When comparing Starcraft vs StarCraft II, the Slant community recommends Starcraft for most people. In the question“What are the best LAN party PC games?” Starcraft is ranked 9th while StarCraft II is ranked 30th. 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 A free starter edition is available
With the Starter Edition, players can start the beginning of the campaign, compete in ranked ladder matches, and play anything in the Arcade (a mode that offers a huge selection community-created games and mods).
Pro Big player base
Has a very big player base and everyone will be able to find a suitable opponent whether you are a rookie or an experienced player.
Pro Well balanced, asymmetrical gameplay
Opposing teams will have completely different skillsets allowing players to take wholly different approaches toward completing the same goal. This makes for asymmetrical gameplay that has been painstakingly balanced.
Pro Campaign features an engaging story and acts as a tutorial
StarCraft II tells a very concise and cohesive story, exclusively featuring the Terran, with some exceptions during optional missions. During the campaign, the player is asked to make several choices which partially alter the storyline, as well as give access to some units, while making other completely unavailable. With a new unit unlocked nearly every mission, these levels utilize unique gameplay mechanics that highlight the specific uses of each new unit that is unlocked, thus allowing players to familiar with them. For example, one mission highlights the maneuverability of the Viking, an aircraft that can quickly fly across the map, killing other aerial units, and transforming to become a walking vehicle that can annihilate ground-based enemies.
Pro Gives in-game access to a wide variety of community created games/mods
Users can publish their mods to the game so that other players may then apply them in-game. This makes for easy access to a wide variety of mods and games.
Pro Has an active eSports scene
With a 1.6 million dollar prize pool for the world championships in 2015, StarCraft II has a very large and supported eSports scene that is participated in throughout the world.
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 Starcraft I units are unavailable
They removed/replaced some of the units with new units. As of 2021 several mods of SC2 engine feat SC1 units are freely available