When comparing Starcraft vs Xonotic, the Slant community recommends Xonotic for most people. In the question“What are the best LAN party PC games?” Xonotic is ranked 1st while Starcraft is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose Xonotic is:
Open Source games are not always known for their high-quality graphics. This can often be caused by the games being designed by committee in that many different people may work on the graphics, even in the same areas, which can cause plenty of inconsistencies. Luckily, Xonotic does not suffer from this problem as the whole of the game has consistent looks that are actually quite impressive.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
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 Impressive graphics, especially for an open source game
Open Source games are not always known for their high-quality graphics. This can often be caused by the games being designed by committee in that many different people may work on the graphics, even in the same areas, which can cause plenty of inconsistencies. Luckily, Xonotic does not suffer from this problem as the whole of the game has consistent looks that are actually quite impressive.
Pro Cross platform
Mac/Linux/Windows support.
Pro Many game modes
Includes all the expected options like Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, as well as more novel modes like Key Hunt.
Pro Fast-paced action
Pro Interesting weapon design (for an arena shooter)
All arena shooter basically use Quake or UT weapon system. However, Xonotic has an interesting variety of weapons (larger selection than most) with elements from both UT and Quake but added some of their innovative ideas. Some of the weapons have a bit of overlap and felt a bit forced, but other weapons really made the game stand out.
Pro Play easily online
At any time, you can find people playing on the net. No special configuration needed.
Pro Not demanding on the system
On integrated HD4600 graphics ~120 FPS on normal settings.
Pro Multiple floor levels gameplay
The game permits players to move across multiple floor levels, which permits more dynamic game play.
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 Campaign can be very hard and you can get stuck
Some levels are very strange and difficult like fighting with almost invisible enemies.
Even at easy they are hard to beat and you must beat them in order to progress in campaign.
Con Few players
Very few players on the servers ate as it happens 5-9 people!
Con Boring AI bots
Bots are not the most performant opponents in Xonotic. They often run around the same paths, and sometimes even stand still on spots for apparently no reason.
Con No actual addons repository
Cannot download custom maps through the actual game. Instead you have to download maps online and then put them in a directory.