StarCraft: Brood War is the expansion to StarCraft, a video game produced by Blizzard Entertainment. This expansion pack added to the original game new units to each race. For the Terran race the Valkyrie and Medic were added. For the Protoss race, Dark Templar, Dark Archon and Corsair were added. For the Zerg race, Lurker and Devourer were added.

At the end of the original StarCraft, the Protoss hero Tassadar sacrificed himself to slay the Zerg Overmind in a powerful blast of Dark Templar energy.

With the death of their Overmind and multiple Cerebrates, the Zerg ran rampant and leaderless across 70% of Aiur, homeworld of the Protoss, slaying all Protoss they encountered.

A small number of Protoss heroes, including Aldaris, Fenix and Zeratul, plus their Terran ally Jim Raynor survived to try to protect the Protoss survivors.

The Terminal Agenda

In a somewhat controversial move, Blizzard Entertainment revealed that the United Earth Directorate had been watching and recording the Koprulu Sector Terrans since their exile.

Apparently Blizzard wanted to create a new race (the United Earth Directorate Terrans) but fans disagreed. As a result, Blizzard simply gave the UED Terrans the exact same units and technology as Koprulu Sector Terrans.

The UPL saw no reason to interfere in the Koprulu Sector until the sudden (and violent) first contact between Terrans and the Protoss and Zerg were made.

The UPL had never made contact with any alien species before, and panic spread throughout the UPL, which feared alien invasion of Earth. The fear even brought the few Earth nations not under the command of the UPL into its fold. The organization changed its name to the United Earth Directorate and took on a militant stance towards the aliens.

After monitoring the Protoss and Zerg for several months, the UED believed they had discerned their strengths and weaknesses. The UED collected an Expeditionary Force, whose purpose was to conquer the entire Koprulu Sector. It was led by Admiral Gerard DuGalle and his friend, Vice Admiral Stukov. They were given a secret order to take control of the Zerg and use them to pacify Protoss activity in the Koprulu Sector.

Brood War

The Brood War got its name from an effective "civil war" among the Zerg. Roughly half of the Zerg Broods fell under the control of Senior Zerg Cerebrate Daggoth, while the other half fell under the control of Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades. The two sides vied for control of the Zerg, and both the Protoss and the Terrans would be drawn into this conflict.

Inconclusions

Brood War leaves several unanswered questions, not least that of Duran's connection with the Protoss-Zerg hybrid that Zeratul discovered. Also, whether Kerrigan knows anything of this new threat and the fate of Raynor and Zeratul. Whether these will be answered in a sequel (Starcraft 2 or Brood War 2.) or in Starcraft Ghost has yet to be seen. Unfortunately, Starcraft Ghost has been delayed indefinitely and may not hit the deadline of Q4 2006.

Brood War Introduction Movie

The game opens with a few Terrans in trenches, defending themselves from a bloody Zerg assault. A battlecruiser appearing overhead is pointed to by one marine as being the air support, though the ship does not open fire on the Zerg forces.

In the battlecruiser, soft classical music plays on a vintage phonograph while two Terrans speak. The bald man is Admiral DuGalle, and the slightly younger man smoking a cigar is Vice Admiral Stukov.

DuGalle demands Stukov watch the ongoing massacre of the Terrans. Stukov said he has seen tapes of the Zerg already and knows all about them, but DuGalle insists he watch the battle with his own eyes to fully understand the power of the Zerg, stating: "Dissecting a dead Zerg in a lab is one thing, unleashing them upon man is another!" DuGalle calmly reminds Stukov that: "Once started, there is no going back." Stukov decides to go all the way (agreeing to fight the Zerg). As the Zerg begin to overrun the colony, an officer asks if they should intervene to save the remaining Terrans; DuGalle declines and orders the battlecruiser to enter orbit.

There is evidence that the Terrans who are fighting below are unrelated to the UED (United Earth Directorate). At the end of the trailer, the helmsman says over the P.A: "Admiral, the colonist base will be overrun in a matter of minutes. Shall we intervene?" DuGalle responds by telling the helmsman to go into orbit and that they have seen enough. The battlecruiser then abandons the colony.

The marine from the beginning of the movie stares up at the battlecruiser as it departs. As the ship departs, the background opera music crescendos to a dramatic finale. As the camera zooms away from the trench in which the marines are waiting, lightning strikes, briefly illuminating the silhouettes of countless Zerglings headed straight for the marines.

A two-minute trailer was released by Blizzard sometime before the expansion pack and depicted many scenes from the introduction movie along with some new scenes (see External Links). The background classical music from the introduction movie is used as the dominant song throughout the trailer. The official credits list the song as having Latin and French lyrics but a translation of the lyrics has not been found or revealed, so this cannot be substantiated.

Previous: StarCraft Episode III

References

StarCraft homepage at Blizzard Entertainment

Battle.net StarCraft Compendium

Underwood, Peter, Chris Metzen and Bill Roper. StarCraft: Brood War (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.