StarCraft
From ORG Wiki
StarCraft is an RTS game created by Blizzard Entertainment (since taken over by Vivendi Universal) in 1998. It has become immensely popular and has sold over 6 million copies. An expansion pack was later released for it titled StarCraft: Brood War, which can be now bought prepackaged with the original game through StarCraft: Battlechest. The game is based around three races, the Protoss, the Terran, and the Zerg. It is claimed by some to be far far superior to many games, especially anything to do with Warcraft. Those claims are mostly well brought due to the exquisite balance between all the races present in their repective battle matchups and yet still due to the immersive storyline that manages a different feel from most RTS's out there despite its derivative roots in popular sci-fi. Devious betrayal of allies and maneuvering peons to their whims does play a major role in the continuous interest the game still draws towards it even after all these years; most players wouldn't be surprised if those sudden plot twists already had their impact into some of the playing styles seen while playing the game over Battle.Net - a strategy more commonly known as the backstabbing (or BSing, performed by BS'ers, for short); although it is much less a strategy than a way to incite anger and lose online friends, but to each their own.
[edit] Races
Terran
Terran are known for their versatility - buildings that can be made to float into expansions (or scout), workers with the highest hp in the game, repair, micro that quickly pays off - the list goes on. About the only things terran seriously lack is cost effective detection, the necessity to often carry workers to the battlefield, and the need to neglect cost effectiveness beyond basic unit assaults.
Terran strategies can be fairly consistent, terran players using leverage to their advantage whenever they can (often literally), although they hardly ever consist of a single unit. Terran rushes are unique and their assaults can be as much defense as offense. Their magic is diverse and well rounded, often proving effective only in specific situations rather then helping an army in general (except for the medic heal).
On the lore side of things, terran are our cousins of the distant future, just under five hundred years from now. They're as human as it gets in the StarCraft universe.
Zerg
Zerg are much less mobile and perhaps more predictable than any other race, due to their need to constantly expand. However, they are also the most cost effective with strategies that can utilize individual units to great effect. Even so, zerg often struggle with holding expansions and, for games lasting more than a handful of minutes, often are lead to combine groups of nearly every unit in the entire zerg unit template.
It can really matter for the enemy to know where a zerg player is attacking from, as that can often determine a win or a loss. Zerg usually kill less units then they themselves lose, even under circumstances in which they win. Their magic strongly leans towards offensive maneuvers that can often either turn the tides drastically or apply only to minimal effect when mistakes are made (aside from parasite, which is a more 'tactical' spell).
Lore-wise, zerg are a very foreign species originating from very far away in the depths of space, existing to devour all life whilst subsuming that which they deem 'worthy' and that is not already a part of their vast genome.
Protoss
Protoss are easily the least cost effective early in the game, since their front line 'bread and butter' (zealot) is the most expensive of the three. Aside from that, protoss are wily, without the necessity to throw their workers into an offensive foray. Protoss; while less dynamic and tactically leverage oriented than the other two races as well as sometimes harder pressed to recover when mistakes are made; will push the opponent across a map steady and hard. Their magic is mostly useful during a battle when a protoss player's army happens to be present as well (except for recall, in the case of a player's army being made present).
In lore, the protoss are a mystical, once powerful species on a millennia-long quest to discover the full scope of their race's preternatural abilities.
