Master of Orion 3

Master of Orion III is not a game player’s will be able to pick up and know how to play it right off the bat (unless they have played the previous games, but there still is a lot to learn in this game). Usually when I receive a game to review, I pop it in my PC or console and I will be able to figure out how to play it, with out reading any instructions. If players go into this game with that attitude they will be extremely surprised. There are so many things to learn and to do, that it might overwhelm them when they realize the entire scope of this game. I want to make that clear if you intend to purchase this game, you will need to spend some time with it, learn all of the ins and outs, before you can get any enjoyment out of this game.

To help with all of the micromanagement, Quicksilver developed a planetary AI that will help take care of the day-to-day needs of each of your planets. This helps players out tremendously, especially when they get deeper into the game, having a multitude of planets to take care of. This will allow you to have fun with the diplomacy screens; the best thing to do is demand stuff from other civilizations, depending on how much power you might have, is how they will react. It is always such a joy in getting free technology or planets from other civilizations.

The combat engine in this game is more strategic than tactical in comparison to similar games on the market. Instead of the players clicking on the enemy units and then trying to scramble your units around to avoid damage, the majority of the battle is handled by the ships AI, and how much weapon funding that went into them. It is a good idea to make sure that you always have good researching in the military, so you will not lose as many battles. There are a few adjustments that players can make in the heat of the battle, but the majority of the work is done by the AI. Plus each ship has it’s own experience and different statistics that will help it during battle. This makes things extremely interesting since players can have the exact same ship, but one will be slightly more powerful than the other due to the different experience the crew has.

Master of Orion III contains sixteen species, with different races in each species; each has a unique look and bonuses that other civilizations do not have. There are advantages and disadvantages for each race, so it is wise if players look them over before they play a game, and know how they want to try to be victorious. The humanoid species has three different races: Human, Evan, and Psilon. The Cybernetik has the Meklar and Cynoid. Saurian has the Sakkra, Raas, and Grendarl. Ichthytosian has the Trilarian and Nommo. Etherean has the Imsaeis and the Eoladi. Insectoid has the Klackona and Tachidi. Finally the last two species only have one race in them; Geodic has the Silicoid; while the Harvester has the Ithkul. As you can tell there are tons of different ways players will be able to play the game, with many possibilities.

There are many different victory settings that players can choose to be victorious in the game. They range from: conquering the entire galaxy, discovering all five Antaran X’s, or becoming the president of the Orion Senate. Depending on what choice you make, the games can last an extremely long time. Players might think that conquering the galaxy is the way to go, but the galaxy is extremely huge, with tons of planets to conquer. The greatest thing about this is that it gives Master of Orion III a huge replay factor, since there are many different ways to play the game, and different races to play the game as. Players can play this game through dozens of times, without having seen everything that they can do.

Master of Orion III is rated T for teen for blood, gore, and violence.

The system requirements are a Pentium II (or equivalent) 300 MHz processor
128 RAM
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
8X CD-Rom
DirectX 8.1 (included)
Video card that can support 800*600 in 16 bit
Direct X compliant sound card
800 MB of Hard Drive Space
56K or higher modem for Multiplayer
Keyboard and Mouse.

Gameplay: 8.9
Once players figure out how to play the game, it will offer them a lot in return. There are over a dozen different types of civilizations players can decide to be. There is always something to keep the players busy in this game, from wanting to control the Senate, be a war mongrel, or wanting to be the best research people in the world. It is all up to players on how they want to play this game. The best thing for you to remember is that you will need to read up on everything to fully understand this game to become a champion at it.

Graphics: 8.2
Master of Orion III will not give players a “wow” factor when looking at it. Most of the game is composed of 2-D screens, but it is really easy to decipher what is what. The only part of the game that is in 3-D is the combat screens, but it is nothing that hasn’t been seen before and better. The ships are small and it is hard to tell who is who when players zoom all the way in.

This game offers quite a few videos and they are really nice. It is nothing in comparison to some games out on the market, but they are a nice change of pace. Players will receive the majority of these when they are dealing with the other races out in the galaxy during any diplomatic relations that might come up.

One annoying thing is that each player is given a specific color when they start the game, so you will always know whose territory you are in. The bad thing about this is that many of the colors are very similar and it can be confusing for some people to distinguish between certain players, and it can bring about problems that players do not want.

Sound: 8.8
The music used in this game is average, but it complements the game’s flow perfectly. When something major is going on the tone will have more of an urgency to it, and when everything is normal, players will have a nice soothing music. One of the neat things is that each race has their own different musical themes, which fit their descriptions.

The sound effects used also suit the game well, with an “intergalactic feel” to them. This area really shines during space combat, with all of the laser fire and explosions. Players will get the feeling that they are immersed in a space battle! It has a really surreal experience to it.

Difficulty: Hard
This game can get hard really quick. If players do not pay attention to all of the in game menus, tips, and book they will be left without a clue on what to do. There were times in the game I was completely lost, only hitting the “turn” button to see what new things my scientists have discovered and to see what has happened with my diplomatic relations.

Concept: 8.5
Master of Orion was the first turn based strategy game, that I can recall, that was actually fun to play. This time the developers spiced up this game to make it ten times better than the previous games combined. The multiplayer alone is a blast to play with. There is so many things that players can do in this game to take up their time to create the perfect civilization, it is staggering. One thing is certain; Masters of Orion III is the best turn based space strategy game around.

Multiplayer: 8.6
When I saw that this game was going to be multiplayer, I was thinking that it will be extremely boring, since we will have to wait for each person to complete their turn, which is why they created “real time” strategy games instead of turn based. To my surprise the game is in more of a real time game while online. Everyone takes their turn at once, making the game more seamless. There can be up to eight players in a single match.

Overall: 8.7
Even though this game has a few annoying things about it, and the fact that it will take players a while to get used to the game mechanics, it really is a blast to play! Soon players will find themselves addicted to this game, and the time seems to just fly while they are playing. People will find themselves saying “Just thirty minutes and then I will go do something else,” next thing they know it is past midnight. Check this game out if you are really into turn-based strategy games, or a fan of a good space game.