author: Sebastian Purtak
4. StarCraft. 20 Best Classic PC Strategy Games
Table of Contents
- Genre: RTS
- Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
- Platform: PC
- Released: 1998
Tags: RTS, science fiction, future, multiplayer, esports
The year is 1998, the first part of Baldur's Gate has just appeared on the market, and Microsoft is releasing Windows 98. At the same time, the first part of Starcraft is launched, becoming an instant global hit.
Blizzard once again revolutionized the real-time strategy genre. The game offered three single-player campaigns, one for each of the playable races. The story presented in the game was not merely a pretext for happy destruction, but a decent tale presented with a scope worthy of the greatest works of science fiction.
The gameplay displayed similar levels of quality. Each faction played differently, and yet the gameplay retained the right balance. The key to victory, especially against another living player, was therefore knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent and a well thought-out strategy. The company's servers were filled with players in the blink of an eye, eager to best opponents from the other end of the world.
The first StarCraft was a unique experience for a single player who received three spectacular campaigns, and at the same time proved to be the cause of a true multiplayer revolution, at a time when broadband internet connections were not yet so cheap and easily available.
Beginning as an international hit, the game quickly became a true legend. Talking about ordinary "commercial success" in this case is just not enough. StarCraft is one of the best-selling game series in the history of digital entertainment, and Blizzard has also made money from action figures, board games and novels. It was also one of those titles that started the phenomenon known today as esports. This phenomenon has almost become a national discipline in South Korea, which is not often the case with video games.
The reasons why StarCraft appears on this list could be counted for hours, but it wouldn't make much sense, as most of you probably already know them, which alone is enough to explain the presence of this game in our list.