ShadyAlligator

The gameplay is a repetitive grind. Combat gets repetitive quickly. Exploring planets is boring. Even the art style feels like this would have been an iPhone free-to-play game, except for the story. They try to rehash a lot of SC2 and even copy the first few hours of story. A lot of the writing is awkward. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but the original games had a certain magic. This feels like your dad wanted to show you how to REALLY dance. Just cringe. Refund.

Has been made into the best space strategy game ever crafted, especially with the expansions. Even without the expansions, the free patches have made the game really deep and replayable, either as a sandbox (on easy) or as a hardcore strategy experience (on hard).

"Despite a few ideas for improving the 4X genre, Galactic Civilizations IV misses the mark on almost all of them to succeed only at feeling bland, derivative and soulless." IGN already said it, plus crashes, broken graphics, and a tedious UI. They ignored player feedback and released anyway. play Stellaris or Distant Worlds instead.

A flawed but still enjoyable game. Ship combat is as good as ever, and improves aiming from the previous games. The voice dialog is really strong, arguably better than Star Control 2. The storylines for the individual aliens are pretty interesting. There's some characters who you'll wish got more screen time, but at least the characters are there. The Arilou, the Spathi, the Pkunk... You always wish there was another sequel to Star Control 2, one that was made by the actual creators of the series, but you can tell that the authors of this third game were genuine fans of the original content. They consulted with the original creators, properly licensed the content with their permission, and were done by some veterans of Infocom and Legend Entertainment. (Two great studios of yesteryear.) Some obvious criticisms. It's just really hard to compete with Star Control 2 in terms of story. The gameplay hasn't aged that well. But then, neither has SC2's, and you have to remember that 2D top-down ship combat was on its last legs in the early 90s. The colony management system is a little opaque, but it's at least far less tedious compared to planet landing, and you can mostly ignore it and focus on the story. The story is really enjoyable, with truly distinct characters. The humor is maybe a little off, and the ending has some eye-rolling corniness. It can't help but feel like fan-fiction. But the most complete fan fiction we have, until a real sequel comes out.

Arguably one of the greatest games of all time. Definitely on par with the great games of its generation, like Final Fantasy VI or The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. The Ur Quan Masters is a clever and often hilarious space adventure that never takes itself too seriously, but managed to hit you with its surprising depth. Still in this modern day, there's isn't a game that throws you into a spaceship and gives you the same sense of open exploration.(The closest might be the original Mass Effect. But that's a third person shooter, and not a ship combat game.) Even with this HD remake, there are a lot of things that will feel dated. Remember that in 1992, actual 3D polygonal graphics were in their infancy. Voice acting hadn't been done yet. Fast travel had to be earned. This game has no mini map, quest markers, journal, or codex. Like a lot of games from its time, Star Control 2 was punishingly difficult. And you could find that you actually can't win the game anymore, because of mistakes that you made 10 hours ago. The game has an in-universe time limit, and they give you subtle warnings, which you absolutely need to take seriously. Most modern games have smoothed out these rough edges. Gaming is better for it. And yet, this is part of what made Star Control 2 so satisfying. I recommend writing everything down. I recommend taking a few hints, where you need them (especially as it pertains to fast travel). And this remake is free. We are so blessed. It's worth playing just to learn a thing or two about world-building,