StarCraft: Brood War

Brood War takes place in the StarCraft universe, set around the early 26th century. Terran exiles from Earth have colonized a distant area of the Milky Way galaxy called the Koprulu Sector, having established several governments. Eventually, a civil war breaks out and ends with the formation of the Terran Dominion. However, humanity soon becomes caught in a war between the Protoss and the Zerg, which culminates at the end of StarCraft with the death of the Zerg leader, the Overmind, on the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. Without the Overmind to command, the Zerg rampage mindlessly across Aiur, while the cerebrates—the secondary commanders of the Swarm—attempt to regain control. After the discovery of alien life in the Koprulu Sector, the United Earth Directorate (UED)—the international body governing Earth—decides to send an expeditionary force to secure the sector and prevent the aliens from finding Earth. Brood War begins two days after the conclusion of StarCraft.

The player assumes the roles of three anonymous characters over the course of the game. In the first campaign, the player assumes the role of a Protoss fleet commander. The player's character is commanded by Zeratul and Aldaris, two adversaries from StarCraft who have since reconciled their differences to lead their people in the face of the rampaging Zerg. They are joined by Jim Raynor, a Terran rebel on the run from the Dominion, Artanis, the previous Executor of the third campaign of StarCraft who has recently been promoted, and Raszagal, the matriarch of the dissident dark templar faction in Protoss society. The second campaign sees the player as a captain in the UED expeditionary force, reporting to the fleet's admiral Gerard DuGalle and his vice-admiral Alexei Stukov. To secure the sector, the UED plans to overthrow the Terran Dominion and its emperor Arcturus Mengsk, and are assisted in this by Samir Duran, a mysterious psionic ghost espionage agent, and his group of anti-Dominion rebels. The final campaign has the player assume the position of a Zerg cerebrate, a commander within the Zerg Swarm. The player is put under the control of Sarah Kerrigan, a Terran who was infested by the Zerg in StarCraft.

The story of Brood War is presented through its instruction manual, the briefings to each mission, and conversations within the missions themselves, along with the use of cinematic cut scenes at the end of each campaign.[4] The game itself is split into three new episodes, one centering on each race.

In the first episode, Aldaris, Zeratul, and the newly promoted Artanis work to evacuate the surviving Protoss from their devastated homeworld through a warp gate to the dark templar homeworld, Shakuras, where they meet the matriarch of the dark templar, Raszagal. Although the Zerg are able to follow the Protoss to Shakuras, Raszagal informs the survivors of a Xel'Naga temple on the surface of the planet with the power to scour the Zerg from the surface if activated. With Zeratul and Artanis reluctantly partnering with Sarah Kerrigan, who informs them of a new Overmind growing on Char, the player joins them in an operation to recover two key crystals (Khalis and Uraj) necessary to operate the temple. Upon their return, it is revealed that Aldaris has begun an uprising against the dark templar over their alliance with Kerrigan. The uprising is crushed, and Aldaris is killed by Kerrigan, who reveals that her motives are to ensure the destruction of the Zerg cerebrates on Shakuras so she can gain control of the Zerg herself before departing the planet. Despite knowing that activating the temple will accomplish Kerrigan's objectives, Zeratul and Artanis proceed with little other choice, wiping the Zerg off Shakuras' surface.

Cinematic cut scenes are used at key plot points during the single-player campaigns.

In the second episode, the player leads the United Earth Directorate's initial incursions against the Terran Dominion. Upon meeting Samir Duran, the fleet's vice-admiral Alexei Stukov conscripts Duran as a special advisor. The UED soon discovers a "psi disrupter"—a device capable of disrupting Zerg communications—on the former Confederate capital Tarsonis. Although Duran persuades admiral Gerard DuGalle to have the anti-Zerg device destroyed, Stukov's forces relieve Duran at the last moment. The UED proceeds to the Dominion throne world Korhal IV where the player defeats Arcturus Mengsk's armies, although Mengsk is rescued when a Protoss fleet commanded by Jim Raynor arrives. The UED tracks Raynor and Mengsk to the Protoss homeworld of Aiur, but the two escape the massive UED assault when Duran inexplicably moves his forces out of position and allows the Zerg to interfere with the operation. Having understood that the UED invasion had caused Mengsk, Raynor, and the Protoss to band together against a common foe, Stukov realizes that Duran's actions and the Zerg attack were too much to be a coincidence—the Zerg were also allied with the Terran Dominion and the Protoss, and Duran had been working to undermine the UED. While Stukov takes a contingent of troops and reconstructs the psi disrupter on Braxis, DuGalle is unaware of his intentions and becomes convinced that he is a traitor. The player helps Duran hunt down Stukov inside the psi disrupter, but before he dies, Stukov reveals to DuGalle that Duran is the real enemy. Duran flees after the player foils his attempt to sabotage the psi disrupter. Using the psi disrupter's capabilities, DuGalle and the UED are able to assault the Zerg world Char and take control of the new Overmind growing there.

