For some background, I recommend:
As you can see, (and I really think you should read to establish the context better, if you don’t mind), it has been quite the journey from Nostalgia I to Nostalgia II, but you may have guessed that from the way Nostalgia II ended, I clearly have a lot to add!
And so, here it goes. As much as I would like to call the original StarCraft the perfect RTS for me, it really wasn’t. I mean, sure; as RTS games felt back in the 2000s, it was pretty much perfect, but that was also down to two rather amusing factors –
- Pretty much every RTS felt the same, and we accepted the pathfinding, the aiming and firing, and other annoyances as part of the deal, and if we’re really honest, as part of the ‘character’ of the game, (and)
- Most consumer PC parts weren’t as powerful back then, and we barely had access to more expensive, powerful stuff. For instance, I can confirm that in 2003, when I was still in college, we had one – that’s right; ONE! – student who had a pretty expensive discrete GPU, but since it was, well, 2003, and our hostels did not get air conditioning, and the weather was pretty hot, his PC overheated badly to the point where his PC was almost always completely open. [And of course, he played games like Doom 3 on his computer, which like all FPS games, were completely wasted on me*] So we simply never knew or noticed ~30 fps caps on all the games back then!!
Fast forward to today, and such things are unacceptable; and by which I mean pretty much unplayable! The fact remains that we found those games between 2001 (AoE) and 2003-04 as opposed to the years they were released (1998-2000), but they made for a huge part of our childhood, to the point where, even today, we remember these games longingly, but not to actually play these things.
Which begs the question, ‘why?’ And I shall tell you – the story remains etched in my mind now, to the point where even today, I wish there were recreations of the same game, just more in tune with my expectations of how these games are supposed to behave, look and feel.
The reason? Displays and computers, and graphics and technologies have moved so far beyond the capabilities of the time these games were from that these need full-scale remastering. Both Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 were the second generation games of their ilk (much like AoE II’s Age of Kings) but while Microsoft is still well funded enough to have released HD remastered versions of AoE I, II and III (which was different from the previous versions in being 3D-map based), we haven’t been quite so lucky with EA / Westwood studios, who have only launched the remastered version of the first generation Command & Conquer / Red Alert series. And don’t even get me started on Submarine Titans! The most unique RTS in all of history will go down without a fight because no one will remaster it!
So, what changed?
Sometime after 2004, and possibly while we were still playing the original StarCraft, we heard the news – that there was a sequel to StarCraft in the making. And it was WANT(!) at first sight when I saw the promo image, which was this:
We wanted it! Bad! And then, as years passed by and we couldn’t find cracked versions of the game, we gave up hope. Partly because (1) we never saw the game on any shelf in any store; (2) It was supposed to be an online game, which in turn brought the focus on (3) Internet in India, which still sucked and was usually prohibitively expensive; (4) the game was surprisingly expensive back then, and to be really honest, even if (1), (2), (3) and (4) had somehow worked out, (5) by the time the game released officially in 2010, our computers could not have played the game and would have given up completely.
A quick mention – Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
I know I have not mentioned Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos anywhere before, and I must say that has been because of one reason – we had never heard of Warcraft in those days, and in hindsight, a story of humans, orcs, elves and dwarves only took hold in our minds after the first of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies came out. What I can tell you is that, except for the music factor, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos ticked all the boxes that the original StarCraft game did, and in several ways, even better than StarCraft, right from the cutscenes to the story introductions and dialogues between the units – it is just that in our family of cousins, only ever tried the game, and that was because (1) by this time, I was no longer in college, but working, and so our old band of brothers never really played together since, at least until now (oh yeah!) and (2) this was different – you needed to be able to learn hotkeys and stuff, or you simply could not win against even the easy AI opponent in a skirmish!
Oh, and I should also mention, a very dear friend, who beat me in the geek test, and who I managed to beat in the nerd test** introduced me to another Microsoft game – Rise of Nations, which had one very interesting thing going for it – a journey from the cave era to a futuristic age, but included 6 different resources that needed to be collected. Sounded pretty promising, but fell flat in terms of gaming joy – but that said, my wife absolutely loved it.
For a few days.
Until Starcraft II.
My first glimpse of StarCraft II
Right. The moment I have been trying to lead to, almost relentlessly for over a month, (without success), is finally here!
Fast-forward (or rewind, depending on where your mind is currently) to December 2019, and I had a very pleasant surprise, when the youngest of ‘the boys’***, my cousin Jeffrey showed me the game we’d all been dreaming of playing for the last 15 years – the working version of StarCraft II! And first impressions? Suffice to say I was, and – as much as a surprise it is to me today as it was 18 months ago – I still am!
[In a way, I never really fully talked about at least one of the reasons behind my Build my PC series, and honestly, it was as much about finally having a computer that could handle StarCraft II at max settings as pretty much every other reason – I mean, the Dell XPS 17 that my wife and I had been using since we got married (circa 7 years at that point) could only handle the game in medium settings, and could simply not handle playing for anything over an hour – the metal chassis, if not the keybed actually got scalding hot!]
