StarCraft: Brood War
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| StarCraft: Brood War | |
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| Developer(s) | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) |  Blizzard Entertainment Sierra Entertainment |
| Latest version | 1.14 (2006-07-31) |
| Release date(s) | November 30, 1998 March, 1999 |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) PEGI: 16+ ELSPA: 15+ OFLC: M OFLC/NZ: R16+ |
| Platform(s) | Mac OS, Mac OS X, Windows |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| Input | Keyboard, mouse |
StarCraft: Brood War is an expansion pack released in 1998 for StarCraft — an award winning real-time strategy computer game developed by Blizzard Entertainment.
Contents |
[edit] General information
The expansion pack introduced new campaigns and two additional units for each race, new tech advancements, new map tilesets, and new music. The campaigns continue the story from where the original StarCraft left off: the Overmind had been destroyed with the sacrifice of Tassadar, the Protoss homeworld of Aiur had been left desolate and rampaged by the Zerg, and Kerrigan was now left alone in her new Zerg form. Full details are in the Brood War introduction.
The first of the new campaigns involves the Protoss, (or rather, the Dark Templars), and mostly takes place on their homeworld of Shakuras. The second campaign features the newly arrived armies of the United Earth Directorate (UED) commanded by Admiral DuGalle, and the last campaign (Zerg) has Kerrigan as the protagonist.
The game's introductory cutscene takes a number of creative cues from the Do Lung Bridge scene in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now. Both scenes display unsupported and demoralized troops outnumbered by a superior foe in nighttime trench warfare. One soldier's cry of "Who's in charge here?" echoes a line from the film. Other elements, such as the Christmas lights strung up along the trenches, the roving searchlights, and the music will be familiar to viewers who have seen Apocalypse Now.
[edit] Storyline
[edit] Episode IV
This is the Protoss campaign of the game.
Full details are in StarCraft Episode IV.
Following Tassadar's sacrifice, the Zerg on the Protoss homeworld are in disarray, but still overwhelmingly numerous. Excepting some Protoss forces commanded by Jim Raynor and Fenix who stay in Aiur counter-striking the Zerg, the rest of the Protoss army refugees retreat to Shakuras, the homeworld of the Dark Templar, by using a interdimensional portal, despite protests from Aldaris, the ancient leader of the now ravaged Conclave. They are, however, and despite Raynor and Fenix efforts, followed there by the Zerg. The Protoss and Dark Templar, with the supporting assistance of the Dark Templar's matriarch Raszagal, reluctantly join forces with Sarah Kerrigan's Zerg forces, after she explains she's now free of the Overmind's control, but that a new Overmind is growing on Char. Kerrigan asks for their help to kill it before it reaches maturity. However, the Protoss ask for a favor in return. Two ancient crystals, fused with the powers of the dark and high templar, must be recovered to defeat the Zerg on Shakuras. The two crystals are discovered and the Overmind is crippled to slow its development. During the battles, a massive Terran fleet from the distant United Earth Directorate intervenes, and Aldaris, troubled by their alliance with Queen of Blades and the Dark Templar's trust in her, gathers supporters and declares war on Zeratul's forces and the Dark Templar. As he is about to reveal why he staged the rebellion Kerrigan assassinates him and she is banished from Shakuras. The two crystals, infused with the power of the two templars, are then joined in a Xel'Naga temple on Shakuras. The two energies fuse and destroy all Zerg on the planet, thus saving the Protoss.
[edit] Episode V
This is the Terran campaign of the game.
Full details are in StarCraft Episode V.
The player joins the United Earth Directorate (UED) Expeditionary Fleet, assigned to subdue the Terran worlds in this sector, but their high-handed actions quickly make enemies of all the various Zerg and Protoss factions as well. Their first enemy to fall is Mengsk's Dominion, overconquered by the UED forces in their capital world of Korhal. However, Raynor manages to rescue Mengsk before he could be captured by the UED, and both escape to the Protoss homeworld of Aiur where some scattered Protoss forces commanded by him and Fenix were still on fight against the remainings of the Zerg invasion. The UED follows them to the planet but is unable to track them as they escape through. Though divided by the intrigues of a Zerg-infested human spy, Samir Duran, who turns Admiral DuGalle against his chief deputy, Vice Admiral Stukov, the UED succeeds in capturing and enslaving the new Overmind and control of Zerg swarms.
[edit] Episode VI
This is the Zerg campaign of the game.
Full details are in StarCraft Episode VI.
