Starcraft is a popular real-time strategy game that sees a group of human exiles fight for survival on the outer reaches of the galaxy.

The plot is clearly based on the delicate real world of balance of power. Through military strength, espionage and deceit, a unified Terran government has maintained an uneasy peace but as resources run short, the confederate nations look towards the rich worlds of their alien neighbors, Protoss. To complicate things, a bizarre deadly species known only as the Zerg has entered the fray.

In this demo, your task is to lead your troops to victory over powerful, alien opponents. Your task is to restore peace to the fringe-world of Chau Sara. The first problem is grasping the tactics and basics of the game although this is facilitated by an optional tutorial mission that helps you learn how to play. You can choose to go head-to-head by playing via battle.net. There's also an option to play against up to 8 different friends over IPX networks.

The graphics and sound are very 80's arcade style and despite the tutorial, it's still hard to know how exactly you're supposed to defend the galaxy. If you do ever get that far, then you might even want to design your own levels and scenarios with StarCraft's campaign editor.

StarCraft has very faithful fanbase and plenty of online players to pit your wits against although as a strategy game, it's very dated.