StarCraft: Brood War

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StarCraft: Brood War
Developer	Blizzard Entertainment Saffire Entertainment
Publisher	NA Blizzard Entertainment PAL Sierra Entertainment
Designer(s)	Chris Metzen Rob Pardo Shane Dabiri (producer)
Version	1.20
Released	NA November 30, 1998 PAL March 1999
Genre	Real-time strategy
Engine	Modified Warcraft II engine
Modes	Campaign mode, multiplayer
Ratings	ESRB (Teen) ELSPA: 15+ OFLC: M OFLC/NZ: R16+ PEGI: 16+
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, Macintosh OS and OS X
Requirements	Windows: Windows 95 or better 90 MHz Pentium 16 MB RAM DirectX-compatible 2x CD-ROM drive 640x480 8-bit display Full version of StarCraft Mac OS: System 7.6 or better PowerPC 601 or better 16 MB RAM Full version of StarCraft
Input	Mouse, keyboard

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

Brood War was also incorporated into StarCraft 64.

As of June 29, 2009, StarCraft and Brood War combined have sold more than eleven million copies.

With Patch 1.18 released in April 2017, the expansion and its base game were made free to anyone with Battle.net.

General Information

This expansion provides three new campaigns, two new units per race (3 for the protoss), plus some new tech advancements (e.g. Charon boosters, an anti-air attack range upgrade for the goliath), new music tracks and new map tilesets (e.g. 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 Sarah Kerrigan is left alone in her new form.

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

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.

Spoiler Warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Following Tassadar's sacrifice, the zerg on the protoss homeworld fell into disarray, but were still bent on their genocidal rampage. The zerg had split into two factions, under the control of Daggoth and Kerrigan

Protoss refugees, under the leadership of Artanis and Zeratul, retreated to the homeworld of the Dark Templar, Shakuras, despite protests from Aldaris. Raynor and Fenix went with them. The zerg followed. After arriving, the protoss soon realized that two of their companions were gone. Mourning the loss of Raynor and Fenix, they established a settlement dubbed New Antioch. They discovered Kerrigan after blowing up a zerg base. The protoss and Dark Templar reluctantly joined forces with 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 took 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 Templar and Templar Caste, 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, only to be defeated by Artanis and Zeratul, but this was part of Kerrigan's plotting; she tricked the protoss into damaging Daggoth's zerg for her.

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 but also strengthening Kerrigan's position.

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 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 spy, Samir Duran, the UED succeeded in capturing and enslaving the new Overmind, gaining control of many zerg forces.

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 new Overmind was killed, and Kerrigan gained control of all the zerg.

Full details are in Dark Origin.

In this campaign, Duran was an ally and consort of Kerrigan, though it was revealed in the secret mission, "Dark Origin", that he ultimately served a greater, unaligned, power. It was also revealed that he has made many zerg-protoss hybrids. These hybrids, their true nature unknown, play a large role in StarCraft II.

In addition, Brood War features a downloadable campaign called Enslavers: Dark Vengeance and is associated with 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) and the medic (infantry support unit). The zerg get the devourer (air-to-air unit evolved from mutalisk with a very 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 slightly less damage and can transform into the dark archon); dark archon (a spellcaster that is capable of causing enemy units to join your force); and the corsair (air-to-air splash unit that fires quickly and has the ability to pacify ground units and defensive structures). The terrans and protoss gain a spellcaster each.

Remastered

Brood War and its base game were remade in StarCraft: Remastered, which features updated visuals, audio updates, and support features, but maintains the same base gameplay.

Development

Brood War was announced after the release of StarCraft's first two expansion packs, Insurrection and Retribution. Sources differ on when development began on the game; a GameSpot feature states that development began after the release of the original game, while The Cinematic Art of StarCraft states that development began prior to the release of the original game.

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. Bob Fitch has likened Brood War as being a "balance patch" for the base game. The team started to design and build units to specifically serve as counters, or to simply shore up specific races' weakness.

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 fewer missions revolving around simple annihilation of the enemy.

Cinematics were designed differently than in the original game, where the cinematics team developed stand-alone cinematics focused on tone. In Brood War, the cinematics were developed in conjunction with the plot.

Kerrigan was elevated to be the central antagonist for the game, expanding her role from the original StarCraft. The United Earth Directorate was developed in mind with the idea of further expanding on Earth and its powers down the line, but this plot thread was dropped in StarCraft II.

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. (Star Trek)

Notes

The events of StarCraft: Brood War had little impact on StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty because the impact was mainly on characters. Little changed in the political situation, with the biggest one, the arrival of the United Earth Directorate fleet, reversed by the end.