Master of Orion 3 is a game I waited to play eagerly for years, having been very fond of the previous two iterations. I didn't get what I expected and many other people didn't as well, but I believe that many of us were buying tactical games that were (and still do) masquerade under the broad title of strategy. Ultimately, that's where the misunderstanding happened. Games like the previous two in the Master of Orion series were, in essence, turn-based tactical games where the player micromanaged every aspect of a stellar empire from what was built to which weapons on each specific ship were fired in combat engagements. That sort of game is much more tactical than it is true strategy. Unlike its older siblings, MOO3 really is strategic. Players approach the game from a much more abstract, upper management perspective than in previous games and this put quite a few people off. As evidenced by other reviews, that is remains the case. My own experiences with the game were initially similar. I bought my copy only a week after it landed on store shelves, eagerly tore into it, and was overwhelmed in real strategy rather than micromanagement, the numerous bugs, and the admittedly difficult to understand interface. I put it aside and was content to forget about it until a friend and neighbor were looking around for something different to do together instead of two player LAN sessions with Battlefield 1942. We gave it a go and after getting stomped and stomping back, we were both hooked. I still play this thing on my little netbook and enjoy it as it doesn't have the problems with modern Direct X and Windows operating systems newer than 98. I enjoy the truly strategic approach to empire building that lets me set broad policies that the AI executes. It's a lot like being a manager where you give employees direction and let them go about accomplishing your goals as you see fit. Like previous iterations, it's endlessly replayable and now demands very little compute power, making it a superb traveling companion for long airline flights or dull evenings in a hotel. I love the huge tech tree, the time and attention given to the storyline, the in-game encyclopedia, and the organization of fleets and ground forces. Things that detract from the experience certainly make the game less playable. It's an understatement to say the user interface is cumbersome. Learning the game takes real effort and there are some elements of it that were never fully explained in the manual. There are some features, even with the inclusion of the 1.2.5 patch that were clearly planned but not fully implemented. While these things detract from the experience, they do overshadow the better elements and are things that people saw on release day that made the game into a commercial flop. If you're going to have a go at this, I suggest finding MegaMod and GoFur's UI tweaks. They add lots to the game including fleshing out the encyclopedia with useful information and changing play dynamics in a positive manner. My bottom line is this: Give Master of Orion 3 a couple months of play before throwing it aside and don't forget to explore the insane fun of a small LAN party game with friends.
In a world of turn-based 4x games, none before it and none after it have delivered the amusement of Master of Orion 2. When newer versions of DirectX made the Windows 95 a pain to run on a modern machine, I kept some form of 9x laptop around until it was no longer practical. I'm thrilled to have a pre-configured DoxBox solution that just works after install on the newest hardware. Included in the download are the lastest unofficial patches that correct a few outstanding bugs Microprose never managed to squash. Now, I'm off to wipe out those pesky Silicoids with a stellar converter-equipped doomstar! Oh, and it comes with the original Master of Orion with is just as much of a treat to play, though ship design isn't quite as interesting, in my opinion.
