Want to preface my thoughts by saying this is a great game by classic standards. It's playable and professional and you get $5 out of this easy. It gives you lots of save points and isn't TOO random. But just as a game, its classic value and graphics aside, I'd give it four stars. This is because there're a couple points in the game where I think there's not enough direction. I know this is a linear game, but there were places where I lost my footing and wasted time on dead ends. Lastly, beware the last fight. I experienced a bug or something with it.
I bought this when it was on sale for $2.39 and have to say after playing it for some 30+ hours it was well worth the $5.99 it would be normally. What is this game and what's it not? Does it feel old school? With games like Daggerfall and Wizardry 7 and Might and Magic VII to compare it to, I'd say it faired well. In fact, it's easy to play. Few things: 1) Mouse-based interface with a fixed kepmapping. 1) The graphics are 2d-isometric, but they're sharp, unlike many old school 3d rpgs. 2) I never felt the need to save scum and only reloaded a savegame once in 30 hours of gameplay. 3) The stat system is not confusing. The only drawback is you need to enter the character editor to get help information. - The game includes a map and a mini-map that accompanies a cartography skill. - Quest NPCs can die and they'll attack enemies if nearby, so be careful of that. - The game doesn't stop you from going to high-level areas. However, it's very difficult to stray so far off the path and you're given a lot of opportunity to escape your pursuers. - Older areas don't respawn, so if you have to go back for something, it's a breeze. However, if you rest and something respawns, I think it does stick around. Overall, I'm happy with this game. I would love to say more, but this review system doesn't allow me to create a larger review.
(I'd give this game five stars if I was a fan of this kind of game. I can't give it less than 4 stars because that's not fair to others.) Ok, long story short, this game has a deep layer of story elements and character dialogue that's between you and the rest of the game. If you're a player that wants to jump into things without having to know about the world around you and what the consequences of your actions will be, you'll be disappointed by this game. If you're the type of player that prefers the complexity to be in the skills/stats/combat and not so much in the world or its characters or factions then you'll probably be disappointed too. This game is meant for people who're more methodical about what they do and desire deep characters and story over other things like combat or strategy or tactics. I'm not saying this game doesn't have those things, but they're not the focus. Just giving a warning. I know it's a great game for some people, but I did not enjoy the slower pace and the focus on dialogue and story sequences.
I'd like to say that I'm not an adventure game fan. Back when I played this, it was just an interesting and splashy thing. This game combined 3d with FMV. I remember the 3d choking my 486 back in the day. I loved it. I didn't realize just how special this game was at that time. I did enjoy searching for clues and finishing the puzzles. It was better than Cyberia. Cyberia was cool just because back then I was a kiddie for anything that would splash pretty things on the screen. However, Cyberia didn't have interaction like this game does. Tex Murphy: Under A Killing Moon defined the genre by really making you feel like you were Tex.
I think the most memorable things about JA2 are the dozens of mercenary personalities and the intense tactical gameplay. While the interface to hiring new mercenaries is quick enough to use, you immediately get a sense of personality when you view the different mercenary profiles. From the description to the image of them to the phone conversation you have with them when you call them. It's an interesting beginning to what will be more fun piled on as you get to see how they respond and what they say in the midst of bullets flying and bodies falling. A lot of it's humorous. The rest of it's just sheer fondness. The tactics in this game can be rather astounding. It pulls you in. The feeling of danger intensifies it. (I always played on hard.) This game allows you to control most everything your mercenaries are going to do. Some people may not be friendly to this, but I found it to be immensely enjoyable. There're some shortcomings which I cannot mention because of review limitations, but I'll have to forgive the makers of JA2. There're so many options in the tactical gameplay and it's very difficult for a developer to think of every little thing a player might need to take full advantage of special circumstances.
I created a username for this site just to make this review. I'm a fan of some older games not because I'm on a 486 or anything weird, but it's because there're some good games out there and they're cheap and no worries about your hardware with these gems. Simply put, MOO1 and MOO2 belong on your hard-drive if you think you're a 4x fan. I honestly don't know where to start. I bought MOO1 probably 15 years ago and MOO2 around the same time. I had a lot of fun with MOO1. One of the things I think it did better than MOO2 had to do with its design screen for ships. If I recall right, the selection of weapons and upgrades for ships in MOO1 was wider and less linear than in MOO2. There were probably some other things I liked about MOO1, but it has been a long time since then. I actually lost my copy of MOO1 several years ago. (Recently, I played the pre-MOO1 game that Barcia made. I think it was named Star Lords. It's an ok game, but it's not on the same level of completion as MOO1. I'd still try it if you haven't tried MOO1. Just keep in mind that MOO1 is a much better deal than it's.) I've played MOO2 off and on for well over 10 years. In fact, I can remember playing it in 1998 while doing 8 hour shifts at a cannery. It adds a lot to the game, and removes little. Overall, it's a better game than MOO1. As I already stated, there were some things I liked better about MOO1, but MOO2 has enough on its plate that its few shortcomings can easily be forgiven. A few things off the top of my head are its improved graphics (a big bonus), the leaders (and pilots), and its customizations. There's more too. It's a rock solid game. For some reason, I keep coming back to it every 2 to 4 years and play for a few weeks stretch. It's that good. It's easy to get into, but hard to master. As others have said, each game in MOO2 is different because of random placements of things (at the start of the game) and events that happen later from various sources, The random events (monsters, disasters, antaran attacks) can be disabled at the start of a game, but the universe will always be a new one unless you load a saved game. I'm not sure whether the races make the same choices in saved games, so cannot comment about that. I can say that I have been paying for the past couple days and there's one saved game that I keep redoing. I saved it on the first turn - 3100.1. I've lost 3 times now. The good thing is, I keep getting better results with each new attempt. It's a hard map because the psilons and sakkra are on it and also because my race customizations are not the best. But this game has a habit of keeping you coming back because you want to figure out how to win a certain setup. Maybe that's why I always come back. And that's the nice thing about MOO2 because you can customize things and new games are different. I'm sure there're thigns that can be better about MOO2. I myself have thought of a few things. None of these are worthy of a whole new game series, but could be put into special edition patch or deluxe version. A few of my ideas are: 1) more functionality with the auto build feature so that you can have auto build profiles and can also dictate what a colony can and cannot build 2) improved graphics and resolution - perhaps even a 3d revamp, but this should retain the 2d top-down view 3) ability to rename any/all star systems at any time 4) more leaders and pilots (extra flavor) 5) A range calculator tool that allows you to measure the distance (in parsecs) between two star systems 6) Etc All my ideas are not meant to make a new game, but to enhance the original in a way that I think is ok. I also have Galactic Civilizations Deluxe. I haven't played Galactic Civilizations nearly as much as MOO2, so i cannot fairly make comparisons. But I will say that it's an amazing game as well. There're many things in it that you cannot find in MOO2. Some people will say MOO2 is better or that GCV 1/2 are better, but as a 4x fan you deserve to have both.