Broodwar, the sequel to Starcraft by Blizzard

I must admit that when I first got Starcraft: Brood War, I had been anticipating the game for quite a while. There was a certain « hype » about the game that I hadn’t seen in the RTS (real-time strategy) community since the original Starcraft had hit the shelves in April. The hype was definitely there but I remained sceptic. Could Blizzard Entertainment release an expansion that would be up to their quality standards? Well, the answer is a resounding « YES ».

Everything about Starcraft: Brood War proves that Blizzard still is a top-notch game designer/producer. Other Starcraft add-ons such as Insurrection or Stellar Forces hadn’t done the game justice at all. It almost seemed as if though a bunch of college buddies had got together, had a few beers and said: "Hey! Let’s make some maps"! Although Brood War does include hundreds of new maps and three new single player campaigns, it is more than just a simple expansion set: it’s an evolution.

The plot continues where Starcraft left off. The Protoss forces are left in ruins and forced to rebuild. The Terrans with internal problems of their own have enough to deal with, let alone the Zerg. And the Zerg, with Kerrigan the self-proclaimed "bitch queen of the universe", are left to regroup. Kerrigan bent on conquering every species she encounters, causes many a head ache for the Terran Dominion and Protoss Conclave through cunning and tricky manipulations. The story will have riveted to your seat till the end each scenario.

However, what everyone was so eagerly anticipating were the new units included in the expansion. Six new units in all and one that was only present in the Starcraft single player campaigns (the Protoss Dark Templar). While the Terran Medic and Valkyrie come to the aid of the Terran Dominion, the Protoss Corsair and Dark Archon (it is merged form 2 Dark Templar) support the forces of Aiur. As for the Zerg, the Lurker and the Devourer complement an already powerful force. These new units are the heart and soul of the new expansion. Once you have played it, why would you want to play the original? Besides, you would be missing out on all the new action!

The new units, in essence, are basically all "support" units. Hence, it is unlikely that a tactic using only one of the new units will pay off Vs a moderately skilled to above average player. Don’t get me wrong however, the new units change the game dramatically. Personally, I find that the most useful new unit is the Terran Medic. The medic brings the Terran infantry to new levels. In regular Starcraft, marines and firebats (ghosts also), would take damage without ever being able to recuperate. The Protoss’ shields would recharge and the Zerg would simply regenerate themselves. With the advent of the medic, the Terran infantry is a force to reckon with. Abundant use of the new medic’s healing abilities combined with Firebat/Marine stimpacks can be deadly in the early to mid-game against all three races. The medics force the other opponents to go up the tech-tree. Getting templars or reavers is necessary for the Protoss and the Zerg are either forced to put up sunkens en-masse in their base or go for lurkers.

The other new units are also very deadly when your adversary has done insufficient scouting. As for the Protoss, dark templars are especially nasty versus Terran opponents and to some extent Protoss opponents. Since Dark templars are permanently cloaked, it is essential to get detectors rather early. Since detection is one of the Terran’s main weaknesses, DT’s are especially potent vs them. Protoss are also given the possiblilty to merge two Dark Templars into one Dark Archon. This new unit has the ability to mind control opposing units. This ability has been the subject of a lot of controversy throughout the beta testing stages. In my opinion, the ability to mind control an opposing unit is rather overrated in that it probably wont change the outcome of a game all that dramatically. As mentionned earlier, the zerg lurker has the ability to litterally rip to shreds the terran infantry. The lurker burrows under the ground, and hence goes undetected, by the terran infantry. If the units approach to close, the lurker throws out a series of underground spines in a straight line which strike all in their path. Since each attack from these spines deals 40 damage and a terran marine has only 40 hitpoints, it takes only 2 shots to kill a tight bunch or marines by 1 lurker.

As for the air battle, Blizzard seemed to really turn up the volume. All three races have a new air unit. Terrans have the valkyrie, who shoots out a series of halo rockets. The Protoss have the corsair who, in addition to dealing a splash damage attack, has the ability to cast Disruption web on opposing structures and units, hence cancelling their ability to attack. As for the zerg, the Devourer is mutated from a Mutalisk in the same fashion a guardian is. The Devourer has the distinct caracteristic of shooting acid spores onto opposing air units which have the effect of reducing their armor and attack rate to a ridiculous pace. One thing about the new air units is that they all can only shoot in the air, leading into ferocious air battles on island maps such as Dire Straights or Island Hop.

One aspect about the game that Blizzard has always considered paramount is the play balance between the races. Having three distinct races like those in Starcraft was a very important challenge. Nonetheless, I believe that Blizzard has succeeded in making Starcraft: Brood War the uncontested leader in this generation of RTS games. The balance is so tight between the three races that many players select the random option for race before the game starts. To add to the enhanced playability of the game is the very much-improved computer AI for custom maps. I must admit that I was very much surprised in my first altercation with the computer on the map showdown. The computer was attacking incessantly and expanding like crazy. I almost lost! (Well, maybe not... but it was a good challenge nonetheless). Other than the new units, there are also the new tile sets and sounds.

The tile sets are simply amazing. Winter, desert and twilight are the new tile sets. The terrain is much improved on these three new tile sets. Not only is their aesthetic look very appealing but they’ve made them also much more functional. The wider ramps and bridges make for a less clumsy unit movement. God knows how many times of freaked out when I needed to get units to an important battle and saw them wander about behind these very same bridges and ramps. As for the sounds, the new units have great new sounds and funny little comments. The Dark Archon has a tough time speaking however : you would swear he has some sort of foreign object caught in his throat My personal favourite has to be the medic. Pretty sexy! Without giving too much away, lets just say that the Terran medic (a she by the way) says a few things that suggest you should not put her alone with a marine in a bunker.

All in all, the multi-player aspect is beyond reproach given that Blizzard is constantly trying to improve its balance and playability sides. The single player campaign is filled with action and the cut scenes complement the story line beautifully. The only thing missing is probably the lack of videos between the levels. There are only three new videos; one at the end of each campaign if you exclude the intro movie. However, the quality of these videos will leave your jaw hanging. Hence, if you loved the original Starcraft or even if you just play it occasionally the Brood War expansion is a must.