A classic is being injected with some fresh energy thanks to Blizzard. Not are the rumors about a remastered version of Starcraft true, coming this summer to bring back great memories in glorious HD, but the original game is also being released for free. Even better, that new price tag will go into effect by the end of the month — giving gamers a chance to refresh their skills a bit before the remastered version hits.
According to Kotaku — and the preview trailer above — the remastered version comes with a fresh coat of paint and some updated graphics to bring the game into the 21st century:
The new version will be in 4K and include refreshed audio. More importantly, it will also be supported by the company’s Blizzard App (formerly Battle.net), meaning you can easily launch the game from the same PC client you use to play Overwatch and Hearthstone. This will provide players with matchmaking that takes their skill and preferred race into consideration, helping to streamline the process of finding people to play with online.
So if you couldn’t get into Starcraft II or yearn for the old glory days of real-time strategy games against the current love of MOBA and action RTS games, this could be your chance to revive a classic. But apart from that, the original game is getting more than just free access. According to Polygon, the original and its expansion pack will feature some fixes that should help the game work better with current standards:
Version 1.18 of StarCraft: Brood War will be released “later this week,” Blizzard said in a release. The update to the 1998 game will include a variety of bug fixes and new features, including the ability to rebind keys and an official observer mode.
The update will also introduce new anti-cheat measures and better compatibility with modern operating systems (namely Windows 7, 8.1 and 10).
Playing Starcraft for free is something that just doesn’t seem very real considering the entertainment within. The mods and gameplay options alone make it worth the current $14 price tag for the Anthology edition. Just thinking about the good times I’ve had with the game, the pop culture influence he has created over the years — just type Zerg rush into Google — and the universe Blizzard created by essentially moving Warcraft to space and borrowing a lot from Starship Troopers, this remaster and it’s free counterpart are good for gaming.
Now remaster Tie Fighter, Disney. Make it happen.
(Via Polygon / Kotaku)