By revamping StarCraft, Blizzard obviously seeks to do a double blow, that is to say to put in its pocket the old players nostalgic for this cult RTS released in 1998, and the new ones, who discovered the series with the different episodes of the trilogy StarCraft II, released in 2010, 2013, and 2015 respectively. For that, they took the remaster route rather than remake or reboot. In other words: change the form rather than the content. We therefore find all the missions of the single player campaign completely intact, and even single player campaigns should we say, since StarCraft Remastered does not hesitate to include the original game and its Brood War extension. And we find what made the specificity of the game at the time: the presence of three very distinct races. The classic Terrans, the Zerg who can mutate their workers into buildings, and the Protoss who can only build theirs in the energy field of a pylon. From the artificial intelligence of the enemies to the slightest keyboard shortcut, the gameplay has not changed a bit. That's the whole point of a simple remake, but it's a safe bet that some players will find the recipe of yesteryear a bit hard to swallow.
A REAL REJUVENATION CURE?
Because since that time, RTS in general, and StarCraft II in particular, have been able to streamline their game mechanics and automate certain operations. Nothing insurmountable that said and, for our part, we greatly prefer a remaster perfectly faithful to the original work rather than an update that would distort it. Especially since the gameplay, even if it is a bit dry compared to current standards, remains high-flying. Most of the improvements therefore concern the graphics (but not only, as we will see a little later) and we can therefore now play in 16/9 format, in a resolution that can go up to 4K, while observing completely remodeled units and sets, but still faithful to the original models. We gain a lot in readability, and we can observe many details that were previously drowned in a mush of pixels. Whether it's an inscription on an insignificant building lost in a corner of the scenery, animated portraits that appear in the interface when you select a soldier or a vehicle, the anatomy of biological units or the complexity buildings and mechanical units, everything appears to us in a new light.
Most of the improvements therefore concern the graphics (but not only, as we will see a little later) and we can therefore now play in 16/9 format, in a resolution that can go up to 4K.
The best way to realize the extent and quality of the work done is to use the before/after button, which allows you to instantly switch between the original version and the remastered version at any time. We very much hoped that this principle, inherited in particular from remastered adventure games such as The Secret of Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle, could also apply to a real-time strategy game, and Blizzard fully grants our wishes. Finally, the graphic revival only shows its limits in two specific points: the animations which remain jerky because they are identical to those of the era of pixelated 2D sprites, and the cinematic scenes which have not been redone for the occasion. The first point is perfectly understandable from a technical point of view, while the second is only a question of budget. But we imagine that the game would have been sold for well over fifteen euros if Blizzard had to realize all the cinematics of StarCraft and Brood War again.
On the other hand, the whole sound aspect has indeed been reworked. From the sound effects to the voices and the music, each sound you will hear has been remastered from the original files or, in the case of the French dialogues, completely re-recorded. In addition, screens called narrative interludes appear between the missions of the campaign, in order to present the situations in more detail, textual as well as visual. Finally, the whole multiplayer pan has also been modernized, based on persistent player profile, online rankings, matchmaking, new chat system, online save and statistical tools. Currently the servers tend to lag a little, but that shouldn't last. Finally, let's finish by specifying to any grumpy people that Blizzard took advantage of the arrival of StarCraft Remastered to make the original versions of StarCraft and Brood War completely free. A nice gesture, which only adds to the success of this remastered version.
