Customer Reviews

Master of Orion 2: Battle at Antares

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The original Master of Orion (MOO) was a master piece and set the standard for the spaceploitation genre. Its sequel Master of Orion II continued this tradition. It improved most areas of gameplay and made use of better and more powerful graphics. Some neat features of the game include: Ship to ship combat that allows for boardings and captures. The ability to conquer opposing races and incorporate them into your empire rather than simply killing them. Planet management is pretty straightforward and uses a production que so you can set a planet to produce several items in succession and not have to constantly manage it. One thing that did bother me about the game has always been its fleet limits. In the original game you could build massive fleets of thousands of vessels now you are limited to much smaller numbers. Also any ship under the size of a battleship is basically useless. In the orginal MOO you could buld 10,000 small ships and use them to counter 50 massive ones. In MOO II you simply can't build enough smaller vessels to use the swarm approach, the capital ships rule the battlefield. Planetary defenses can only be so big and can't stand up to a heavy fleet on their own. Still these "shortcomings" do not detract from gameplay, which I always found to be quick and effecient, no real bugs (after the patch). I've owned this game for two years now and still believe it sets the standard for space based war and strategy. No game produced since has improved upon on it or sadly really equaled it.

I played the original MOO (that's Master of Orion for those of you not in the know) and was instantly hooked to that venerable classic. But with no multiplayer support for the original I simply had to await the next installment. And then in 1996 it came. I love this game. I love this game, this constant source of irritation, glory, happiness, grief, anger, sorrow, and consternation all in one. Starting out as one of several races, each with it's own unique characteristics (Humans are good at diplomacy, Psilons are good at research, etc.), you start one one small planet in an huge universe, research your way to building better, and fully customizable ships, to both explore and conquer the other races. Along the way you'll meet the other races and either ally with them or oppose them. And when one crosses you by dropping bio bombs on your planet, rendering it almost uninhabitable, you'll seek the nothing short of the very destruction of thier race. I will make the Alkari bird beaks pay for thier insolence...with thier very existence! *Sigh*...it gets to you after a while, but you'll just have to trust me when I say that it is a very *good* addiction that you won't regret!

Master of Orion II is a title offering a rich experience in very particular areas, emphasizing technological and military aspects of the creation of a galactic empire over elements that require more more character interaction and development. It is a strategy game in the purest sense of the genre, and therefore learning its intricacies and more subtle features can be of paramount importance in a long game or campaign.

In Master of Orion II, you direct the construction of a galactic empire. In this turn-based game, you guide your colonies, command your space fleets, and dictate which technologies your scientists will research. You can win the game in one of three ways: crushing all the other civilizations in the galaxy, building up the technology and military might to crush the powerful Antarians, or gaining enough allies to vote you galactic ruler at a council meeting.

Master of Orion II has no storyline of its own. While the conquests and trials your empire faces in each game could be considered a story that you generate, events that alter the course of galactic history are frequently random and unpredictable. No story elements, characters, or mission goals persist from one game to the next. This is in direct contrast to strategy games with a rich, evolving storyline, such as Blizzard Entertainment's spectacular game Starcraft, which prove that utilizing deep characters and missions that link together does not preclude a focus on strategy in gameplay.

Storyline aside, Master of Orion II has an interesting and powerful interface. You are given complete control over almost every aspect of your colonies, and assign crews of workers to either farm, research, or work on the construction of the colony's project. Levels of progress in the different areas are represented graphically; players of Civilization II will find this interface very familiar. However, its simple look belies the potential for automation that can be employed. Up to seven or so build orders can be queued for each particular colony, allowing you to monitor areas of greater activity without worrying about lesser colonies for long periods of time. When your empire grows gigantic, you can chose to allow a "colony advisor" to decide what to build and produce, saving you the large amounts of time that would be required to check each colony individually, again and again.

Another enjoyable interface, starship design, was an element pioneered by the Master of Orion series, and still provides one of the keys to success in the game. You design your own starships, choosing what hull design, weapons, computers, shields, systems, and special devices are to be incorporated in each ship. You are limited by the amount of space inside the hull, and should keep the production cost in mind when designing huge, powerful battle cruisers. There are even more subtle factors to take into account: you can modify the firing arcs of each weapon, choose how many reloads of each type of torpedo your ship can carry and how many can be fired in each salvo, and even chose special modifications to existing weapons, increasing their power, accuracy, firing rate, durability, or other qualities. Perhaps the best interface in the game, the ship design screen takes what could have been a dauntingly complex task and makes it intuitive and convenient by providing information about each option's function and cost on-screen.

