Star Control 3

by MacSoft

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00002S6BO
• Item model number: 16-16036
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 10, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,695 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Deep in space, somewhere in the Kessari Quadrant, you stumble across a catastrophic realization--the universe is on the brink of destruction. Now you must race to save thousands of worlds and millions of lives from annihilation. This is the epic adventure of intergalactic strategy. Defend your alliances--engage in furious 3-D combat with 24 alien ships, each with its distinctive high-tech weaponry.

Save the universe--manage the resources of more than 30 colonies and 24 alien races as you explore, colonize, and develop more than 1,000 planets in the Kessari Quadrant. Build a multilateral force--negotiate critical alliances with alien races to help you in your quest. Explore their strange cultures and exploit their resources. Play against the computer or go head to head against friends on the same screen or using a local area network.

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a fun, interactive space stategy game, November 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Control 3 (CD-ROM)

This is one of the few cd-rom games i've found that really sticks in your mind afterwards. When you finish, it is like having been part of a graphic novel. The characters are awesome, and as the plot unfolds you are drawn into the story. Combat sequences are fun and challenging. The only weak point is the colony-building interface. For the bucks though, you can't buy a better game.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An oldie but a goodie, June 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Control 3 (CD-ROM)

Most reviews I have read about this game say it doesn't fulfill the Star Control series as well as the other two. I have only played this one and the second one, but I feel they are equal in quality, more or less. The main thing I like anout Star Control 3 is the gripping story that seems to change with everything you do. That is a rarity. The graphics are not great by today's standards, but they're still sufficient, especially the moving video of the aliens when you are talking with another species. Overall, this is a good bargain game which continues to be a good buy even with all the new games on the market today.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A terrible poorly-guided game, May 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Control 3 (CD-ROM)

Star control 3, the third in a series of Star Control games, I did not enjoy at all. First thing out of the box- I discover that the documentation is extremely poor, with few descriptions of game controls, let alone the functions of each element.

Navagation around the stars is designed to be as diffucult as possible, with a swirling galaxy of identical tiny white dots representing planetary systems. Even if you freeze the starmap's rotation, unless you actually establish a colony on a world, it appears the same as the other zillion white dots. You end up using up valuable fuel going to places you've already been.

The combat system is odd, with one-on-one ship duels. The skewed view makes it hard to conrol your ship, and there are countless little weapons to get the hang of, all of which look similar when the viewer is zoomed out so far. The method of taking damage and damage to the crew is also diffucult to understand. All of this would be better if Star Control 3 came with a good maunal- but as I said, you are left to muddle through it, as the manual has little good information in it.

The whole point of the game is vague- to escape from the galaxy? To defeat the evil alliance? When you meet aliens, the interface looks nice, but is very, very restrictive in what it allows you to say and do. You can't even attack an enemy ship when you want to. None of these controls, or lack thereof, are documented.

Your colonies slowly build things, but the progress is hard to follow and is less logical than the progress of civilization II style games. The devices have less clear effects, and the graphics are poor. Even building a colony is strange and diffucult, as you must move your cursor around to pick an arbitrary point on a colorful planet surface, which determines the productivity and fate of your colony with one click, despite any future actions you may take.

If you want an exploration game, a colonization game, or a diplomatic interactions game, I strongly recommend Master of Orion II. It has none of the flaws of Star Control 3 and provides a fun gaming experience with strong multiplayer support (which SC3 lacks) and great replayability.