At first I was skeptical -- one day my little brother came home with a copy of STARCRAFT -- and I dismissed it as another stupid fad my brother had bought into. Well, after a while, my brother somehow managed to introduce me to WARCRAFT, a game also from BLIZZARD, and I was hooked after almost a year of laughing it off. And STARCRAFT looked to contain more of the same strategic war gaming, so I tried it out. Wow.
STARCRAFT is by far a more intelligent game than its BLIZZARD predecessor WARCRAFT -- in both creative and technical terms. Unlike Warcraft, there is an actual plotline here, and it is wonderfully engaging -- you'll find yourself speeding through levels just to see the next story development -- and the action, interface, units (and overall game) are like nothing I've ever seen before, and make STARCRAFT superior to anything else in the field.
What I REALLY love about Starcraft though, is the 80s SciFi vibe that it creates. It really brings me back to all those "post-apocalyptic/alien war" science fiction films of the period. Upon playing Starcraft, you can't help but be reminded of ALIENS and the like.
My only complaints, however, are some absurdly difficult levels that can make the gaming process tedious and frustrating -- but don't let that stop you, all the other wonderful qualities more than redeem this (and you probably shouldn't take it from me -- as much as I love PC games, I've never been particularly good at them).
Go out and buy it. And pat yourself on the back for making such a wise decision. Have fun.