1998 was an absolutely monumental year for gaming. Two of the greatest titles ever were released- StarCraft and Half-Life. I never cared for WarCraft, I found it's lack of an original premise and compelling story to be a major weakness. StarCraft did everything a game should. It's graphics were beautiful, the vibrant artwork lends amazing detail to the futuristic battlefield even today. The soundtrack fits the atmosphere well, when traversing the cold vacuum of space it only lends to the atmosphere when you here the creepy tunes of starcraft. Then the gameplay itself. Each race is unique, and works in different ways, but is perfectly balanced. The difficulty is just right- not too easy, not too tough. Then there is the story. WarCraft didn't have a very compelling story; nor did Diablo or many other Blizzard games. StarCraft has quality writing that makes the campaign even more amazing. Each race has it's rich history, and you can't help but take interest in at least some of the things they engage in. The game also has multiplayer, and StarCraft also excels here. Multiplayer is just plain FUN. If you get bored of massing and destroying your friends in a 1on1 or crashing the computers party in a 2 on 2 compstomp, then all you need is to select 'Use Map Settings'. The variety here is amazing. THere are brand new games and minimods created in this area, hell, there are even MOVIES that are often times very funny. StarCraft has NO flaws WHATSOEVER. There's thousands of maps shipped with the game that can be used in multiplayer and in your own skirmishes. The editor has all you need to make a brand new campaign or new game modes for online, the story is amazing, the graphics are amazing, the whole entire package is worth your time; and as long as Battle.net exists StarCraft will keep you entertained till time stops.