Master of Orion 1+2

Its like being in line for space mountain in magic kingdom. Its cool, its dark, its mellow, and its just fantastic. Easy to learn (or relearn), everything is r-clickable to provide an explanation of what it does (modern games could take a note), and just plain impossible to master. Best served with your favorite recreational herb and a glass at wine at night.

I first played Master of Orion when it was released for DOS in the early 1990's, 10 years later I found myself still going back to this game from time to time. I still play once in a while to this day. Galactic exploration, Colony development, Spaceship design, Research, Diplomacy, Spying, Space Fleet Combat are the mechanisms that make this turn based game a complete experience. Some events happen and suddenly you have to fight a giant space amoeba or search a cure for a dying star. Of course there are different ways to win (or lose) the game either you exterminate everyone else or you get elected through diplomacy. Then there is Orion and its forgotten powerful technology guarded by a very strong guardian that will annihilate most fleets in the blink of an eye. Get your hand on this early and you're set for victory, until a spy steals the tech and noy you have an enemy as strong as you confronting you. Many differents species you can play, many different playstyle you can adopt and parameters you can tweak to alter the game gives it an additional replayability. I'm not sure why but he other titles attempting to use the same recipes do not spark the same interest and fun in me and certainly not the same urge to play it again. Buying this game is a safe bet and I strongly recommend you do.

Quite a steep learning curve but one of the best games ever made. 5/5

This game is different. It is easy to learn but not shallow. Full of options but not overwhelming. But most importantly it has tons of character. You owe it to yourself to try it, if you are afraid of older games because you fear clunky interface, don't be, everything here is easy to access. Many people say that Master of Orion is for Star trek fans but I feel much stronger Babylon 5 vibe from it. You even have Shadows...I mean Antarans :-)

Back in the day this was the fun one. It uses DoxBox and you can make it full screen by having your mouse in the doxbox window and pressing 'ctrl+f10' and then alt +enter'.