But why am I telling you all this? Well, the original title I had for this series of posts would have given you some indication if I had actually used it – The obligatory StarCraft post**** – but two paragraphs earlier, I mentioned something else too – that there are aspects of this game that have held me captive for the last 18 months, and I really do believe it is the most perfect strategy game in the history of strategy games and even computer games in general!
Alright! You got me! What’s special?
What isn’t? Here’s just a few of what makes it so special…
- Ridiculously impressive, Elon-Musk-plans-to-colonize-Mars level epic backstory, with everything from The-Hitchhikers-Guide-to-the-Galaxy-style colonizing-plans-gone-wrong to a Star-Wars-esque Rebel-alliance-against-evil-authoritarian-empire political situation; from power struggles, unexpected alliances and betrayals, to the perfect love story thrown in, perfectly – every plot twist and perfect ending you could hope for in a novel, actually playable! Talk about immersive entertainment!
- 3 well defined factions – each as surprisingly different from the other as can be, and yet, totally balanced in a way that you simply can’t go wrong in your choice. Not to mention a very well executed difficulty system that goes from ‘Easy’ to ‘Brutal’ in as many as 5 to 10 steps!
- A super-cool co-op or two player mode where players can choose 18 different commanders from the above 3 factions (6 per faction, with some of them a blend of multiple factions), each with completely unique and distinctive gameplay options, and a very effective level-up system, and if that weren’t enough, a ‘prestige’ system to play each commander in up to 4 different styles!
- Oh, and let us not forget the extremely impressive multi-player game engine, which has actually been built from ground up to allow users to share their games for the amusement, and education of other players – a game which rules e-sports, and still has over 10000-20000 active players every single time you login! Not to mention the several Youtube videos teaching you to get better at the game and simply even bask in the seriously athletic brains of the game’s proficient players – I mean, how does ~600 actions per minute (APM) in a roughly 30-minute game sound?
- Oh, and I totally forgot to mention – the game is free to play! Sure, it is the very first campaign, but it gives you a very good idea of what to expect, not to mention the fact that co-operative gameplay with friends, and multi-player versus humans and AI are both completely free. And then there are regular offers, coupled with the fact that it is nowhere near as expensive as modern-day mobile games, which leech into your wallet like there’s no tomorrow, and the sheer wealth of users and developers mean that there’s several, deeply impressive custom campaigns and game styles available to keep you interested, and more importantly, get more than your money’s worth.
yes, the graphics really look stunning, and were one of the reasons my mind simply latched on to this game!
- The strategy options are limitless – every single time you play is an opportunity to explore different strategies and counter-strategies, pit your mind against other players, and a good and loyal group of players who are kind enough to newbies and friendly enough to share tips to help you improve!
- Just like the Star Wars and James Bond novels, there are several original StarCraft novels that offer an even greater level of immersion into the world of StarCraft and the story-line – in particular these novels, and specifically in this order, which serve to further impress the level of detail this game concept is capable of. (You can find these online)
- StarCraft: Uprising [Background on Sarah Kerrigan and Mengsk]
- StarCraft: Liberty’s Crusade [Based on the original StarCraft campaign: very well-written, worth a read]
- StarCraft: Queen of Blades [Continuation novel; Best novel in the series]
- StarCraft II: Flashpoint [Continues from the StarCraft II: Terran campaign]
I could go on and on, but before you ask out of curiosity, this game builds upon the foundations of the perfect RTS (Real-Time-Strategy) genre I had mentioned in my previous post, except it feels thoroughly modern without feeling like a completely militaristic game (here’s looking at you, Halo Wars 2), all while including multiple X-factors to enjoy this game, not to mention great music again!
I’m serious, dear readers! I would never recommend playing any game – physical or otherwise – as much as I would recommend StarCraft II. It is a game-changer, whether you are an 80’s child and consider yourself too old, or mature for this kind of malarkey, or you’re a chess prodigy, in which case, why restrict yourself to a basic 8×8, limited units board, or if you’re just about anyone in-between, and you never know – you could end up having the very best time of your life with a game that’s been consistently enjoyable from 2010 onward! You can download the game here.
PS: If I’m right, nothing will quite prepare you for this intro clip – and if you’re anything like me, you’re properly and completely hooked!
PPS: And I kid you not! I’ve managed to get the wife, all 5 cousins, friends of cousins, and schoolmates from 20+ years ago to play this game. Name one other thing you can think of that gives you a similar experience. I’ll wait.
* Oh, come on! Do you really think I would have any other reason as to why I can’t remember his PC specs? Or in fact, the first discrete GPU I clapped my eyes on?
** … yeah! that really happened!
*** as we call ourselves – totally unrelated to the Amazon Prime TV show about hating superheroes
**** yeah… go figure!
Hitch-hike to heaven 
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