Starcraft is a series of RTS games set in a futuristic space environment with strong elements of the “space cowboy” genre. Starcraft II comes in several separate installments.
Sex, Drugs & Rock n’ Roll
Violence: A fair amount of violence and gore, though almost all is from a bird’s eye perspective. The games have a fairly cartoony aesthetic.
Horror: There are some scary parts, especially involving body horror. An alien race called the Zerg operate by “infesting” individuals and buildings in a process that can be, at best, pretty gross.
Sexual Content: Some mildly suggestive language. Characters flirt with each other.
Strong Language: Strong language is used.
Substance Use: In Starcraft II, characters frequent a bar and are shown drinking.
Nudity and Costuming: Female character Sarah Kerrigan wears a skin-tight bodysuit after being infested. She also appears nude in at least one scene, but the nudity is not explicit.
Player Interaction: There is a large amount of player interaction in the multiplayer mode. Players are pitted against each other in battle, each managing their own armies and bases.
Savepoints
Players may save at any point in Starcraft I. In Starcraft II, however, there is no specific save option—games will be be autosaved only upon the player’s return to the space station. Players who stop in the middle of a mission will have to complete the mission or start over.
Story & Themes
Starcraft is about a galactic war taking place between several factions, both human and alien. The Terran are the humans. The Zerg are a hive-mind species of insect-like creatures that are attempting to take over the galaxy, while the Protoss are an advanced people with a strong spiritual core.
The themes in Starcraft include loyalty, free will, betrayal, patriotism, and freedom. There is also an element of romance, as Jim Raynor, a rebel fighter, and Sarah Kerrigan, a Terran-turned-Zerg queen, are star-crossed lovers. The Terran protagonists are fighting for their freedom on the galactic frontier, and they make some morally ambiguous decisions in order to retain their freedom and individuality.
The Creators
Blizzard Entertainment
Conversation Starters
- What would you be willing to sacrifice in order to maintain your freedom?
- What level of control over your own life would you be willing to give up if it meant making the morally correct decision?
- Would you, like Jim Raynor, choose to spare Sarah Kerrigan after she becomes the Zerg queen, or would you destroy her despite your feelings for her?
- Do you think the Terran are partly at fault for the galactic war because of their expansion and materialism?
Jargon
Zerglings are the most basic Zerg unit. They are often used to “rush” an opponent’s base early on in the game because they are cheap and quick to create, and thus “zergling rush” (often shortened to just “zerg”) has become shorthand for this strategy. Zerglings also appear in several other Blizzard games due to their somewhat cute and iconic behavior.
Source: Blizzard.com