The final section of Brood War sees the player helping Sarah Kerrigan defeat the UED. With the Overmind falling under the United Earth Directorate's command, all operations amongst native factions in the sector are damaged, including Kerrigan's forces. To begin the campaign against the Directorate forces, Kerrigan and Samir Duran form a reluctant alliance with Jim Raynor, Protoss praetor Fenix, and Arcturus Mengsk to destroy the psi disrupter. After destroying the psi disrupter, the player leads Kerrigan's forces in a full-scale assault on Korhal, quickly breaking the UED's hold over the planet. In the aftermath, Kerrigan betrays her allies, destroying a large number of Dominion forces and killing both Fenix as well as Edmund Duke, Mengsk's right-hand man. Angry at Kerrigan's betrayal, Raynor promises that he will kill her one day and then retreats. Kerrigan travels with Duran to Shakuras and abducts Raszagal, who she uses to blackmail Zeratul into killing the Overmind on Char, thus bringing all Zerg forces under Kerrigan's control. Zeratul attempts to rescue Raszagal, but the player prevents their escape, and Zeratul eventually kills Raszagal when it becomes clear she has been irreversibly brainwashed by Kerrigan. At that moment it becomes clear that Aldaris's uprising in the first episode was an attempt to stop the brainwashed Raszagal from betraying her people any further. Upon leaving Char in search of Artanis, Zeratul stumbles upon a genetics facility run by Duran without Kerrigan's knowledge where a Protoss/Zerg hybrid is being developed. At the same time, Kerrigan is attacked on Char by the Dominion, the UED, and a vengeful fleet commanded by Artanis. Despite being outnumbered, Kerrigan defeats all three fleets and eradicates the surviving UED fleet, leaving her the dominant power in the sector. Before the UED fleet is wiped out, Admiral DuGalle sends a final message back to his family before committing suicide with his pistol.

StarCraft: Brood War was critically acclaimed. The magazine PC Zone gave Brood War a short but flattering review, describing it as having "definitely been worth the wait". PC Zone praised the inclusion of new units and the balancing tweaks as transforming the original StarCraft "from an okay game into something akin to the mutt's nuts". The review also drew note to the cinematic cut scenes, stating that they "actually feel like part of the story rather than an afterthought".[20]

IGN praised Brood War as a "carefully designed" expansion, "with a surfeit of new features that will satisfy even the pickiest of gamers". Although stating that there was "enough to enrich the core gameplay without losing the flavor", IGN presented concern over the difficulty of the game: "Brood War's difficulty is an order of magnitude higher than StarCraft. [Players will] barely have enough time to acquaint [themselves] with the new units before the enemy starts coming at [them] full bore." However, IGN praised the plot as "compelling" and described the extended multiplayer as "one of the best features" of the game, ultimately rating the expansion as "impressive".[5]

GameSpot was also positive in its review, stating that the design of Brood War "contains all the care, detail, and ingenuity of a true sequel" that "completely revitalizes" the original game. The reviewer praises the "seemingly minor but terribly significant modifications" to the balance of the game, putting the results as "outstanding", but draws concern to the interface's shortfalls in coping with these changes. GameSpot also notes the music and audio work on Brood War as a bold improvement, describing the voice acting as "completely convincing" in a heavily story-driven single-player campaign that although becoming less innovative in the latter stages, "remains captivating to the end". The review concludes that Brood War is a "more-than-worthy successor to StarCraft and one of the finest computer game expansion sets of all time",[6] and gave a special achievement award of "Best Expansion Pack" to the game.[22]

In its review, The Cincinnati Enquirer commended Brood War's new content, praising the efforts gone to in the development of the expansion. Noting the increased difficulty of the expansion and its multiplayer success, The Cincinnati Enquirer stated that "While it’s rare that an expansion pack reawakens the joy birthed from the original, Brood War proves it’s not impossible" and concluding that the expansion was a "worthwhile choice".[7]

However, the positive critical response to Brood War was not universal. Game Revolution described the gameplay as "identical to StarCraft in almost every way" and displaying mixed feelings towards the new units. The reviewer continued by stating that "while the unit upgrades are good, the scenarios still don't cut it", describing the single-player mission design as an "afterthought" despite the expansion possessing an "interesting" storyline. Dismissing the multiplayer additions as unimportant, Game Revolution summarized that while "a fun expansion", Brood War was "a mixed bag".[19]

Brood War was a finalist for Computer Games Strategy Plus's 1998 "Add-On of the Year" award, which ultimately went to Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome. The editors noted that Brood War was "very popular, and added to the already considerable appeal of the original, award-winning, title."[24]

StarCraft, along with its expansion Brood War, rapidly grew in popularity in South Korea, establishing a successful professional gaming scene.[25] Some pro-gamers have gained television contracts, sponsorships, and tournament prizes, allowing the most famous player, Lim Yo-Hwan, who is known in-game as SlayerS `BoxeR`,[26] to gain a fanclub of over a half million people. Professional gamers dedicate many hours each day to playing StarCraft when preparing for the highly competitive leagues. Lee Yun-Yeol, a Terran player known as [Red]NaDa, reported earnings in 2005 of US$200,000.[27] In April 2009, a Collegiate Star League was formed in the U.S. to facilitate inter-collegiate competition amongst university teams and clubs.[28] In October 2009, the first live collegiate StarCraft match occurred between Rutgers University and Princeton University in a best-of-five series.[29]

On May 2, 2012, KeSPA, Ongamenet, Blizzard Entertainment, and GomTV announced the introduction of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty to professional competitions in South Korea[30] with StarCraft: Brood War being completely phased out in October.[31]

However, even after being supplanted by its successor, Brood War competition remained popular for part of an audience and streaming channels of retired professional gamers kept popularity. Outside governance of Korean eSports Professional Association, amateur competitions started to gain popularity,[32] and in 2014, few higher profile tournaments were announced - with prize pool matching competitions from the peak of popularity[33] and one even returning to the television channel - OGN.[34]