With the massive UED fleet controlling increasing numbers of Zerg, Kerrigan is severely threatened. By painting herself as a victim and the combined Zerg-UED as the greater enemy (and through the judicious use of threats and hostages), Kerrigan and her new ally Samir Duran gain the reluctant assistance of the scattered Terran Dominion of Arcturus Mengsk and the Protoss forces that had stayed in Aiur and didn't travel to Shakuras, commanded by Jim Raynor and Fenix. This alliance manages to reconquer Korhal's desertic world from the UED, as an apparent deal with the emperor Mengsk, but after the victory she turns on each of her "allies" one by one, resulting in the death of Fenix and General Edmund Duke. In the following events, Kerrigan's forces arrive to Dark Templar's homeworld of Shakuras and manage to capture the Dark Templar's matriarch, Raszagal. With the matriarch as a prisoner, Kerrigan pursues Zeratul to help her destroying the Overmind controlled by the UED. The Overmind is killed by the Dark Templar, and Kerrigan gains complete control of the Zerg. Prior to the Overmind's demise it's discovered that Raszagal was infested by Kerrigan, even before Zeratul's arrival to Shakuras, and was Kerrigan's mere decoy all the time (something Aldaris had previously suspected before he was killed by Kerrigan). This forces Zeratul to kill her before Kerrigan's eyes. After all these events, Kerrigan defeats the Protoss, UED, and Dominion fleets in a single epic battle, and by the end reigns as the dominant power in the Koprulu Sector.
Prior to the climactic battle of this campaign, Samir Duran mysteriously vanishes, much to Kerrigan's annoyance. Unbeknownst to her, but revealed to the player in the secret level "Dark Origins", Duran's alliance with Kerrigan was yet another level of his deception. Secretly, Duran had been conducting experiments on creating viable Zerg-Protoss hybrids at installations scattered across the sector, and he's discovered by Zeratul and the rest of his scattered forces. Duran reveals that he is in fact working for an as yet unnamed force. He warns Zeratul that the hybrid he discovers is only one of many, and they will bring about the end of the current order.
[edit] New units
- Valkyrie – An air-to-air unit that fires a barrage of 8 H.A.L.O rockets, which spread out to cause large splash damage to enemy air units.
- Medic – An infantry support unit, with the ability to rapidly heal all biological ground units (including SCVs) but it has to have enough energy to rapidly heal units, can remove foreign buffs with restoration, and blind enemy units with Optic Flare.
- Devourer – An air-to-air unit evolved from mutalisks with a very low rate of fire that can inflict a status ailment known as acid spores. With each consecutive acid spore, the target takes the number of acid spores more damage, up to nine, such that all other units to do more damage to the inflicted, the inflicted unit also fires slower than usual. The acid spores also reveal nearby cloaked units. Although the damage is not of splash type, the acid spores also effects nearby air units.
- Lurker – A ground-to-ground unit evolved from the hydralisk that can only attack while burrowed and has a line-splash attack.
- Dark Templar – Similar to the Dark Templar Hero, but runs faster and two can fuse into the Dark Archon.
- Dark Archon – A spellcaster with the ability to stun several biological units at once (maelstrom), cripple or kill other spellcasters (feedback), and mind-control enemy units.
- Corsair – An air-to-air unit that inflicts fast splash damage and can cast a disruption web to prevent all attacks from ground units and buildings with an attack inside the webbed area.
[edit] Difficulty
The developers of the game stated they have designed the levels considering players have defeated the original StarCraft without cheats. One Gamespot editor comments, 'much must be complimented on the brilliance of the game but even veteran players will assume the levels to be near impossible to beat'. The missions are no longer straight-forward and a greater deal of strategy must be placed in every tactic one uses. Enemy waves are now even smarter and use tactics more often and quite effectively. Despite the difficulty, it generously extends gameplay and prepares players for online play.
[edit] References
- Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.
- Underwood, Peter, Chris Metzen and Bill Roper. StarCraft: Brood War (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.
[edit] External links
| StarCraft by Blizzard Entertainment | |
|---|---|
| StarCraft Universe | Gameplay of StarCraft • StarCraft storyline • Psionic technology |
| Factions and Organizations | Judicator Caste • Kel-Morian Combine • Khalai Caste • Protoss • Protoss Conclave • Pirate Militias • Raynor's Raiders • Sons of Korhal • Templar Caste • Terran • Terran Confederacy • Umojan Protectorate • United Earth Directorate • Xel'Naga • Zerg • Zerg Brood |
| Locations | Aiur • Antiga Prime • Braxis • Char • Chau Sara • Korhal • Mar Sara • Moria • Shakuras • Talematros • Tarsonis • Umoja • Zerus |
| Characters | Aldaris • Artanis • Gerard DuGalle • Edmund Duke • Samir Duran • Fenix • Sarah Kerrigan • Arcturus Mengsk • Nova • Raszagal • Jim Raynor • Alexei Stukov • Tassadar • Zeratul • Zerg Overmind • Minor Characters |
