For Starcraft Remastered on the PC, GameFAQs has 1 review. MOAI 4: Terra Incognita. A vibrant and magical world bursting with adventure awaits the brave souls that undertake the Hero's journey to Terra.
Return to Glory Prepare to rediscover a classic. StarCraft: Remastered upgrades Blizzard Entertainment's original sci-fi real-time strategy game and its acclaimed expansion, StarCraft: Brood War, from beginning to end. Experience the intergalactic battle between the terran, protoss, and zerg with improved graphics and audioand the same classic gameplay that made StarCraft a global. StarCraft Remastered reviews, pros and cons. 7 reviewers have scored this 88/100. StarCraft: Remastered gets a ‘toon up. Craig Pearson. 1 year ago. 12 I sense a theme developing here. My 'triumphant' return to RPS, after five years away, is nothing but stories about classic game series being given cartoonish makeovers. 'StarCraft: Remastered' is an astounding success for Blizzard Entertainment. Well, not as impressive as when it was first released but nevertheless, the re-release of the iconic real-time strategy game has been very well received.
The original StarCraft is making a comeback, but this time around, it's going to look, sound and perform a heck of a lot better.
Blizzard just announced StarCraft: Remastered, a collection of the original StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War, for PC and Mac. Blizzard hasn't announced a price or a release date yet, but there is a pretty sweet new trailer that shows off what it'll look like.
In celebration of the remaster, the original StarCraft — pixels and all — will be free to download from Blizzard's site sometime later in the week.
StarCraft Remastered announcement trailer
Here's the full announcement trailer that illustrates what StarCraft Remastered looks like with the jump to 4K resolution and support for widescreen displays. It looks like Blizzard is trying to preserve the original colors and art direction, but just clean everything up a bit and bring it up to snuff.
StarCraft: Remastered: Comparing the old and new versions
The trailer whips past those comparison shots of the old and new versions of StarCraft pretty quickly, so we've broken everything down into some screenshots that you can use to really get a feel for how it's been updated.
Here's a screenshot of some Zerg in the original.
And here's a similar shot in the update.
Here's a shot of a Terran base in the original.
And here's what it looks like now.
And, finally, here's a pixelated-looking Protoss base from StarCraft.
Here's what that same base will look like when StarCraft: Remastered comes out later this year.
More gaming news and updates
Check out the latest from Mic, including our deep dive into how female Overwatch players are dealing with online harassment, an article about a fan movement advocating for more same-sex romance options in Mass Effect, a cool making-of video for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and an article about what a Bechdel test for gaming might look like.
Summary: A quirky take on the classic StarCraft game which almost makes you feel guilty to take out the enemy.
The above screen shot is not a joke, StarCraft:Cartooned is live on Blizzard's online store. It is an official add-on for StarCraft: Remastered available for 15.45AUD. This add-on redraws every single piece of art in this classic RTS game to look like a children's cartoon, without otherwise changing core game play.
Is Starcraft Remastered Good
StarCraft:Cartooned is drawn in the CarBot Animation style. The YouTube channel, operated by Canadian artist and animator Jonathan Burton, was tapped to create Blizzard's first full cosmetic overhaul mod for a retail game. Cartooned DLC does not add any new gameplay or mechanical content to the StarCraft: Remastered package. It instead transforms every single graphical element in the game, from menus to units to between-mission briefings, with voices and text remaining the same, to look like the CarBot Animations animated series 'StarCrafts,' now in its seventh season on YouTube.
As you can see in all my pictures, all of Burton's existing designs have been translated into the working game in their silly, bulbous, flat-shaded glory. Silly as it looks, this mod otherwise delivers pure StarCraft action. StarCraft: Remastered paved the way for this mod to become a reality, since the updated engine supports a complete sprite swap without disrupting the core gameplay. (That's in essence, how the original Remastered release works, anyway.) And unlike CarBot's 2016 StarCraft 2 mod, which only redrew assets within that sequel's limited arcade mode, the new mod smothers the full StarCraft: Remastered experience in Burton's redrawn characters.
Although not the darkest of Blizzard's game franchises (that award goes to Diablo), StarCraft always had an air of seriousness around it when compared to its sister series WarCraft. Cutesier than anything Blizzard has released in the past, StarCraft: Cartooned's release boldly highlights this difference at once, contrasting the old early-3D animations of Terran soldiers with the new brightly-coloured CarBot images. The effect can be rather jarring at first, but as the animated world slowly takes over, the intended self-humour from the developers becomes apparent.
A few original assets remain, like FMV sequences and some interstellar art at the beginning of each campaign. Otherwise, you'll find a ridiculous amount of redrawn cartoon material—even in the between-mission briefings. In those, you'll see Burton's full treatment look its silliest as the game's original, dramatic music and voice acting play out over childish art. Having tested the mod briefly, I would argue that this is an entirely new way to experience the game, if only because of how easy it is to follow Burton's bold, primary-colour designs as battles get hectic and Zerglings rush en masse.
Blizzard Starcraft Remastered
StarCraft: Cartooned does not add to the original game play and StarCraft: Remastered is a very faithful HD update to one of the best strategy games ever created, in my option. It suffers a bit from forgoing any gameplay or user interface updates that strategy games from the last two decades have evolved (such as StarCraft 2). Path-finding units is still a major pain, and you can only select up to 12 units at a time. Micro-managing anyone is a nightmare as well and you can't rally workers to gather resources. Make no mistake though, StarCraft: Remastered makes a great game better and Cartooned just adds a cute, clean and hilarious twist.
While I have not been able to test the multiplayer mode, the release notes from Blizzard state Cartooned is fully online compatible. This means that fans of StarCraft: Remaster‘s multiplayer modes will be happy to know that the Cartooned update will also work online and with other players, even if they do not own StarCraft: Cartooned.
You will have to buy both the StarCraft: Remastered upgrade (21.95AUD, if you don't already have it) and the StarCraft: Cartooned Spin transition imovie. mod (15.45AUD) to take your classic StarCraft experience to a Saturday-morning level.