StarCraft: Brood War

StarCraft: Brood War is an expansion pack released in 1998 for StarCraft. It was developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Saffire Entertainment.

The expansion pack was also incorporated into StarCraft 64.

As of May 31, 2007, StarCraft and Brood War combined have sold almost ten million copies.

General information
This expansion provides three new campaigns, two new units per race (3 for the protoss), plus some new tech advancements (eg Charon boosters, an anti-air attack range upgrade for the Goliath), new music tracks and new map tilesets (eg twilight, tileset of the protoss world of Shakuras). The campaigns continue the story from where StarCraft left off: the Overmind has been destroyed with the sacrifice of Tassadar, the protoss homeworld of Aiur has been left desolate and rampaged by the zerg, and Infested Kerrigan is left alone in her new form.

The first of the new campaigns is the protoss one and mostly takes place on their homeworld of Shakuras. The second campaign features the newly arrived armies of the United Earth Directorate commanded by Admiral Gerard DuGalle, and the last campaign (zerg) has Kerrigan as the protagonist.

Brood War was contained "within" StarCraft 64.

Campaign

 * Main article: Brood War Introduction

Episode IV
This is the Protoss campaign of the StarCraft: Brood War game.


 * Full details are in StarCraft Episode IV.

Following Tassadar's sacrifice, the Zerg on the Protoss homeworld fell into disarray, but were still bent on their genocidal rampage. Protoss refugees, under the leadership of Artanis and Zeratul, retreated to the homeworld of the Dark Templar, Shakuras, despite protests from Aldaris. The Zerg followed. The Protoss and Dark Templar reluctantly joined forces with Infested Kerrigan, after she explained that she was now free of the Overmind's control, but that a new Overmind was growing on Char. Kerrigan asked for their help to kill it before it reached maturity and takes control of Kerrigan's mind again. However, the Protoss asked for a favor in return. Two ancient crystals, imbued with the powers of the Dark and High Templar, had to be recovered and be used to power the world's Xel'Naga Temple to defeat the Zerg on Shakuras. The two crystals were retrieved with Kerrigan's assistance. During the battles, a massive Terran fleet from the distant United Earth Directorate intervened, while Aldaris, troubled by their relations with the "traitorous" Dark Templar, split off and declared war on Artanis' forces and the Dark Templar. The two crystals, infused with the power of the two templars, were then joined in a Xel'Naga Temple. The two energies mixed and wiped out all Zerg on the planet, thus saving the Protoss.

Episode V
This is the Terran campaign of the StarCraft: Brood War game.


 * Full details are in StarCraft Episode V.

The player character joined the United Earth Directorate 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 was Mengsk's Dominion, and later they also gained telepathic control of the local Zerg. Kerrigan convinced Raynor to rescue Mengsk. Though divided by a Zerg-infested human spy, Samir Duran, the UED succeeded in capturing and enslaving the new Overmind, gaining control of the Zerg swarms.

Episode VI
This is the Zerg campaign of the StarCraft: Brood War game.


 * Full details are in StarCraft Episode VI.

With the massive UED fleet controlling increasing numbers of Zerg, Kerrigan was severely threatened. Painting herself as a victim, and the combined Zerg-UED as the greater enemy (as well as the judicious use of threats and hostages), Kerrigan gained the reluctant assistance of the scattered Terran, Protoss and Dark Templar forces. As the UED was beaten back, however, she turned on each of her "allies" one by one. The Overmind was killed, and Kerrigan gained control of all the Zerg.


 * Full details are in Dark Origin.

In this campaign, Duran was an ally of Kerrigan, though it was revealed in the secret mission, "Dark Origin", that his is a much greater power then at first thought. It is also revealed that he has made many Zerg-Protoss Hybrids. These Hybrids, their true nature unknown, are presumed to play a large role in StarCraft II.

In addition, Brood War features a downloadable campaign called Enslavers: Dark Vengeance and a trio of secret missions: Deception, Mercenaries II and Resurrection IV, the latter only available in StarCraft 64.

New Units
In StarCraft: Brood War, each race has new units that change how the game flows.

The Terrans get the Valkyrie (air-to-air unit with large attack radius, firing four groupings of two missiles that then acquire their own targets from any non-allied unit in range, potentially even cloaked ones not in the presence of a friendly Detector) and the Medic (infantry support unit). The Zerg get the Devourer (air-to-air unit evolved from Mutalisk with very a low rate of fire that can inflict a status ailment) and the Lurker (ground-to-ground unit evolved from Hydralisk that attacks while burrowed and has a line-splash attack). The Protoss get the Dark Templar (similar to the dark templar hero, but does less damage and can transform into the Dark Archon); Dark Archon (a spellcaster); and the Corsair (air-to-air splash unit that fires quickly and has the ability to pacify ground units and defensive structures).

Development
Development on Brood War began shortly after the release of StarCraft in 1998, and was announced after the release of StarCraft ' s first two expansion packs, Insurrection and Retribution.

Most of the team at Blizzard Entertainment responsible for StarCraft returned to work on Brood War. They were assisted by members of Saffire Entertainment, who were contracted for a variety of tasks comprising of programming and design for levels, visuals and audio effects. According to producer Shane Dabiri, Brood War aimed to drastically increase the significance of the story within gameplay, stating that the team were adding scripting that would allow "Final Fantasy type events" to be played out during the course of a level. Dabiri further explained that the objectives in the missions would also reflect the story in a far more interactive way, with players being presented with tactical decisions over which objectives to pursue and with less missions revolving around simple annihilation of the enemy.

Quotes

 * ARTANIS: Explain this odd behavior.
 * Stop poking me!
 * What do I look like, an orc?
 * This is not Warcraft in Space!
 * It's much more sophisticated!
 * I KNOW it's not 3D!


 * VALKYRIE: This is very interesting, but stupid.
 * I have ways of blowing things up…
 * Who's your mummy?
 * Blucher!
 * *Horse Neighing*


 * MEDIC: I've already checked you out commander.
 * You want another physical?
 * Turn your head and cough.
 * Ready for your sponge bath?
 * His EKG is flatlining! Get me a defib stat!
 * Clear! *bzzz*
 * He's dead, Jim. (reference to Doctor McCoy's much-used phrase on Star Trek)