When comparing Starcraft vs Overwatch, the Slant community recommends Starcraft for most people. In the question“What are the best LAN party PC games?” Starcraft is ranked 9th while Overwatch is ranked 86th. The most important reason people chose Starcraft is:
There are three selectable races in the game, Terrans, Protoss and the Zerg. The Terrans being human, while the other two are alien races. What makes the game stand out is that each race feels exceptionally different from one another, each with their own personalities. This makes for a different experience depending on what race has been chosen to play with.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Tons of personality that keeps the story and gameplay interesting and entertaining
There are three selectable races in the game, Terrans, Protoss and the Zerg. The Terrans being human, while the other two are alien races. What makes the game stand out is that each race feels exceptionally different from one another, each with their own personalities. This makes for a different experience depending on what race has been chosen to play with.
Pro Built-in offline LAN support
Being an older game, Starcraft suports offline LAN due to not as many people having internet back when it was released. This is something that many games (including Starcraft 2) regrettably do not feature anymore.
Pro Well balanced race selection keeps the gameplay fair
The game is fairly well balanced, so nobody gets an advantage by choosing a certain race. While each race will have their own unique abilities, the balancing of these abilities allows the game to play even handed, with no real advantage to any race.
Pro This game can be downloaded for free
Blizzard is now offering the original Starcraft (titled Starcraft Anthology) as a free download.
Pro Highly specialized units that are easy to learn but hard to master
This helps keep the game challenging and interesting even at a high level of proficiency.
Pro Competitive game
Every gameplay mechanic is well though out and predictable making it great for competitive play. The game also features a competitive game mode that works great.
Pro Unique FPS gameplay
Overwatch combines traditional team-based FPS elements and MOBA-esqe characters with unique abilities and weapons. You'll still be shooting and bashing your way to victory, but instead of picking different weapons, you'll be often switching between one of the many characters. Each character has its own strengths, weaknesses, and unique playstyle.
For example, there's Tracer that dual wields handguns, is pretty quick on her feet, and can rewind time when in a tough spot, which makes her well suited to hit-and-run tactics. However, she has poor aim and low health, so you have to be a lot more careful when playing as her.
Another example would be the very durable Reinhardt who has high health and armor. He's able to protect his allies and himself with a projected energy shield while moving at a slower rate. Unfortunately, his only real means of attacking is a giant hammer, so fast characters or characters with a long range can easily outmaneuver him.
As a result, Overwatch not only rewards accurate shooting, but also quick decision making and clever use of your abilities, creating gameplay that feels different from most competitive FPS games.
Pro Tons of unlockables to keep you playing
Each playable character in the game can have more than 90 different unlocks such character skins, color schemes, emotes, and victory poses. While these don't affect gameplay, they allow you to create a personalized character you can feel more attached to. This gives additional goals for both regular players and completionists, keeping the game interesting for a long time.
Pro Simple to learn and play
While Overwatch has MOBA elements, it's very simple at its core, you just shoot the enemy and take objectives. It may take a couple matches to get the basic down, but from then on it's gonna be a blast. This makes it a lot more accessible than most MOBA-esque titles that take a really long time to learn and master.
Pro Variety of maps to keep gameplay interesting
Overwatch currently has 16 maps, which includes a Moon colony, an encampment in Antarctica, and various futuristic cityscapes. The distinct themes, color palettes, and layouts make each of the maps feel and play differently, keeping the gameplay fresh for a long time.
Pro Beautiful graphics
Highly detailed character models, weapons, and environments, smooth animations, distinct particle effects, a vivid color palette, great lighting, and intricate shadow mapping make Overwatch a joy to experience.
Cons
Con Old and outdated
With the original release dating back to 1998, the game is quite old now and its graphics are not on par with current game offerings.
Con Lacks widescreen support
Starcraft is only available in a 4:3 resolution. However, a hack to make it work in widescreen can be found here.
Con Not for solo players
Overwatch is all about team compositions, cooperation, and communication. If you prefer a more solo-oriented playstyle, this game might not be as fun for you since it's very hard to win a match with your abilities alone.
Con No content creation tools
You can't create custom maps or game modes, which considerably limits how much the community can contribute for keeping the game fresh and exciting. This is a step back when you look at the Warcraft 3 map editor, which helped the game stay popular a decade after its release even without regular updates from Blizzard.
Con Lacking in story
Even though Overwatch has a very detailed world and distinct characters, it doesn't ever delve into the history of the world or overarching story of each character. All you ever get are vague hints in voiceover lines and writings found in the environment.