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Typing this review if more fun than the game.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I tried to play this game untill I got to a fun point. I really did. But it was for naught. The game just plain ...

1- "real time space combat" in this game = watching little dots on your screen shoot at eachother for awhile. The space combat graphics look like they are from 1990. Their is very little in way of stradegy to it at all.

2- 4+ levels of menues you have to navigate through just to manage a planet. Each planet you go requires that you click through menu after menu to get anywhere.

3- The Tech tree is basicly an AI controlled monstrosity that you can't really understand or control. Your scientists study multipule sciences at the same time and go on to the next automaticly. The whole thing is very confusing. There is no sence of "I need to get this tech so I can get 'x' ability".

4- The enemy AI is [horrible]. Completely stupid. I often found enemy races declaring war one turn, making peace the next, then declaring war again the turn after... over and over for round after round.

Take this for what it's worth from someone who put a lot of initial time into the game. I won't be playing it again. Total rip off.

This game lacks the MOO feel.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is just a huge disapointment to me. So many changes from the first two MOO games it just doesnt feel like a MOO game at all. A new game should expand on the past ones and make improvements, i feel MOO3 was a huge step back not forward.

Its also hard to take the developers in a serious manner when they tell you time after time that something is not possible and can never work with the engine....yet the patch comes out and look how many things in there were "impossible" before hand, names colors gui etc etc etc..

Overall MOO3 and the development of it have been a huge dissapointment. Some love it but i'm not one of them.

Appalling Game! DO NOT BUY

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: April 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

So much hope based on Moo2. Ugh

* The AI cannot win, does not attack, has no idea of strategy

* You find yourself only being a spectator, your only role as "emperor" is clicking end turn

* Graphics are appalling, it looks like Microsoft Excel with an Ugly Skin

* Its no fun what so ever, lacks any soul.

* The tech tree is full of useless techs. IE One there are a handful of techs that "HFOGx.099" umm ok..wut!?

* Manual doesn't explain anything, its just a story updating us from Moo2

* No tutorial in game.

* Many of the Ship types are bugged and do not work.

* The missile ship is way over powered, you need build nothing but these babies to win.

* The AI only seems to build Troop Transports, no actual fighting ships.

* Despite the 100's of troop transports they make, they NEVER invade your planets, hence you can never actually lose a game

* The User Interface is appalling. To change a unit your planet it building, it takes 4 double clicks, multiply this by 40 planets. Can you say RSI!

CHECK OUT THE GAME REVIEW B 4 BUYING!!this is one of the lowest rated games ever! And this is merely combing the reviews from across the net, the Average score is about 49%!

I cannot recommend this game for the Mac, despite out limited choice, this is one game that I cant believe they had the guts to release in this state. The Moo3 homepage forum is full of unhappy fans, pages upon pages of Bugs, complaints, demands for money back

Master of Obstacles...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you've played the original or part 2 of Master of Orion (MOO) then you have an appreciation for all that this game could have been. MOO 3 is not the same game as found in its ancestors. Too much has been layered over and too much has been relegated to the closet.

The basic premise of guiding your civilization through various science fiction phases of development is still here - but in a much more complex, confusing, and over-bearing manner. Sure there are ways to automate many things - but what fun is a simulation game if the simulator is simulating it? And if you attempt to micromanage everything yourself (which I HAVE to do in such a game) then the cumbersome and often clumsy interface and mannerisms of MOO 3 become apparent.

Graphics & Sound:
- The music and sound were nothing to write home about. Adequate but not impressive. Which is unfortunate in a sci-fi game where so many elements and moods could have been introduced: so many alien sounds could have been but aren't.
- The graphics, in my opinion, were quite good. The game doesn't need overly complex graphics to succeed but the visuals in this game, when appropriate, were quite satisfying. There is a good look to the alien races and management screens.

Gameplay:
- the interface is clumsy and cumbersome: the tools you need to use are buried in the management menus and pull-downs. Exploring and experimenting with various buttons, levers, whistles, and yo-yo's consumes an insane amount of time. The game fails to incorporate the important and minor stuff into one easily-accessed package.
- Developing your civilization can be very rewarding in a game like this: but MOO 3, because of its clumsy interface and very confusing research trees, fails to give you a sense of accomplishment. Researching some new stellar technology is nothing more than getting an "okay it's done, what do you want next?" prompt.

Performance:
- if your PC meets the requirements on the box you shouldn't have any problems. I tried the game on two differently configured systems (mid-range and high-end) and had no problems.
- if you have performance issues turn down the various sound or graphic options in game; also check for video card & sound driver updates for your system; and finally disable any background programs like virus scanners before running

2 Stars for potential, the rest were lost for not realizing the potential!
== Take care

The Gamers (players) have been busy -- see the Atari Forum

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: September 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Well, some players are still at it with this game. Yes, the game can be huge or it can also be small with a small cluster of stars and less AI players, even if there is still any multiplayer going on with some players (I do not play multiplayer so I do not know). This is mainly a strategy game of immense size and and your task is to take control of the Galaxy which has been taken over by the New Orions (benign sect of the old war Antarans), and no one knows what happened to the orginal Orions, but the story is in the manual with the game.

However at this time, I wanted to point out that players have changed some text files that had errors in them (call them corrected), found out many things about the game and how it plays, and also found a EUIBase editor built into the game. Although the game can not totally be changed around, so much work has been done modding text files, graphics, and sounds all found at a fan website for downloading(check the Atari Forum for details) that more time is being spent now with the UI Editor built into the game. This of course, will change font sizes, and players are making UI interface corresponding adjustments to the game, so it can be played even better than before. Also the mods will test your skills, and many other mods done to this game. So with the built-in Editor (EUIBase) and using some text lines in a Moo3Settings.ini file, further items of the game will be looked at. The details on anyone who owns this game able to use that built-in editor is over at the Atari Forum, and anyone who has this game, can use it, and change most things around. Just as an example, I have changed the bottom command buttons of the different areas to a smaller size (20 pixels) the top bar of the main screen galaxy map, and the fonts sizes (except on the stars) to make the main screen map -- around 38-40 pixels more star map. Others are working on a kind of 1024 mode sort of graphic changes however the game was still made to work only really with 800 x 600 resolution. However, the game will play in a quasi-1024 mode and it is built into the game. However, the player are feverishly working on the graphics with the EUIBase editor to finish making the 1024 mode behave a little better. Some lists will be longer, and others can not be changed (planets) but the game still can be played, and now even with the fonts supplied with the game. All in all, exciting times are ahead by all the players who have modded this game, found this built-in editor and have complimented making the MOO3 game better, and perhaps, much better than when it first came out. Check it out, for those playing the game, what the players have done, perhaps you will find exciting, as much as the forums explain much about the game not usually found in the manual or the encyclopedia that came with the game. The game really has no equals with its immense size and sheer number of AI players that can play or sneak into the game being magnate civilizations. The rest will be up to you, to become -- Master of Orion again!

Fun and addictive, but after lots of learning

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: July 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I had to start several games over, and spend maybe 10 hours experimenting, before I felt like I had a good _basic_ handle of how the game plays. I've probably played 30-40 hours now, and still many of the subtleties escape me. There's just a tremendous amount going on. On the plus side, there's no absolute need to know any of it; it's possible to play a moderately successful game just by designing new ships every now and then, waiting for the AI to build them, and sending them where you want them to go. That's not too much fun, of course. The fun starts when you finally (after lots of reading - the manual, and third-party stuff; and lots of experimenting) understand what's going on well enough to know how to guide the AI, when to let it do it's thing, and when and how to take over. A lot of the complaints that people have made in their reviews here are based on incorrect statements, though admittedly it's not clear that they're wrong until you've done a lot of digging.
So, in short: if you're willing to spend the time and mental energy to get to know the game, it's well worth it. If you want something simple and quick and elegant, check out Delta Tao's Spaceward Ho! (another great game).

Its deeper than I first thought

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: September 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

At first I was so upset at this game I thought it was trash.But since I bought it I figured Id play it and the more I played it the more I learned and now Im thinking about it at work and Ive only had a week or so. It takes some learning and some thinking. But i was tired of the "open the box play and win" games. Its deep.

Worst Game of it's type.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: February 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is the worst game of its type. Save your money.

Graphics are about 15 years out of date.

Manual is just a story that takes places at the end of Moo2.

The only thing you will ever fight is troop transports...

LOL. What a joke. Glad my friend gave me his copy. Oh, nice cover art on the box.

Only evil people should be punishment by playing this game!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: March 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

playing this game is similar to a cruel and unusual punishment.
this game is vexing , tedious , vain , working at McDonalds is more fulfilling and fun !
And I would rather commit suicide than work at McDonalds!
Do Not Suffer Your Self To Play This Game!
Master of orion 2, MOO2, is ten by the power of millon times better!

What a disappointment.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: June 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you bother to read many of the reviews about this game, you would have come to the same conclusion as I have. I just wish that I hadn't spend my allowance on this game.

After visiting Atari's website and learning that there were repeated changes to the developers and publishers, it is not surprising that this is as bad as it is. Don't buy this game, it'll spare you the pain of dealing with a flawed design, terrible interface, lack of feedback, non existent documentation and outstanding bugs and problems that will never be fixed because there QSI will not patch this game.

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