|
Ok, this is gonna very short and sweet, because I have some
15 minutes to write this before we leave out the door for
vacation. (A cruise, with family, if anyone is interested). This
month Im doing 2 rather old games for two reasons. First, I
have no new games that Ive gotten, and second, I have access
to a modded PS1 that wont play new games, a Sega genesis,
Super NES, and an N64. SO I cant really do a new game,
anyway. Also, Ive heard that Microprose is making a Master
of Orion III, so this is kinda in anticipation of that.
MOO is a turn based strategy game similar to
Civilization, except your job is to colonize the galaxy, develop
technology, and engage in "aggressive negotiations" with other
races. The big factor of both games is the planet Orion. Orion
is a legendary planet full of all sorts of technology, and
whomever settles there also gets a massive bonus to all research
generated there. The second game also has an additional big
factor, the Antarans. The Antarans are an ancient race that has
lots of really nasty ships, and they hyperspace in from another
galaxy and take it upon themselves to stop all the bickering in the
galaxy by destroying everyone (Crude, yet effective). The game
ends when either all the races vote you leader of the galaxy, you
conquer, enslave, or destroy all the other races, or they do the
same to you. Additionally in MOO2, all the other races
capitulate to you if you destroy the Antaran home world.
Plot. Pretty much I said it all. These are strategy
games. Each game has a randomly generated universe with
different planetary systems, different races (there are about 12-
20 (approximately) of them, and in MOO2 you can create your
own race. The game also has randomly generated events.
Graphics. These are older games (MOO was originally
distributed on floppy disks) so the graphics arent the modern
eye candy laden ones. All the pictures have an illustrated look
to them, and arent too shabby overall. No real special effects
or anything. MOO2 has a few cinema CG type sequences.
Computer animation has gone leaps and bounds since then.
(MOO2 came out around 1995).
Sound. No talking in either (except for the cinemas in
MOO2). The game has some text, like when doing diplomatic
negotiations, etc. Otherwise the game has lots of weapons, and
they all make different little sound effects when they fire.
Gameplay. Again, these are strategy games. The skill is
in how you allocate resources to make your race the best.
There is also some skill involved in warfare. These games allow
you to design your own ships. You can put whatever weapons
you like on them, limited only by what you have researched and
how much space is on the ship. MOO2 does require some
micro-management, but it does have an auto-build feature.
Difficulty. Both games have several functions that
increase difficulty. At creation, you can select haw many total
races you are playing against (more is harder), how big the
galaxy is (smaller is harder), and also what difficulty level you
want to play at. So in other words, the game difficulty can be
set to exactly whatever level of difficulty you
require. (I managed to beat a huge galaxy, 2 races (myself
included) one time; go me)
Replay. Again, the randomness in universe creation
means that each game goes quite differently. This can be
attested by the fact that although these games are old, I still
break them out from time to time and play them.
Spiffiness. Ship creation is really cool. In MOO2 you
can build as many different types of ships as you like, where as
in MOO you can have only 6 different types, but they can easily
number in the ten thousands. The Strategic turn based ship
combat is also cool. The black hole generator in MOO rocks
(Im just randomly listing stuff as it comes to my head). It
randomly eats a percentage of the stack of enemy ships in MOO
that you target. The stellar converter in MOO2 really rocks.
Can you say Death Star? Thats right! You can randomly run
amok destroying planets in your wake.
Overall. This is all I have time for. Id like to finish by
saying these games really do rock, and if a MOO3 is coming
out, I cant wait. Go buy one of these. They are old, so they will
be cheap :)
Final Ratings:
| | MOO | MOO2 | |
|---|
| Plot | 6.5 | 7 | |
| Graphics | 6.5 | 7 | |
| Sound | 6 | 6 | |
| Gameplay | 8.5 | 9 | |
| Difficulty | 10 | 10 | |
| Replay | 8.5 | 8.5 | |
| Spiffiness | 8 | 8 | (for different reasons) |
| |
| Total | 7.714 | 7.928 |
|
