Product Details
 | StarCraft Battle Chest |
| List Price: | $19.99 |
| Price: | $18.01 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
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Average customer review:
Product Description
Real-time strategy goes to new levels as three intergalactic species fight for survival. Control the vagabond Terrans, enigmatic Protoss, or the bloodthirsty Zerg as they wage war on the edge of the galaxy. Includes support for Internet play over Battle.net, Blizzard's on-line gaming service.Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1035 in Video Games
- Brand: Blizzard Entertainment
- Model: 4297
- Released on: 1999-10-24
- ESRB Rating: Teen
- Platforms: Mac, Windows
- Dimensions: 1.30" h x 7.50" w x 10.50" l, .75 pounds
Features
- This includes the hit StarCraft, the incredible StarCraft - Brood War, and two official strategy guides, for hours & hours of space-based action and combat
- Play through 56 mission in 6 unique campaigns, to decide the fate of the galaxy
- Over 175 player maps over a wide variety of battlefields
- Play multiplayer battles over battle.net
- Battle for control of the galaxy with the StarCraft Battle Chest!
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The
full versions of StarCraft and the acclaimed expansion pack Brood
War, as well as complete strategy guides for each, make StarCraft:
Battle Chest a treasure chest for real-time strategy fans.
Instead
of two similarly powered enemies facing off, the three distinct races
in StarCraft have unique capabilities and strategies. Everyone
still competes in the RTS genre's typical race for resources, but that's
the only shared trait. Terrans can move their bulky mechanized bases as
necessary, while the reptilian Zerg grow their colonies and warriors
from mutating larvae. Meanwhile, the noble Protoss warp in equipment
from their home world using psionic powers.
Not only does game
maker Blizzard juggle the races' playability and match it with superb
art and sound effects, it also weaves together an engrossing three-act
plot. Early on, as a Terran magistrate, you spend a breathtaking 30
minutes defending against a Zerg onslaught. As the story unfolds around
you, you'll experience the Zerg's hive mentality and decipher the
mysterious Protoss by the game's dramatic conclusion.
Missions
vary in scope and are effectively framed with dialogue, chapter screens,
and in-mission exposition. Multiplayer games are also very well
represented by Blizzard's own free Battle.net service. If you'd rather
play over a local area network, StarCraft will generously "spawn"
up to seven copies so your friends can join in.
In keeping with StarCraft's
groundbreaking design, Brood War presents you with three sides
of a galactic conflict. Scheming humans, insidious Zerg, and proud
Protoss collide again, with stunning new cinematics setting the stage.
Old friends and foes and ominous new arrivals give the story a breakneck
pace, while a handful of additions to each race's arsenal makes for
tense battles. Brood War also features stellar new environments
and ambient art, as well as more than 100 additional multiplayer maps.
Some
missions require a bit of finesse, breaking the resource-gathering
routine while making good use of the new units. Humans now have Valkyrie
missile frigates as well as medics who automatically try to heal your
grunts. New for the Zerg air force is the acid-spewing Devourer; the new
Lurker unit provides heavy-duty (under)ground support. Along with the
Corsair fighter, the Protoss reenter the fray with Dark Templar, which
can merge to form the devastating Dark Archon. Unfortunately, units old
and new still suffer from weak artificial intelligence in path finding.
Real-time
strategy games don't get any more epic or any more satisfying. --Jack
Gardiner
Amazon.com Product
Description
This package includes both Starcraft and Starcraft:
Brood Wars plus Prima Publishing's Official Strategy Guides, which
offer you strategies, statistics, and details about new worlds to give
you the upper hand in gaining control over the galaxy's resources.
Customer Reviews
..and I don't hand out 5 stars lightly.
If, by chance, you're reading
this and you've never played Starcraft before, just go ahead and skip
reading this and buy it. You won't be disappointed.
If you're
thinking about buying it for someone else, go ahead and buy it: I've
given three Battle Chests as gifts and it was a hit every time for both
kids and adults, even to those who hadn't played this kind of game
before.
The Battle Chest is definitely the way to go, as you'll
save money over buying it and Brood War separately and get the strat
guides for free (and, to be honest, I don't think the guides are worth
having unless you're completely clueless about how to beat the game, and
there is information in the strat guides that is blatantly wrong as
well).
I've been playing RTS games since 1997, and in my opinion,
this is the best one ever made. No one has made one that's as fun, has
as gripping a storyline and artwork, or depth and replayability of
gameplay. It's a work of genius. I've had it for two years and I still
play it at least a couple of times a week. There's even one mission left
that I haven't managed to conquer without cheating, so the challenge is
definitely there.
What you have to understand about Starcraft is
that it's not meant to be a cutting-edge feature-heavy supergame where
you can customize the behavior of your units and give them complex
orders. It's meant to be more of a strategy game like real-time chess,
and in this it succeeds brilliantly. It shares the quality of chess in
that there are a limited number of units with straightforward abilities,
but there are an infinite number of things and strategies that you can
do with them. To this day players are still inventing new strategies for
these units and races.
The artificial intelligence and
pathfinding of the game is the best I've ever seen. No RTS game has
perfect AI or pathfinding (units getting lost or tangled up on each
other or the terrain), but Starcraft's is by far better than any others
out there. The computer will flatten you time and again unless you're
playing competently.
Multiplayer is a complete blast, and more
options are offered than any other RTS game. You can play team games
where you and your allies are actually controlling the same units
against the computer or others, in addition to a wide range of
variations like Capture the Flag, etc.
Blizzard's Battle.net
service is free and at any time of day there are literally thousands of
people playing. Internet play is smooth. I've played friends both
nationally and internationally with bad connections and low-end
computers, and it runs solidly even with the additional traffic of voice
chat like Roger Wilco over 56k!
Blizzard's continuing support for
the game is also excellent. They release a new map for the game every
Friday like clockwork, so there are over a hundred new, well-designed
maps available for download and replay.
In summary, just a solid,
solid, completely fun game. You can't possibly go wrong by picking up a
copy.
MAC Fans rejoice ...
I am not going to tell you
how awesome this game is ... you can get that from the other reviews.
What I want to tell you is this: I took the 'Starcraft Battlechest'
home, expecting to play it under 'Classic'; there is no mention on the
box of OSX, and the game was made well before OSX was. However, when I
installed it, there was an OSX native version right on the disk! So, Mac
fans, if you want a good RTS, here ya go.
I agree with Denny
StarCraft boasts
award-winning advanced control features, such as waypoints and training
queues, to provide enhanced gameplay. In addition to the intuitive
interface, StarCraft has the superb graphics and outstanding sound and
music that have come to be expected from Blizzard Entertainment.
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