First of all, before I start my review, I wanted to say that I got this on a sale -- impacting my rating. Also, I haven't played the original. I just finished both parts for the first time and I have to say that both parts are fundamentally broken. Finishing the last mission from the second game just left me... tired and sad. And its a great representation of the second game as a whole; most of the time pausing and micromanaging (everything from a fighter squadron to a dreadnought because if you let them alone, for a second, they will destroy all of your hard work leading to that point), waiting to finish the mission just to see the next part of the story. Everything computer controlled is just plain stupid, making the game fairly easy because it boils down to figuring out what counters what and concentrating fire on the toughest enemy ship. The game mostly tries to hide it's stupid AI with cheating and overwhelming situations. And it might succeed if the scripted situations are not broken, making the game just frustrating. The first one is broken in other ways; most notably with broken formations (making smaller ships useless) and similarly broken scripted situations (leaving enemy just floating in space, etc.), but rewords micromanagement with salvage mechanic and using original maps (the second game reuses some modified maps/missions, similar to the first game), making it more fun and original. On to the positive: the game is just beautiful, the soundtrack is fantastic, the story is great, cut scenes are wonderful. Ship models are excellent and I can see how they might have impacted other games, movies and series. They just feel so real. Voice acting is okay, but wouldn't mind more variety. Fun and rewarding when working as intended, a frustrating grind when not. Highly recommended when on a sale to all and any sci-fi fans out there.
