Below are user reviews of Star Control and on the right are links to professionally written reviews.
The summary of review scores shows the distribution of scores given by the professional reviewers for Star Control.
Column height indicates the number of reviews with a score within the range shown at the bottom of the column.
Higher scores (columns further towards the right) are better.
User Reviews (1 - 2 of 2)
Show these reviews first:
The Best Game I Ever Bought On Amazon.com
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User
Superb! This game is almost exactly like the Amiga version!
Mark,
I hate the Androsynth....
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User
This is one of those classic games that carved it's own niche into the gaming world when it was first released over a decade ago. Sporting a slick graphics and music (for the time the MOD files the game used for music were top of the line) pairing the player was introduced into the battle between two different warring factions. The "Alliance of Free Stars" and the "Ur-Quan Hierarchy", each side featuring 7 unique ships with thier own specific sets of strengths and weaknesses.
As backstory goes (as related by the game's instruction booklet) a rampaging species known as the Ur-Quan, large green catepillar creatures, began pushing through into the immediate area of space, subjugating each species as they went. With each new conquest the Ur-Quan forces grew stronger, forcing these new species to join them as Battle Thralls. The Chenjesu, noble crystalline creatures from the Procyon star system, began to receive signals of the Ur-Quan, and their subsequent victories, and frantically began to gather a competing alliance of the free star-faring races. Earth was the final race to be recruited and joined the ranks of the Alliance of Free Stars.
As stated before each race has 7 unique shipsets, ranging from the overpowerful Ur-Quan Dreadnought (the "flagship" of the Hierarchy), which fires powerful fusion blasts and as a secondary weapon can launch waves of autonomous fighters, to the small Umgah Drone, which is a weak and barely manueverable ship which fires a short ranged radiation cone. The Alliance sports the Chenjesu Broodhome craft, which can fire long range crystal shards which can shatter in proximity to an enemy ship. In addition it can launch DOGI's, small, autonomous spheres which track enemy ships and bleed the energy out of them when they make physical contact.
The game played out something akin to a hi tech chess match of sorts. For instance, a match between a Mycon Podship (homing plasmoids and the ability to regenerate new crew) and the slow but manueverable Earthling Cruiser (which fires homing nuclear missiles, and can intercept incoming projectiles with surplus SDI lasers), will probably be won by the Cruiser. But place a Cruiser against the much faster and more agile Spathi Discriminator (firing multiple energy projectiles, and having a secondary ability to fire rear-tracking, short range missiles) might end up a completely different way. Exploring the different matchups between ships kept players busy for many, many hours devising strategies to conquer the opposing side, and because of this the game developed a cult-following, with each fan having a favorite ship and set of strategies to employ against opponents (both computer and human).
The game is a masterpiece of design, simple and yet at the same time effective. The sequel, Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters, is most certainly the gold standard of the genre, and legions of fans will agree. Visit "The Pages of Now and Forever" to learn more about both games and about the possibility of a future release.
If I've earned your vote for giving a positive review from this narrative, then please feel free to leave a comment listing your favorite ship from the game. Me? I'm an Earthling Cruiser fan all the way!
Review Page:
1
Actions