The research interface is visually interesting, but annoying. You chose which technology to work on, and the amount of research required is shown. What is not shown is what the technologies do, making it absolutely necessary to look each technology up in the manual every time you want to research anything (until you get them all memorized).

Diplomacy is a weaker area, where your interactions are constrained to a highly limited set of commands. Besides declaring war and a few basic agreements, there is next to nothing you can do in cooperation with any of the other civilizations. Soon you will wish you could coordinate attacks, interact with more than one other civilization on the same project, or make more complex deals and demands. More or less, you take on the galaxy alone.

Multi-player capabilities, a strong point in many games, are remarkably poor in Master of Orion II. Being a turn-based game, there is the fundamental constraint that every player in the game must wait for the slowest player to finish his/her turn before moving on. Worse still, space battles happen in between turns, in sequence, so everyone must wait for every player to complete every space combat before moving on. Because space battles can last over 10 minutes if large in scale, or longer if you use an attrition-based battle plan, the wait can be utterly unbearable. Additionally, while you are executing your turn, there is no chat feature. You are isolated until you finish your turn, and even then your communications are limited. Whoever is done with their turn sees a dialogue box, where everyone can type and everyone can see what you type. So much for secrecy... your opponents can see everything you say as easily as your allies. In a two player game, it is even worse. As soon as the second player ends his turn, the next turn begins, so there is practically NO time to talk at all. Between the long waits and the isolation, it is clear that Master of Orion II is not a viable multi-player game.

Master of Orion II is an interesting game, and may be ideal if you wish to focus on a few aspects of empire building (colony management, ship design, and space combat) while ignoring nearly everything else. Overall, however, it is possible to get tired of the repetitive gameplay and long time periods in between big battles. Because multiplayer games are next to impossible, and diplomacy with the computer is so limited, expect play to have a solataire-type feel to it. Ruling an empire is a lonely job.

Most playable and re-playable game that I have ever owned. I keep coming back to it after 2 years of play. Can any other game say that

If you are a sci-fi fan and/or you like strategy games, this game is worth the few bucks it now sells for. Heck, it was worth it when it cost 4 times as much.

You pick a race. Each race has advantages and disadvantages. You can even build your own race. You compete against up to seven other races for conquest of the galaxy. Sounds simple, but the detail in this game can be immense.

Best of all, *YOU* choose the level of micromanagement detail you want. Don't wanna have to command each ship in battle ... then don't. Don't wanna have to pick which thing to build next for every stinkin' colony ... then autobuild. You decide how much detail you want. I like that! Heck, even I change my mind. Sometimes I want a quick game and sometimes I love the details, so MOO2 adapts to me, the player!

This game has so much replay and is so fun, that I bought it new when it first came out and still do not go more than 3 months without playing a game.

MOO2. Play a race of your choosing (or making), and conquer the galaxy by vote, military might, or by being a hero (defeating the evil enemy that hates everyone). A great tech tree and good flexibility in ship design and colony building. The game has great strengths in its interface(s) and the many choices you can make during play. It does devolve into a bit of a tech fest, and there is little emphasis on diplomacy, but an all around good builder game.

This game was well thought out. You can command your own ships or let the Computer. The game also does not require you tell the game every detail of how to organize your planets, but if you do, you can. I've enjoyed many hours of turn-based strategy fun with this game. You will too.

This game is the most addictive thing I have ever encountered (and I have encountered a lot). I absolutely loved it. Even after beating it 100s of times I still like to play it time and time again.

Awesome Game, one of my all time favorites. Good graphics, sound effects, and plenty of gameplay. Large tech tree, plenty of building options, species customization, well designed diplomacy interface, gotta love the espionage, and you get to blow stuff up! The only thing its missing is the ability to completely design ships. (ala the original Pax Imperia)

What a great game it was until OS 9+. Then, no support and no operability! Beware!