Master of Orion 3

The largest obstacle concerning this game is the learning curve. It's steep. Especially when compared to the more streamlined direction of 1 and 2. Master of Orion 3 pits the player behind full control of their empire in an almost TOO realistic sense that is easily overwhelming (in contrast to the general dislike for being unlike it's predecessor). It's a bit of an extreme take on a 4x, but it's a unique one that you will either love or hate. You'll find few people with a moderate opinion on this game. This was a bold direction to take, and I have no qualms that I am in the minority when I say it was something I appreciated and enjoyed. This game becomes one of the most complex and demanding titles in it's genre, but it isn't for the faint of heart.

MOO1 and 2 were such good games. This was actually one of the first games I bought the week it came out. I brought it home and played that night. I quickly got confused and found myself trying to follow what was even happening in the game. I played and really tried to enjoy it. I finally gave up and just kept hitting end of turn to see what would happen. After a while the game told me I had won. I just stared at the screen in disbelief. I had done nothing and had won the game. I couldn't quite see the point of playing after that, though I did try a couple times later when I was older. But each time I see the same problems and remember why I was so disappointed. It really makes me sad to see this game on GOG. Buy MOO1 and 2 instead. Please.

I actually played Master of Orion 3 first, before playing the earlier titles in the series, and I found the game entirely enthralling! Whereas Master of Orion II came off as comparatively crude and linear, MoO3 was anything but. With deep, intricate micromanagement (which can be delegated to a competent AI VIceroy if you can't or don't wish to keep up with personally lording over ever planet in your empire) and curiously detailed information about planets and stars, just exploring the game without looking into the environment's mechanical setbacks is more than satisfying. It would be unfair of me to not mention the bugs, though I don't have to go into detail about the issues the game had on release; it's not much of a secret. Luckily, the fanbase jumped in insanely quickly to provide patches and mods that add the missing polish the game needed to be spectacular. After years away from the game, I'm excited to see what the mod community has come up with. In the meantime, even with the imperfections, I love this game as much as the day I first bought it. Were it not for the damage to the install disk, I might never have come to GOG looking for it. Thanks, GOG!

I was so excited when this game originally came out. But I spent about 6 hours late into the night trying to like the game, only to be frustrated over and over until early in the morning. The only good thing? There was an advert for Gallactic Civilizations in the box. That was the game I was looking for when I bought MOO3.

In my opinion, MOO3 is a good game, despite what everyone says. I never used to read game reviews, so when I got it on release date, I didn't know that everyone hated it. I noticed that the interface was pretty crappy, and the game in general was fairly slow, but I had plenty of time and didn't mind working around the crappy interface. The various AI-assistant options (automatic colony development plans, one-click colony founding, etc) took a lot of the burden off of the interface awkwardness once one learned how to use them properly, and there was enough development, research, diplomacy, combat (although I felt that this was the weakest part of the game), and so forth to keep me quite interested. I think that overall, I spent the most time with MOO3 out of the whole series. It also helped that I really like the starlane concept. The way star systems become absolutely strategically critical is really fun, and is something I miss now when I play the other games in the series. I think they could have gone even further with that concept (ie, parts of your empire that are isolated from each other can't share resources and reinforcements and so forth), but it was a great start in my opinion. Of course, many people disagree and absolutely despise star lanes for some reason. Finally, the crazy Antaran empire adds a dynamic layer to the game. I've had several games change course significantly because someone provoked the Antarans into some merciless punitive actions. Give it a try, you might be surprised!