StarCraft

StarCraft is a real-time strategy game for the PC. It was created in 1998 by Blizzard Entertainment. Starcraft is 14 years old and is still played by many people, in many countries around the world. It is very popular in countries like Korea and the United States.

StarCraft and its expansion pack StarCraft: Brood War sold more than 1.5 million copies in 1998, making it the best selling game of the year.  In 1998, StarCraft won an Origins Award for best computer game.

On May 19, 2007 Blizzard announced that they are making StarCraft II. Also, they have held some events for South Korean StarCraft pro-gamers to help them create the game.

Plot 

The story is set in the future, where humans (called Terrans) get stuck in a war between two alien species, the Zerg and the Protoss. The Zerg look like monsters, and are all controlled by a very powerful Zerg called the Overmind. They fly around the universe and invade planets. The Protoss, who have very advanced technology, look for the planets that the Zerg have taken over. When they find a Zerg planet, they burn it so that the Zerg on that planet cannot spread to others. In the original series human protagonist Jim Raynor and several Protoss allies attack and defeat the Overmind. In Starcraft: Brood War Jim's ex-partner Sarah Kerrigan uses deceit and trickery to manipulate the Terran and Protoss into helping her take control of the entire Zerg brood, making her the strongest force in the galaxy.

Gameplay 

StarCraft players can choose to play as Protoss, Zerg, or Terran races. Each race has different soldiers and buildings. Players can choose to play one-player or multiplayer games. In both, the player must gather resources, and use them to build a base and make soldiers to attack the enemy. The player wins when they destroy all the enemies buildings.

In one-player mode, there is the Campaign mode, and Custom mode. In Campaign mode, the player goes through a series of missions, which tell the story. Custom mode lets a player choose what race they want to be, what area they want to play on, and what race they will fight against (all enemies are controlled by the computer).

During a game, the player must use workers to gather minerals and vespene gas. Minerals appear as blue crystals in the ground and vespene gas comes from a geyser that has green smoke coming out of it. To gather vespene gas, the player needs to build a refinery building to be built on the geyser. The player uses minerals and vespene gas they have gathered to construct buildings and create units to fight the enemy. Buildings are structures that are used to create different kinds of units to fight the enemy. In order to create units, players must build special structures or units that provide supply. If the player does not have enough supply, they cannot create more units. Each player has a supply limit of 200 units. When the player has reached 200 units, they can not make more units.

There are many different buildings the player can construct. Most of the buildings are used to build units. There are other buildings that are used for research to upgrade units, making them more powerful. Players can also make defensive buildings that are used to defend against attacking enemy units.

Each race have different types of units. The Protoss have powerful warriors and machinery that cost lots of minerals and gas to build. The Zerg use many fast and low cost units to defeat their enemies. Terran units mix between Protoss and Zerg units. They have strong, but easy to kill units that are powerful when used in formation. No race in StarCraft is more powerful than another race. Blizzard has released many small updates to the game that keep all the races balanced.

To win, players must gather and use resources wisely, and use smart strategies. To become very skilled at the game, players also need to become good at micromanagement and macromanagement. Macromanagement means collecting resources, building new bases, and making units to fight. Micromanagement means moving units so they can use their abilities to protect each other and fight the enemy. Players with better micromanagement will win fights against enemies who are not as good at micromanagement. This makes StarCraft different from many newer games, because the newer games often do much of the micromanagement without the player having to do it.

StarCraft in South Korea 
StarCraft is especially popular in South Korea. In Korea, StarCraft sold 4.5 million copies, which is 40% of the total copies sold in the world.  Also, there are many pro gamers and pro gaming teams, so StarCraft games are broadcasted on TV and the internet.  The game was sold in Korea by LG Soft. Even though the game wasn't translated into Korean, it was still very popular. This problem was solved in 2005, with a new update to StarCraft.

References

Other websites 
 StarCraft website
 Brood War website
 StarCraft Compendium 
 StarCraft News 
 News about StarCraft and StarCraft II 
 StarCraft 2 Forum  is a place where StarCraft 2 enthusiasts can gather and discuss all aspects of StarCraft 2.
 starcraft 2 replays

1998 video games
Real-time strategy video games
StarCraft
Windows games
MacOS games