Imperium Galactica

I bet no one here has heard of Reunion? One of the forgotten games that I accidentally bumped into while going through discounted games in a supermarket some 15 years ago or so. It seems actually that Digital Reality is the exact same company (at the time named Amnesty Design) that developed Reunion. Same developers, same composer, etc. Anyway, for those of you who like Imperium Galactica, I strongly recommend trying out Reunion. Unfortunately it's not yet available at GOG, so you have to find it somewhere and use Dosbox. Imperium Galactica (and also Reunion) have that something that is missing from most space strategy games - story and immersion. It doesn't feel that you are just micromanaging some random entities that just happen to be visualized as planets. For a long time I wished Reunion would get a worthy sequel, and Imperium Galactica truly is. Yes, they are not perfect. The events sometimes screw up everything unless you carry out certain tasks fast enough. Also, the events become rather boring at the later stages of the game. If the developers had spent more time polishing the later parts of the game, I could give 5 stars. What space strategy games have always been missing, and still mostly miss, is good and immersive story. I truly hope we would get more games like Imperium Galactica, Reunion, and Dune 1.

The game is certainly an interesting title and for its time considerably advanced. I have played this time several times and from today's respective, ignoring some nostalgia, I do have somewhat mixed feelings towards this title. First of all it is very decent strategy/management game but the AI and controls over units are very outdated and somewhat idiotic. If you get to space and ground battles you will immediately know what I mean. The path finding is of the legendary ridiculousness. I have lost many ground battles just because traffic jams :) . Anyway, dumb AI is a part of old games flavor so if you can stomach it then you are in the clear. Not to spoil too much I find the early "fleet of doom" very anti climatic if you can avoid its sue victory with a puny destroyer... . it is a big mistake of developers. If one is vigilant there is no way to loose planets to dragslans. Planetary combats are also somewhat silly. If I come with the loaded fleet I wan to deploy all my units and crush these alien scum...ups I mean unfriendly and confused sentient lifeforms. Another exploit is an instant deployment of stored units form a "magic hat" to anywhere. For instance if your planet is just about to be invaded, you can deploy up to 3 star bases to the orbit in absolutely no time by puling them from the storage... Next big part of the game is colonization/planet management/science. I must admit that this part of the game is really nice and I had much fun here. The sequence of happiness modifier buildings, factories, power plants, research centers etc. is really thought though. The only three minuses that I see are 1) no way to remover tile blockers (you can build space ships but cannot level a mountain or move snow hills away....), 2) with many planets I had the impression of playing civilization 4 that is in my opinion is close to the dreadest form of micromanagement memory training, 3) lastly, If I invade an alien planet I want to level buildings down, purge inhabitants and colonize with the rightful new owners ;). The game is not letting you do that... . At the end I should mention monotony... . Yes, the later part of the game is really monotonous and consists of series of invasions of dragslan planets. I find it mildly boring but not that much to press delete. Concluding. It is a game worth your time if you like old-shool strategy games. I would wait though for some sale to get is for a few $/Euro.

I still have the original CD disk here with me. One of my most memorable games, besides MOO2, a great 4x jewel in the Sci-Fi genre. I spend soooooo many hours in this game, MOO2 while being fun, it was dated, and it was DOS, this game came during Windows times and with really good graphic by back then. Also the story was surperb, I'll not spoil it for people that haven't played yet, but you are in for a surprise at the end of the game ;) The only fault about this game, is the lack of replayability once you finished the story line. It made me really want to go out and buy the Continuation story, or a DLC, but back then these type of stuff were not popular. Technically you can replay it as many times as you want, if you just care for the 4X stuff, but once the story has been revealed, it's not as exiting anymore, and the conquering of the planets becomes easier as you know what is unfolding already. I'm still looking forward to see a Continuation to this story. They should have made a series, something like Mass Effect but for the 4X genre.

I recall playing this game for hours and hours now almost 20 years ago... A true blast from the past! As I was recently setting up my own list of best 4X games of all time, Imperium Galactica actually found its well deserved place on it. http://haveyouplayed.net/best-4x-space-games-of-all-times/6/ The game was rich in detail and a had a very sound strategic approach, not to mention an incredible atmosphere for that time. It felt like playing chess in space, but the adrenaline rush was still real, especially with the big fleet battles. Also, one of the rare 4X games that gave the player opportunity to actually conduct a meaningful ground combat. I know I had to get this right away as GoG.com released it and see how it aged after all this time... Thank you, GoG!