Star Control I & II

Star control 1 is hardly a game, just some scenarios based on the crappy combat. I played for maybe 30 minutes before I was done. Star control 2 seemed better until I realized I had spent around 6 hours mining minerals and wasn't really making any progress in the game. My ship was still too weak to head out into space and the combat still sucks. I couldn't do a damn thing in the combat of either of these games, I was often exploding before I could determine where the enemy ship was at. The story seemed interesting but the gameplay is crap. I wanted to explore space and interact with aliens not mine friggin minerals for hours on end.

There is only one reason why this game is rated so highly on GOG: the effusive drooling of a thousand slack-jawed nostalgic fanboys. SC1 is little more than a two-player arcade game with a tacked-on strategy component. While a promising idea, the game suffers from exceedingly poor balance between its two factions. The problem lies in the developer's use of hard counters for most ships; every ship has a counterpart that can defeat it easily. The Ur-Quan Dreadnought, for instance, is nearly invincible against most Alliance ships except against its hard counter which it is absolutely defenseless; the odds of winning become extremely narrow and needlessly frustrating (especially when you're playing against the prescient AI that can lead its shots). Unfortunately, SC2 continued this trend instead of improving the gameplay. However, now, SC1's arcade component is coupled with an interstellar adventure game instead of a turn-based strategy game. SC2 is particularly loathsome because its poor pacing is coupled with INCREDIBLY poor gameplay decisions at almost every turn. A perfect example of this comes early in the game. You are alone in a hostile universe and for the newcomer it will take at least an hour (if not longer) before you can build a ship with enough range to reach and befriend the Spathi whose Eluders are excellent counters to some powerful hostile ships. Lo and Behold, less than an hour later after befriending them, the Spathi have disappeared, a consequence of their cowardly natures. This may seem a funny at first, yet now you realize that your few remaining Spathi ships are the only thing between you and complete annihilation. Trying to fight Ur-Quan Dreadnoughts or Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah ships with your Earth Cruisers or your flagship is futile; be prepared to load and reload dozens of times, over and over and over. The exploration in the game is an utter bore. Unlike its VASTLY SUPERIOR predecessor, Starflight - where exploration was rewarding and profitable - SC2 is marred by a punitive damage model that, like the combat, will see you reloading your save games numerous times as you lose landers to earthquakes, extreme weather, heat flares and alien lifeforms. SC2's entire economic model is based on attrition. Planetary resources are finite. Once you mine a planet, they are gone forever. Leaving post-combat ship salvage as your only long-term way to get credits. Unfortunately, this too will lead to attrition as lost ships need to be replaced. Lost crew and fuel also need to be replaced as well. Every visit to your home starbase will see you spending hundreds or thousands of credits just to replace the fuel/crew from exploration. Undoubtedly the servile bootlickers of this series enjoy the punitive, unrewarding gameplay; this gamer does not. The only thing going for SC2 are its writing, quirky characters and excellent musical score. Unfortunately - once the frustration factor sets in - they will be painful reminders of the game's lost potential. They are needlessly frustrating and poorly designed unworthy to be considered among the roster of truly Good Old Games. Go play Starflight instead.

Ditto. Why buy some crappy port when the FLOSS version of this game is infinitely better? It is an utter disgrace that GOG offers this game for sale.

I love classic games, and I truly love the games from the early to mid 90's when you had to rely on currently unimportant things like a story...when graphics and sound weren't 90% of the game. But really? these games absolutely suck! I'm not comparing them to any of the current stuff, but hey what about a small game call MOO and MOO2? They are miles above these games, and there are other 4X games which are way better. It's a good investment of $5 but hey get real....they're not that good.

6 of 5 must play. 5 of 5 great story great gameplay. 4 of 5 great story average gameplay. 3 of 5 average story average gameplay. 2 of 5 play only if it's your favorite genre. 1 of 5 play if you have nothing better to do. 0 of 5 play if you're a masochist. -1 of 5 avoid. Star Control 1 score is 2 of 5. Star Control 2 score is 1 of 5.