed on the gameplay and game balance on purpose. On the one hand, I’m happy about that, because they’ve spent a lot of years tinkering with everything to get the StarCraft experience right. On the other hand, things like the route calculation of the units, the maximum group size or the setting of resources as a gathering point could have been raised to SC2 level. The fact that StarCraft still has a firm place in the e-sports scene and such interventions would probably be too drastic probably spoke against it. However, it is not yet clear whether the original StarCraft will be replaced by the remaster in e-sports.

StarCraft is a milestone of the RTS genre and thanks to the upgraded graphics it remains so. If you are at home in the RTS genre and/or like the StarCraft franchise, you don’t have to think twice about spending the 15 flakes for StarCraft Remastered – it’s well worth the story surrounding the beginnings of Jim Raynor, Sarah Kerrigan, Arcturus Mengsk, Zeratul and the Zerg. There are some improvements that were necessary to bring the game halfway up to date again. However, those who were hoping for profound changes in the game’s mechanics will probably remain unsatisfied.