Imperium Galactica

Ich habe 1997 eine Demo einer Spielezeitschrift getestet und mußte damals das Original haben! Darum besitze ich heute noch Imperium Galactica als Original mit Pappbox etc. Zum Spiel selbst. Die Grafik war zu der damaligen Zeit Standart und auch die Video´s aus den Zwischensequenzen waren kein optischer Straßenfeger mehr. Aber was mich von der ersten Minute gebannt hatte war die Welt des Spiels ansich! Und das man freie Hand hatte in dieser Welt alles zu machen (oder auch nicht zu machen), was einem beliebte und das in Echtzeit. Man war wie gesagt, schon anderes von Siedler, Command & Conquer usw. gewohnt, aber IG war anders. Herausfordernder. Die Missionen an sich zähle ich persönlich mehr als Beiwerk und helfen weiter im Spiel voran zu kommen, aber die Planetenverwaltung und Erforschung neuerer Technologie, sowie dementsprechd das ausrüsten der Flotte hat heute noch seinen Reiz auf mich. Und selbst, das die Grafik heute sehr "altbacken" ist, spiele ich IG immer noch sehr gerne! Für den schmalen Euro sicher ein Spiel, was einem ein paar Stunden Freude bereitet.

Back in high school I put a ridiculous number of hours into this game. Honestly I only stopped with the march of time rendered the game unplayable on later versions of Windows. I'd always hoped for a proper port to play it on a modern pc. The game is surprisingly complex and took a lot of chances for the time. It's a 4x game with an actual plot. Admittedly a very badly acted FMV plot, but still a plot. You play as an imperial officer rising through the ranks from Lieutenant to Grand Admiral, going from commanding 1 ship and few planets to unlocking the whole game and leading your empire to dominance. Or... in the first play through probably getting hopelessly snarled in the late game when the difficulty suddenly ramps up. The two IG games are still pretty unique. You micromanage fleets and worlds, stacking equipment on individual ships and trying to balance cost versus firepower. It's surprisingly addictive. There are some frustrations though. As has been pointed out, the pathfinding is legendarily bad. You will lose units (and probably battles) to your units getting stuck in a traffic jam/on terrain and then shot to pieces. The endgame is basically a series of ground invasions of the enemy planets, and because of the terrible pathfinding and poor ground controls it takes forever. There really isn't opportunity to get fancy. Stack a ridiculous number of heavy tanks, invade, lost way too many to AI incompetence, build a bunch more, invade the next world. Still, this game is fun. The campaign is interesting, the diplomacy is just deep enough to add to the overall experience, and some of the flavor text manages to imply a much deeper universe. After years of staring at the unplayable cd on my shelf, it was great to revisit it.

I played this game growing up, I actually was playing it when 2000 hit on new years when I was maybe ten years old. The combination of planet management, and the art for ships/buildings/tanks was just awesome for the time and I really enjoyed it. Replaying it so long later I enjoyed it just as much. If you enjoy building colonies, and space and ground battles, this is a fun one. The campaign becomes a bit of a grind and there are a lot of interesting aliens/factions you'll rarely get to interact with as the big baddies wreck everyone but you pretty quickly. Still, I enjoyed it a lot. Compared to IG 2, I much prefer the graphics for this game, the ship designs were awesome, and the different buildings for different races were pretty cool. Ultimately, if the art of this game was combined with the gameplay of IG 2, that would have been pretty sweet. I've always dreamed of an IG 3, oh how I would love to be involved in that.

I've been playing this game off and on since 1998 and I love it just as much now as I did as a kid. It's a wonky 4x game that's one part Sim City, one part Battleship, and one part Age of Empires. It follows a plot with scripted missions that become looser and looser as you progress into the game until finally you're basically left in sandbox mode with only one objective, to control the galaxy. Events happen out of left field and until you develop the uncanny sixth sense to handle the uniquely awful situations Imperium Galactica throws at you it will seem almost rogue-like in its punishment. This is further reinforced by the fact that every single game is different in at least subtle ways, but often in very big ones. The galaxy is "alive" and the other races are doing stuff while you're splashing around in the early missions, which makes end game feel like you're walking into the middle of a movie. It's always different and it keeps me coming back over and over. The controls are decent, the UI is dated but servicable, the sound and graphics are comforting to me so I really can't describe them objectively, and the game overall is brutally tough with a series of challenges that have no one right answer. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a challenging and fun old space RTS.

THANK YOU, GOG!!! I was googling for years when Imperium Galactica would finally become available via Digital Download to add to my collection - and when I finally saw the result come up positive, I couldn't believe my eyes! The game runs smoothly and a bit faster than I remember. I love it so much to return to this GRAND Chapter of Video Game Goodness! The game was visionary and way ahead of its time! Combining a bit of a Sim City flair, RTS and 4K of course... Just so thankful! B-)