I'll start off by putting all my cards on the table, I'm a big Command & Conquer fan and am extremely biased when looking at any other type of RTS game. That being said, I actually found Starcraft to be a very different type of game and not really strictly comparable to C&C. Starcraft has a much bigger emphasis on micro-management as most units have some kind of special ability. Also armies are generally smaller with more emphasis on balance and researched abilities than size and power.
I am a sucker for a good storyline and here Starcraft delivers wholeheartedly, the manual reads like the first chapter of a bestselling science-fiction novel and throughout the single player there a number of interesting plot twists, I'm a bit bemused that nobody ever bothered to make a Starcraft movie! Also the developers can be commended for creating 3 opposing races with different strengths and weaknesses, but with no race that are clearly superior. This has certainly been attempted before (unsuccessfully) in other games but the Starcraft developers got it more or less right.
The area Starcraft didn't won me completely over was in the actual gameplay, your army are limited by available resources and most individual units are rather fragile and can quickly be destroyed by enemy fire, I spend lots of time fixing and replacing my battered army rather than planning battles! I also felt that the whole idea of researching abilities really slows the game down and because the AI opponent always start with a big head start you spend a lot of time waiting for research to be done to be able to match you AI opponent. Speaking about AI, Starcraft AI is certainly not up to scratch but this is true for most RTS games.
Overall, this is certainly an above average game and it's legacy and success speaks for itself. For me C&C is still the king of the hill but I won't miss Starcraft 2
I am a sucker for a good storyline and here Starcraft delivers wholeheartedly, the manual reads like the first chapter of a bestselling science-fiction novel and throughout the single player there a number of interesting plot twists, I'm a bit bemused that nobody ever bothered to make a Starcraft movie! Also the developers can be commended for creating 3 opposing races with different strengths and weaknesses, but with no race that are clearly superior. This has certainly been attempted before (unsuccessfully) in other games but the Starcraft developers got it more or less right.
The area Starcraft didn't won me completely over was in the actual gameplay, your army are limited by available resources and most individual units are rather fragile and can quickly be destroyed by enemy fire, I spend lots of time fixing and replacing my battered army rather than planning battles! I also felt that the whole idea of researching abilities really slows the game down and because the AI opponent always start with a big head start you spend a lot of time waiting for research to be done to be able to match you AI opponent. Speaking about AI, Starcraft AI is certainly not up to scratch but this is true for most RTS games.
Overall, this is certainly an above average game and it's legacy and success speaks for itself. For me C&C is still the king of the hill but I won't miss Starcraft 2