Star Control®: Origins

So cool game !!!! So cool game !!!! So cool game !!!!

Being a "First Wave Founder" of the game, i saw development closely, and of course, due to the NDA contract, i didn't spill a drop of it~ I've been an Insider and Tester for almost 4 years now, and i saw elements come and go, characters change, and engine tinkered, But i can safely say that... they did all the right choices! I'm not one for Reviews, but I'll try my best: About the game itself, it's a "Space Opera Game" The game name is true to its roots, it is, in essence, a "Star Control" game (the "Origins" part of it is explained in the game itself) it's a Star Control game, and SO Much more! It takes a similar approach to Alien Conversation, Ship Battles, Space Exploration and such, And improves on it! The Conversation part has a lot of options and "moral choices", when you say and do certain things, you can visibly see the reaction on the alien's face (or whatever body they have, some are very weird!) some aliens also have alternate versions of themselves due to being different individuals, and that's neat! while meeting new aliens ships, You COULD go "guns ablazin' " you could also hail them and talk to them... can't promise all of the aliens of our galaxy are willing to listen though. The Ship Battles are very addicting... if you got a right group combination, there are MANY ships to look from, and of course, not all of them will be right for you, but you can test them out quickly by filling ship slots and going on a non-ranking battle against A.Is, the Battlefields can be vast and full of different hazards, some have 1 to 3 planets on it, some have "energy leech nebulas" that drain your ship of energy, asteroids can give you an edge against other players or crush your play. the battlefield is also littered with Pick-ups, some give shield, some energy, crew, speed and etc. The Space Exploration is the core of the game i would say, after you get hyperspace-borne you are free to roam and explore our sector of space! the map is GIGANTIC, and for added awesomeness, it's an accurate representation of our galaxy stars, with names and distances being the most realistic without destroying gameplay, but beware, your ship begins very underprepared, you don't have enough fuel to go EVERYWHERE, while you CAN go in every direction, you would be wise to calculate on where you can go, get some resources to sell on Space Bases and buy parts to upgrade your ship, but let's say you have a fully upgraded ship, it does not matter where in the "story" you are, no place is restricted, so even with the ship limitations, you have a sense of freedom in the cold reaches of the galaxy! The Planet Exploration is an incredibly addicting part of the game, you go to a planet with your ship and search for a landing zone, have found the zone, you launch a Lander on the planet, and after a "stability minigame" (that can be made easier with ship upgrades) you land on the planet, now you have the freedom to roam around it, collecting floating resources! resources change depending on the planet type, like Acid planets have acidic elements and so on, but on some kinds of planets like the Acid planets, there are the ambient hazard, planets that can melt, freeze or blow up your lander. again, you can escape danger with ship upgrades, but there are also upgrades that help exploration, such as boosters, jump-modules and of course, GUNS! for what? Not all Aliens of our galaxy are sentient, some are just animals as we have here on Earth, and some are More akin to the Extinct Dinosaurs, some are also Gentle Giants and some are not even Organic, but protectors of old Facilities, and that's another thing you can find on a planet: Cities, Crashed Ships, Caves, Machines and even some Unidentified Objects. The Soundtrack is Futuristic and Mechanic when it needs to be, Organic and Tribal or even Dangerous or Happy! either way, it's also helpful, each alien race has it's own theme, and if you are in their territory or near a base, their respective theme will play in a slow and forboding remix or happy and safe tune~ The Voice Acting is one of my favorite parts of the game! it's very different between races, giving each a personality, and you can already tell the personality with the first line out of their mouths (the ones that have 'em) it does make me want to talk more to the majority of characters, to hear their voices and responses, also there is a hand log that shows what the character said if you want to skip, or you did on accident, clicking on said phrase on the log, makes the character talk again! handy~ The Builder is another core element of Origins, the ability to Build Ships, Structures, Planets, and even Universes! the goal of the game aside from its main Origins-Universe, is giving the player the ability to make its own story with these tools, an ambitious idea that i'm hopeful it will pay out! with these tools, you can not only make your own universe, but making existing ones like Star Wars or Mass Effect! it's hard work, but it's possible! I think this is what i have to say for Star Control:Origins so far! Of course, i missed a lot of elements, let's say i want them to be a surprise, yeah, that's it. I expect much more in the future, not only as Free Updates and DLC, but as a growing community that can share Ships, Buildings and what finds they found on the game, because believe me, the game is HUGE! There IS a "Main Story" but it's not the only one, there are SO MANY MORE, that it makes you take the Main one aside for moments, that's awesome! really hope this does well, the development got too much-underserved fire from "haters" because it's not the old Star Control, but i say, this is the PERFECT reboot for the Series! 10/10

So disappointing. The planet lander stuff is tedious as all hell. Combat showed potential, but quickly became repetitive. The writing isn't good. Not to say it's terrible, but it's corny and predictable. There's none of the wonder or possibility of Star Control 2. 90% of the time, you can mindlessly click through dialog, because nothing really matters. The characters are all one dimensional. It's hard not to project 25 years of waiting onto this. Was willing to give a new developer and new writer a chance, but I really wanted to experience a new story with the old characters. Still, a new story with new characters would have been fine. This felt like the old story with new characters. A rehash, with none of the magic that made the originals great.

When I heard that Star control was getting a reboot and going back to it's roots, I was excited. I pre-ordered, and forgot it existed. Came back and noticed it was out. Installed it, played it a bit. Yeah, it has it's "roots" intact, but it's so repetitive, and the writing is not there. It really is just a rehash of what already existed without the wits of the original writers. I'm really disappointed, and unfortunately, I can't refund it. What a waste. After reading up on how Stardock got the rights, I'm doubly disgusted.

I wanted to try it because i love The Ur-Quan Masters, and even an okay "sequel" is better than nothing, right? Wrong. Having read Gorboth's review and what's up at https://dogarandkazon.squarespace.com/, I would never support this game even if it was awesome. Which it isn't. Without franchise goggles, it is imho bad to average at best. This game is a bland reboot of Star Control II / The Ur-Quan Masters with mordern graphics, but it is badly optimized, stutters even on lowest settings, and has long loading times. The gameplay is a dumbed down rip-off off the Star Control formula. You explore planets, encounter alien races, do quests, discover the bigger picture and, ultimately (, I presume,) save the part of the galaxy. But the alien races are mostly uninspired and unfunny, the gameplay is pretty linear and the lander minigame tedious, frustrating and grindy. Plus there is no purpose anymore to gather alien material, and the landing costs are the same for every planet. At first there is a whole lot of star constellations and systems to explore, but, a bit further into the game, about half of the map seems to be irrelevant. The soundtrack is by no means memorable - especially compared to UQM, again. I played The Ur-Quan Masters beside this one for comparison, and, even now, it more than holds up! If anyone gives 'Star Control: Origins' 4 Stars, UQM should have 7. TL:DR: GOG should remove this game. Don't buy it, play UQM instead!