Master of Orion 1+2

Both of these games are fantastic exemplars of the turn-based strategy genre, and given that there isn't that much created in it anymore, it's a lucky thing these both hold up so well. MoO1 is, for me, an outstanding game because it's simply and cleanly designed enough to have a real "boardgame" flavour about it. Depending on the settings, you can finish a game in a couple of hours, and the different races all give you a different way to play. The Psilons are basically an "easy" setting, but each race has its own appeal (even if just cosmetic) and the game unfolds differently depending on who you choose and how you play them. TBS can sometimes be a rather soporific affair; you make a plan at the beginning, then spend hundreds of turns clicking through various options just to implement that one "thought". MoO1 is much more dynamic than this; there are many moments of decision, multiple valid approaches... and it's fun to "fit" all the pieces of the game together in a way that leads to your triumph... or downfall. MoO2 is also a great game, although personally I don't like it quite as much. It offers a lot more flexibility, better graphics, more "flavour"... but there are some problems that go with these improvements. It has a more civ-like game design (especially in the way you build up your cities, oops I mean planets) and the result is that you can spend much, much longer playing one game... it's less strategically satisfying, often because you lose or win based on one choice made early in the game (and once again, the Psilons are virtually a cheat code). Still, even if the strategy is a bit less elegant than in the first game, the flavour is a lot stronger (I love the innovative use of pilots as bonuses for specific fleets - what a great idea! Why hasn't this been widely copied?) and if you like games with strong personality and strong sense of "genre", this might be for you. Certainly most people seem to prefer it. :) Since you get both in this pack, and for such a low price, it hardly matters which "camp" you fall into. If you like *any* turn-based strategy game, you're going to like one, or both, of these.

First off, I'd like to say that this review has no nostalgia bent to it. I didn't play this game “back in the day”, so these words are coming straight from a newcomer to the series who's played many other strategy games. That said, I can honestly say that Master of Orion 2 is one of the best strategy games I've ever played. A bold claim you might say, but I’ll try my best to back up my thoughts. Pros 1. Fantastic 2d graphics 2. Soundtrack and sound effects are spot on 3. Research is handled somewhat realistically 4. Deep, without being overwhelming 5. Good selection of races 6. Interface is easy and intuitive Cons 1. Even the largest galaxy size feels slightly cramped 2. Diplomacy is somewhat limited 3. One race usually ends up growing exponentially and wipes out the other weaker races 4. Research is handled somewhat realistically The pros are self explanatory, so I’ll focus on the finer points of the cons. 1. Possibly my biggest gripe with this game, though it maybe be forgivable when you take into account the technology that was available at the time. After playing Galactic Civilizations II, with galaxies so large they take months to beat, I felt very boxed in even with the largest galaxy setting in Master of Orion 2. This does keep things from getting way out of hand, but I would have preferred the option to stage a true space opera. 2. Another point done much better in Galactic Civilizations II, though once again it is due to the technology available at the time. In Master of Orion 2, you pretty much can declare war, or just sign treaties with people. You can't manipulate people into doing things for you, and races don't tend to remember your personal past with one another. 3. I'm no strategy game god, and I don't play on the hardest difficulty level, but while I was playing this game, what always happened was one randomly chosen race was chosen to be the god race and promptly tried to cheat his way to victory. This chosen race somehow would have enough money to expand his empire extremely quickly, while the other computer players only capture two systems and then do nothing but invite the chosen race to wipe them out. 4. Research in this game is strange to me. Every race has the same technology tree, but everybody except the Psilons can only choose one improvement per tree. Each step of the tree can have up to three choices, and only being able to choose one can be a severe disadvantage. Sure you can trade with other races for the improvements you don't have, but this assumes that they chose the improvements you don't have. Regardless of these negatives, I still feel that this game is excellent. You'll simply just enjoy playing this game, and I still fire it back up every once and while despite the fact that I’ve beaten it many times already. I didn't review the first game, because I thought everything it did was improved upon in the second. In conclusion, it's well worth the low price if you are a fan of space strategy games, or strategy games in general.

I bought this on sale yesterday and my goodness, it feels so good to be back in Orion. Three hours went by playing and I didn't even notice. Today I'm going to start a huge map on hard and see if I can just beat the living daylight out of the entire galaxy. One word of caution: the game has an annoying mouse acceleration by default. I managed to disable it in Win10 by doing this: - Go to Start menu -> Graphic mode setup. - Set graphic mode to Overlay and UNTICK Full Screen. - TICK Keep Aspect Ratio and set resolution to your taste (I use 1280x960). - Open dosboxMOO2.conf in your install folder and set: autolock=false And voila, no mouse acceleration! Definitely buy this title when it is on sale. 2€ is an absolute steal for a gem like this.

I'm a fan of strategy games. Age of Empires, Civilization, Call to Power, Command and Conquer, the list goes on and on; I love them all, real time or turn based. And my love started with a simple yet engrossing game called Master of Orion 2. MOO2 remains one of my favorite games, and I experienced true euphoria when I saw it in the news release on gog's front page. I instantly whipped out my credit card, and eagerly awaited the download to finish. From the quirky, futuristic music and sounds to the customizable ships, races, and colonies, this game has everything one could ever want or expect of a 4x stuffed into a simple and perfect package. If you've ever played a 4x game, you know what to expect: start out on your home turf, build up your starting turf while you explore you surroundings, colonize a few systems, meet the neighbors, get into an intergalactic war with your neighbors, destroy your neighbors and claim the neighborhood for yourself, rinse, and repeat until it's time to shower for work. You will get lost in this game. The variety of races allows for many different gameplay strategies to be prospected, or you can customize a race to desired traits (somewhat rare for a 4x game I've found). Space battles can be either controlled by you the user, or left up to the game to decide. There can be multiple planets in a system, all available for settling, and later you can tweak the planets for optimum growth. There is a certain balance to the gameplay that keeps it from ever getting frustrating, and I find myself hard pressed to ever curse the game for allowing a cheap move. I could go on with this giddy and shallow appraisal, but I can only skim the surface of how great this game is. If you're looking for a strategy game, end your search here. As an awesome bonus, the original Master of Orion is included, all for six bucks.

There's something about Master of Orion that grabs you. It's not the crafted story, because you decide how the story plays out. It's not the graphics, which were hardly passable for it's time. And it's not the sound or the controls. It's the same thing that still fascinates us about space to this day: the unknown. You never know what is going to happen from turn to turn. What technologies will you have access to research this game? Is that yellow star down there already settled? If so, are they so far behind in the arms race that I can wipe them out completely with my colony ship escort, or have I just awakened a sleeping technological giant? Will all of the races join together to oppose me in the vote for the galactic leader? And which one of these stars is the legendary Orion? You honestly never know the answers to any of these questions beforehand. Master of Orion allows a rare blend of complete control and complete randomness. You could research the weapons to build the best ship in the galaxy, but run across the Guardian too early and it's toast. Feeling smug about that new colony you just snatched from the Alkaris? Well here comes a space amoeba to wipe the smile off your face. It stays interesting to this day because of this balance. You can have the best strategy in the world as far as research, espionage, and ship design, but there's always something that can foil your plans, and you never know when it could hit, who it could hit, or where it could hit. I remember playing this game with my uncle when I was about 10 years old. I was fascinated by the concept of designing personalized ships to make a fleet, and giddy with excitement when I would watch the ships we designed head into battle. 15 years later, that feeling is still there. This game proves that graphics and sound are not the defining attributes of good games. Good games have an "X" factor, something that makes a game fun to even think about playing, and this game has it in spades.