StarCraft: Remastered Review - Fueling Nostalgia For Old Gamers

StarCraft: Remastered is here and ready to makes us regret the old days of gaming when things were much simpler. Games were good or bad, with pretty much nothing in between. Or at least, this is what we remember.

The problem with human memory is that that we’re not actually recording things as they were. If you played something a couple of decades ago, at a time when it was the best-looking game on the market, and you enjoyed it, there is a good chance that you’ll remember it fondly.

It might seem a little odd to even think about it, but the original Starcraft was released almost 20 years ago. At least for me, it’s a warning sign that either I’ve been played games for way too long or maybe I haven’t played enough. Among the hundreds and hundreds of titles I tried and played over the years, not many stand out, but I would have to say that Starcraft is definitely one of them.

We all have different ways of remembering Starcraft. I’m sure that the people who were doing all the rushing will remember it fondly, and players like myself that hated being rushed, have a different memory altogether. The result is that StarCraft is still stirring some feelings, but they are mostly about that entire gaming era more than anything.

A sport with a mouse

What’s important to remember about StarCraft is that it didn’t really fade, as most games do. Communities have been built around it, and it actually became a sport, with leagues, money prizes, and the whole lot. That’s not something you achieve by being undistinguished, but we have to look at it with an objective eye.

To be fair, StarCraft and its Brood War expansion were not all that good, from a single-player point of view. Looking back, it’s clear that that story wasn’t really interesting, and it featured a bland and unwelcoming campaign. On the other hand, the standards in 1998 were much lower, and people were much easier to woo.

StarCraft: Remastered

The game survived because of its multiplayer, and the only reason why that was any good was the balanced gameplay. Many other titles tried to achieve this kind of balance, and some succeeded somewhat, but StarCraft offered very different factions and a system that managed to complement all the units.

With an infusion of new maps, championships, and the right price, Starcraft never went away. It’s always there, just ready to be installed for regular people, and as a sport for others.

What is this remaster anyway?

The remaster fever is upon us, and more and more studios and publishers are looking to upgrade some of their old games and sell them again. Let’s not kid ourselves, remastering an old game is something done for profit, and not to please the fans.

When information about a possible remaster of a game from Blizzard was leaked, pretty much everyone thought and hoped that it would be Diablo 2, but it wasn’t meant to be. Soon after that, Blizzard announced that their project is actually the original Starcraft and the news was welcomed with a collective “meh.” It wasn’t a bad idea, but it wasn’t Diablo 2.

Now that we finally managed to play it, we can finally say that it’s not all that bad, which says a lot. I’m aware that there are still a lot of Starcraft fans out there that want to try the game in 4K, but it remains to be seen if it’s enough to motivate sales for a game that’s almost 20 years old.

To be fair, Blizzard didn’t just improve the resolution. They upgraded virtually all of the assets, which means that it looks as good as it can be. In fact, some of the items in the game, such as the buildings and most of the units have been redesigned, in much more detail.

StarCraft: Remastered

We have to remember that Starcraft was originally made with a technology called sprites, which was fairly common at the time of the launch. Basically, since the camera was fixed in an isometric position, there was no need for 3D models. Everything was done in 2D, along with textures and animations

This technique ensures that two things will happen. The game ages much better than one using a 3D engine since the graphics is determined just by how good the 2D textures are drawn. Secondly, the hardware requirements of such games are usually lower than average, allowing more people to play them.

Blizzard's developers greatly improved the resolution and design of all textures, along with the engine. It’s now possible to play StarCraft in 4K, which is a treat, to say the least.

A problem with the young ones

The thing is that I can enjoy StarCraft: Remastered because I played the old version and I liked it. More importantly, Starcraft was a big part of my gaming adolescence, which ensured a special place for it in my collection. I will always remember it fondly because of the way it made me feel.

On the other hand, the new generation might not appreciate it. Taken out of context, the game looks terrible, even with 4K support and hi-def textures. The cinematics are terrible, the story is a mess, the voice acting is almost atrocious, and it looks and feels dated.

StarCraft: Remastered

Furthermore, the developers could have made some small modifications to improve the gameplay, but they decided not to mess with it. For example, you still can’t select more than 12 units at once. It was annoying back then, and it’s still annoying now. There are lots of similar small problems that have remained un-remastered.

Multiplayer for the masses

To be fair, most people play this game for the multiplayer and have long since abandoned the single-player. With that in mind, I am happy to say it comes with support for Battle.net, with different servers for different parts of the world. Of course, the LAN support is still there, with UDP and IPX options.

The presence of IPX protocol should give people an idea about the level of “remastering.” It’s clear that the improvements are limited to the engine and the graphics. All of the other aspects related to gameplay have remained the same. I don’t know if it was for the sake of the people that wanted things to stay the same, or maybe it would have been too difficult to remove it than to leave it be.

One thing that’s not clear is the ability of users with different versions of Starcraft. Is it possible for players with the old version to play against the people with the remastered one? The fact that the gameplay has remained virtually the same might be an indication as to why mechanics haven’t been altered.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion