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A Waste of $20

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Unfortunately, this game is a waste of the $20. I am sorely disappointed. As a fan of civilization II and MOO2, I expected much better.

The initial graphics were slick, but the backstory makes little sense to me. The interface is difficult to navigate (e.g. you press escape to go back a level, but press it too many times and the game asks if you want to quit). It also tends to overlay windows and superfluous graphics over your selection.

I found myself simply pressing the turn button over and over again with no real purpose. Controlling planetary production was pointless. But letting the AI do it meant it chose the wrong thing to build 25% of the time (I had 4 troop ships and no battle fleet to conquer a star first!).

This is one of the few times that I'd like to get my $20 back. This game isn't worth the price of the media it's produced on.

At least it was cheap...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As a big fan of the original MOO, and an even bigger fan of M002, my interest was peaked with the release of M003. After getting side-tracked with other things in life, I stumbled across the game recently for much less than the usual amount, so I picked it up.

It pains me to say, this is a complete disappointment. I would've been better off spending the money on lunch, at least that would've been temporarily satisfying.

I think most of the other posts covered the rather pathetic AI system. The part of this game versus M002 that really bugs me is the change in the space combat. Not sure who thought it would be a good idea to change from the turn-based combat to "real time", but they need to be smacked around.

With M002, you had much better tactical control of combat situations. There were many-a-time in M002 where I had my 4 titan-class ships going up against 90 doom-star/titan enemy ships. With the control of individual ships, it was just a matter of using superior tactics to wipe them out; with no casualties of my own. But in M003, all you can do is give general "attack", "move", "retreat", etc orders, and can only sit back and watch as the AI bungles it and your fleet gets decimated.

In M002, with each class of starship, there were also various shapes/designs to choose from. So a squadron of "cruiser-class" ships didn't all have to be the exact same look. This might be a picky detail, but I always named each ship individually when I constructed them. To me, it gave the game a more personal feel. Also, in M002, you could take your ships back to space-dock to be re-fit/upgraded when new technology was discovered. In M003, all you can do is label a design "obsolete", and have to start all over again.

The ship design and combat sequences remind me a lot of the Star Trek game "Birth of the Federation". (That was another great disappointment.)

The game "manual", while about 150 pages in length, was rather useless. Most of it was taken up with a "pre-history" of the game and events that ran through the other two games. It seemed to me that someone at the company just fancied themselves as some budding sci-fi author, and used this as an opportunity to try their hand at writing.

Tip to the designers for next time (if there ever is one): Don't completely gut the core of an already great game. Just tweak it and/or upgrade graphics and such. Of course, if there is another installment to this series, I doubt I'll even give it a chance.

The good the bad and the ugly... without the good

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Lots of good ideas in this game, unfortunately almost all of them are half baked. Just about every feature would be great if it were implemented well. Like exploring planets. Why can't you see the details of the planet untill you land on it. Even a hint would be nice. I like the idea that you can have a multi culture empire, so that you could land the matching subjects on the matching type of planet -- if you could figure out the planet type before landing, or you could see the speicies ocuping the colony ship.
Don't even get me started about the space combat -- not only is it impossible to control the ships but you can't see details of the enemy. Does their tech outclass you ships -- cant tell. I know they have lots of missles and fighters but there is not way to save your shots for them or support other groups with your beams, or target your small missles against their anti ship missles.
Ambitious game, but they obviously ran out of time and just had to release whatever code they had.
Terrible, awful, stupid game. Don't waste your time or money.

Frustration to the max

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Yeah, I'm a little late in writting a review for this game (about three years). I decided to write one now, because i bought this game the day it came out, and just within these past few months (of 2006) i actually figured out how the game actually works. It definitely has a high learning curve, i must of had 300 or so hours in playing this game before i was even a novice at it. To say it's complicated is a serious understatement. There's so many settings and buttons that it reminds me of one of those purposly complicated chain of machines and gadgets they use to do simple things like open doors for fun. Just when you think you have it figured out, something happens that makes you throw a drink across the room and shout "Why the $%%# is it doing that???". The main weakness in the game is the manual i think, it simply doesnt do a good job of explaining how the game actually works. Only about 40% of the features and interactions are explained in it. You're basically on your own to figure out everything else, which leads to a mountain of questions. Heck, it took me about two years of playing the game on and off before i actually figured out how to create a task force. Other questions still haunt me, with no answers to be found. Can you disband a ground force unit? Do they actually cost maintenance like the manual says....? Anyone?

Supposidly, the game has a lot of automation features that make it easier for you. Unfortunatly, these never work the way you want them too. I cant count how many times i've been in the thick of a war, only to find that all my colonies are building scouts and colony ships rather than warships. Great, the enemy is pounding away at our borders, but i got 30 colony ships in reserve, thanks a lot. I'd like to say that the "Planetary AI" feature does some things right, but it really doesnt. Instead of setting an compromised, steady financial setting it usually likes to just run the colony into the ground for a few turns, then do nothing at all for a few turns to fix the damage.

The fix, of course, is to simply turn all the automation off and do everything by yourself. Which....can be quite a task when you're controling 30 or 40 worlds. A single turn can take upwards of around 20 minutes like this (usually it takes about 600+ to win the game). It's kind of sad that this is all the game is about when it comes down to it. About 80% of your time is simply going to be spent on getting your colonies to do what you want them too, when supposidly it's supposed to be done for you.

Of course...all this frustration has to be leading to something really good right??? Nope. The battles systems is....pretty basic. There really is no room for strategy, brute force always wins. The Ground combat system is laughably simple, yet confusing as to how it works.

Which leads me to my next rant: Taking Planets from enemys. This....is extremely difficult. Invading a system, and destroying and local fleets, and planetary defences is actually the easy part of invading. The hard part is what to do next. Do you want to just destroy the colony on the planet? Or do you want to invade the planet and control it yourself?

Well...if you want to choose the wisest path and just nuke the colony, you got yet another headache in store for you. It's basically darn near impossible to do so. It can (and does) take about 30-40 turns of orbital bombardment to destroy a colony (as opposed to the one or two in MOO2). The only time effiecent method is to invade with ground forces and take the colony for yourself. This leads to yet another series of headaches. For one, the ground battle system is kind of a masterpiece in that it is both idiotically simple, and complicated at the same time. You get to choose from about 20 different battle tactics on how you're going to assault the planet, without any explanation at all on the benifits or weaknesses of any of them. Basically it's just a matter of guessing and hoping for luck. If you do conquer the planet, you're in control of all the alien race there. This isnt so great because the AI isnt very picky in choosing planets, so you usually end up with a real dump (yet another planet you have to manually control), with a population thats useless to you. You cant really create things like colony ships there, because they'll create ones of their race, not yours. So on top of the mountain of frustrations you have already, you get another: Somehow finding a way to keep your entire empire populated by your original race for simplicity's sake.

I'll stop before i get to far into this, rest assured i could write pages more of the headaches you have to deal with, but you get the idea. The only other thing i want to mention is the interface really is a terrible design. The first thing i learned in my freshman VB class was to make the interface user friendly (number 1 priority), these designers had a whole different agenda. I wont go into many details but let me ask you this: When you go to File, then Save As then click a file, it asks if you want to overwrite the file. As an industry standard, which side of the little menu is "OK" and "Cancel" on? "Ok" is on the left. Of course, the designers of MOO3 just felt the need to be different, and cause tons and tons of frustration for people who blindly think that clicking on the left button saves the game.

All in all, i play the game because I "Want" to like it....not really because i do.

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

Buy this game if you love pain

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: November 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game was the worst use of 35 bucks I have ever seen. I may as well have taken 35 bucks out of my wallet and flushed it down the toilet. I tried to play this worthless morass of mind-bending algorithms for about three days before I literally threw the game away. Shame on these designers. What were they thinking?

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.

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).

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