O.R.B.: Off-World Resource Base

O.R.B. was one of the games I loved back in the early 2000s. The game is a lot of fun while also being challenging in the campaign mode. I drove my wife crazy playing this game right up until Win7 when I couldn't get it to run anymore. I bought the game at the time of release and certainly never regretted it. My only concern is I've seen several reviews saying it won't run properly on AMD hardware, and having an AMD RX590 graphics card and a Ryzen 5 3600x its unplayable at anything above the lowest resolution. Also there is no indication of what patch this game is on that I can find. But the game on its merits is a great game likely one of the best and most underrated for its time.

On paper, ORB is a serviceable Homeworld clone. The engine looks and runs great, controls are virtually perfect, the music is engaging despite being repetitive, and even the story is quite interesting. I also don't have much of an issue with the at times crushing difficulty, though saving often is definitely recommended, as the designers like to send large fleets against your forces right at the start of a mission, and if you don't have any leftover ships from the previous mission, the level becomes unwinnable. Rather, my biggest gripe is with the balancing. Unlike in Homeworld, where corvettes and frigates filled the gap between fighters and capital ships, the playable races in ORB only have fighters and capital ships. Fighters come in various sizes and armaments, but at the end of the day, they're all fodder for destroyers and carriers. Hence, you need capital ships to take out capital ships, and since tactical options such as formations, pilot behavior, or attack vectors aren't really a thing, every mission boils down to simply mass producing the strongest ship and overwhelming the enemy. Resources are always strictly limited, so strategic choices mostly boil down to what to research and build first. Thankfully, the enemy AI is usually subject to the same resource scarcity, which is why most missions follow the same pattern: find the asteroids with resources, memorize their positions, restart the level, and steamroll the enemy with the extra resources. There are only a select few missions which don't task you with destroying everything that moves, and those are easily the most fun. Still, the game is largely functional, and beating it sure felt like an achievement. Considering that the game is often on sale for less than $1, I'd say ORB is worth a try for Homeworld fans, but don't expect too much.

I haven't bought this through GOG, but actually own the original disc (and manual) to the game. I remember playing it a long time ago, when I was at an age where I couldn't understand quite exactly what I was doing, and didn't grasp 3D combat. It was a very fun game though, and I always enjoy giant space ships blowing each other up. Not having played Homeworld, I can say with fresh perspective that this isn't a typical RTS in the vein of Sins of a Solar Empire, but more like Nexis: Jupiter Incident of Hegemonia. The units are fairly homogenous, with small differences between the two sides, but the visuals easily differentiate the units and they are varied enough that a super-stack of destroyers won't necessarily win the day against a combined arms force. Overall its a great game and one I go back to every few years and I'd recommend trying it out if you like space RTS.

Yet again! This worked fine when I tried it many years ago. Now when launching you just get a BARRAGE (about 40 or so) off pop-up errors stuffed with large amounts of gobbledygook. No solutions on the forums as very few ever play this these days and there is scant activity over there. YET IT IS STILL BEING PEDDELED! U suck GOG! In fact it is on a 67% off sale at this very moment. Don't waste your chocolate bar money on it!

This game reminds me more of a revised version of Conquest - Frontier Wars. Asteroids, star fields and so on. Develop and expand. It's been a long while since I last saw this title and when I saw it here on GOG I grabbed it. I didn't get it back when it came out. Nice to see this title revived and I actually like Conquest - Frontier Wars and ORB better than Homeworld honestly. I like basic better and this game emphasises the basics - resource gathering, upgrading, expanding, and protection. But this is one of those titles that never seemed to get the attention it deserved at the time. Nice to see this title revived again and I definitely recommend it to those looking for a 'space sim' type war game.