Master of Orion 1+2

Ah, the games that defined, and ended up almost killing (Master Of Orion 3) and entire sub-genere. MOO, while much simpler than MOO 2, was a finer game. The pacing, the scale and the feeling of discovery, conquest, diplomacy and war were fantastic and the ability to end the game via the sword for the ballot box was a fantastic touch. If you like TBS games and want a glimpse of what things were like before shiny graphics, go get this, you'll find a pure strategy game that you will find hard to put down until you have finished one run, if not more.

MoO1 was a blast - a game which swept me off my feet with it's complex gameplay, large and fairly diverse techtree and truly distinctive races which added to replayability along with randomly generated space. MoO2 was a shock at the first moment - borrowing a number of features from Master of Magic or, if you like, from civilization (though less so). After a bit of grumbling, I gave the game a chance and I wasn't dissapointed. Frankly, I haven't yet found better space 4X strategy, each I've tried (spaceships unlimited, galactic civilizations...) just made me eventually yearn for this classic and return to it, since they were, in some way, lacking in comparison. Among things that make the game incredibly enjoyable are the techtree and the dilema which tech to chose (since you can often only develop one of two or three through research - maybe not so realistic, but heck, it's FUN), construction of custom ships (and the equipment really matters, not the usual +1, +2, +3, ... blaster), several options of winning (diplomacy, conquest, beating the Antareans) and there are more. For the price, it's absolutely unmissable - and it would still be for four times as much.

Master Of Orion is a game that still today manages to surprise and even awe me. I first played it soon after it was released on a friends' PC; we were both hooked and played pretty much only MOO for weeks. When I got my first PC, it was one of the very first games I acquired for it, and was hooked again. And when I found out it was on GoG, it was one of the very first games I bought through it and was - seeing a pattern here yet? - hooked. One of the things that makess MOO unique is that underneath its surface of simplicity, it's a surprisingly complex game - but complex in a fun and engaging way. Even when you first fire up the game you won't really be daunted by an endless amount of menus and choices. Quite the contrary in fact; all you've got are about half a dozen of different screens, some of which you can basically completely ignore and still get along just fine. MOO does a good job at taking care of the micromanagement if you choose to not bother with it, but on the other hand does give you the chance to slide those sliders if that's what gets you off (I, for one, rarely bother with the Tech-screen). After a few turns you will feel completely at home with the GUI, and as you get better, you will discover what the different screens and sliders do. You probably won't even have to consult the manual. The gameplay isn't much more complex at first sight; build ships, send them off to explore, build colonies or do battle, research tech, build better ships, do diplomacy, and so on. Really, it's simple stuff that MOO is made from, but it takes a long while to truly understand how the game works. The beautiful thing is that your actions have real consequences. Everything has an impact on everything else. In similar contemporary games such as Civ and Civ II, especially diplomacy felt vastly inferior due to one bothersome aspect: too often it felt like no matter what you did, regardless of whether it be parading your superior military power or groveling in the mud and offering gifts to other nations, or trying to be a cool equal, you'd end up facing the wrong side of their sword. In MOO, it at least feels like you are able to significantly affect the direction your diplomatic relations take; be pro-active and give small token gifts, exchange tech and keep in touch, and they'll like you. Build armies and stay a loner, and they'll become wary and probably attack you. Another thing which in itself is simple but lends to surprisingly large strategical possibilities are the victory conditions: victory by being elected president, or victory by eradicating all other races. The neat thing here is that as the balance of power shifts in favour for or against a nation or another, the best strategy also shifts: is it better to butter up your competitors to get their vote, or smash them with your fleet? It is possible to win the game with diplomacy and quick expansion only, or with pure violence. But best results are often yielded with a combination of both. I find these victory conditions make up for more interesting strategies than Civ's build spaceship first/kill everyone. Getting to choose your race is also nice; each race excels at something and is in turn weaker at something else, meaning you have to either choose the race to suit your playing style or adapt your strategy to the race. I usually pick the Silicoids because I can't be bothered with all those pesky colony bases for different environments. One of the most appealing aspects of the game is your space fleet: you get to design your ships by selecting weapons, engines, ECM and computer systems etc., and command them in a combat mini-game which is very much similar to, for example, Heroes Of Might And Magic - also in the sense that cunning strategy can sometimes grant victory to the inferior force. Having to design your own units makes combat and military tech research feel very different from Civ, where new tech automatically gives you certain units. The best thing about MOO is that each field of the game - exploration, micromanagement of resources and population, fleet design, diplomacy and combat - is FUN! And they tie in so well together that it doesn't feel anything at all like managing a handful of loose strings; as I wrote above, everything affects everything else in some direct or indirect way, but rarely in a manner so esoteric you can't figure it out. This makes running your own little space empire extremely addictive, fun and rewarding; seeing your underdog empire turn the tide of battle against the invading Meklars thanks to that superior new ship design you devised, your clever strategical thinking, good resource planning and sneaky combat tactics feels like you actually achieved something. And in a way it feels just as good on those occasions the AI hands your ass to you - this game can put up a real fight. And you also get MOO2 for the same price, which is an added bonus. But for me, the real gem in this package is the first game, the second being very much obscured by the sheer brilliance of the first game. Sadly, there are some minor issues with compatibility; sometimes the graphics may start flickering and you cannot load a game from the main menu, and sometimes loading the main game screen can take inordinate amounts of time... but nothing too major.

They just dont make games like this anymore. I feel like Im the leader of a galactic civilization when i play this game. I send my powerful fleets across the galaxy as I wage war, Or use my diplomatic skills to bring my enemy to its knees. the second one was even better as there was not only a threat from fellow races, but from an extra-dimensional species that could not be reasoned with and wanted you and all other forms of life wiped out. Truly epic gaming form an age of gaming that has vanished to the simple, blah games they make today.

Simtex hit the turned based strategy genre on the head with these two games. Both are excellent. Some prefer the more detailed approach of MOO2, but I'm in the MOO1 camp. It was the first game I got the day I got my computer in 1994. Since then it has stayed at number one. Nothing has ever knocked it off that spot. TBS games after that have always been everything from a slight disappointment to all out failure. For $5.99 there is nothing in the galaxy better than this deal. This is history ...this is pc gaming. My wife will have to drag me off here to go to bed tonight since buying this Master of Orion collection on GoG. THANK YOU GoG for all your efforts to bring us games like this. And at this price..just WOW.