Furiously paced futuristic RTS: a must own for C&C or AOE fans
Amazingly smooth textures, especially on the water. It has outdone EVERY game produced before it's release. There are animations for fighting, animations for unit production, etc...
Sound: 10/10
It sounds very realistic, with the effect of sound diminishing as you move your screen away from the battlefield. VERY impressive, especially for starters in RTS.
Gameplay: 9/10
Any real-time game has the advantage of having limitless possible scenarios, so the replay value is certainly there. However, I find that having only 3 races isn't exactly enough variety, even for a real time game. Thus, the 9/10. On the other hand, this game IS very immersive for the first 50-100 hours, especially for first time RTS players, since each race has individually specialized units.
Overall, compared to other RTS games in the market as of 1998, SC:Brood War is one of the best you'll find. It's main competitor would be the Age of Empires series, which is in another genre of itself, SC being more futuristic, and AOE being more realistic and historical, so there isn't truly a close competitor for SC: Brood War.