StarCraft: Remastered lets you play in luscious 4K

Back in the late 90’s when I was struggling through the tepid tedium of college life, something came to light that brought blessed relief from a tedium of never ending paperwork, lukewarm meat pies and a looming set of final exams.  It was a simple statement from a coursemate, but it changed my life. He said, on a balmy day outside the university library,”Mate, have you heard of this new game, it’s called Starcraft.” Naturally, having finished Blizzard’s classic Warcraft 1 and 2 real time strategy games a while back and having absolutely no idea what in Kerrigan’s name Starcraft was, I answered with a raised eyebrow,”Is that like Warcraft in space?” The fellow shook his head and waxed lyrical, singing its virtues with the fervour of the converted. In between incoherent bouts of arm waving and shouting, I heard things like ‘starfighters, space carriers, space marines and swarming alien bugs!’ It almost sounded like a recipe straight from a Heinlein novel but it piqued my interest. With a healthy dose of skepticism, I bought a copy and there went my evening. And the weekend. And the next several weekends for the next few years. And, as they say, the rest is history.

Since it launched back in 1998, StarCraft has become the de facto real time strategy game that all others are now measured by with a depth and longevity that puts other RTS games to shame. Three intricately balanced races – Terran, Protoss and Zerg – with three very different doctrines on how to approach battle and an asymmetrical array of units that demanded tactics and finesse to deploy. Unlike earlier RTS games, it wasn’t a case of spamming the largest tanks you could build; even the humblest infantry unit, the Terran Marine, in the right place at the right time could swing the tide of battle. The amazing part? It’s still being played to this very day.

Alas, the original game is a bit long in the teeth and it shows its age with pixelated graphics and tiny unit portraits though the gameplay is still a high-octane, intensive affair. Just ask the legions of fans in Korea who tune in live to watch the game being played in grand televised matches with top players treated like rockstars. Fortunately, in keeping with the times, Blizzard has gussied up the graphics to modern day sensibilities with ultra shiny aesthetics, audio and more with a revamped Starcraft: Remastered Edition.

The gameplay, the campaigns and all the tricks that we employed are all still there but what has been improved on top of the sweeter looking graphics are widescreen UHD support for 4K resolution, cloud saves for the campaign, high fidelity audio and music and matchmaking too rather than finding and hunting for a map to play in like the old days. If that flew by you faster than an Impaler Gauss rifle round, we’ll repeat it again – you can play Starcraft in luscious, glorious 4K! If you’re a Luddite just wants to play the original Starcraft, you can swap back to it with the click of a button. Starcraft: Remastered is now available for purchase digitally online at www.starcraft.com and the Blizzard Online shop for US14.99 which works out to about RM65 with change. See you all on the battlefield.