For those of you who don’t go in for all that turn-based strategy business, allow me to put this game into some sort of context.
Master of Orion 2 (which leads to the unfortunate abbreviation of MOO 2) belongs to the 4X sub-sub-genre of strategy games. The 4X’s being eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Which makes about as much sense as referring to Doom as the IEH: The famous fIrst pErson sHooter!
You start off with a single homeworld in a hostile galaxy. You have to build ships, colonize worlds, research technology, grow your empire, construct warships, defend your colonies, and (eventually) subjugate the other other players to become the dominant species. It’s sometimes referred to as “Civilization, but in space”.
Some people celebrate Master of Orion 2 as the pinnacle of this sort of game. And just so you know what you’re getting into here: I am one of those people. The game came out in 1996, the same year the original Quake hit the shelves. MOO2 turns twelve this year, and I still think it’s the best of its kind. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Galactic Civilizations series is outstanding, but it never matched the MOO2 perfection for me. (Sadly, while I celebrate MOO2 as the best of 4X games, the sequel not only failed to live up to the greatness of its predecessor, it failed in a more general sense to be entertaining at all. MOO3 was the worst 4X game, and should only be sampled out of curiosity and masochism.)
My original copy of the game was long gone, but
a friend was nice enough gift me a new one. This is the first time I’ve seen the game in almost a decade. I was worried that it had been gilded by nostalgia and that re-visiting the game so much later would reveal that my long-standing appreciation was little more than childish whimsy. Having played a few games now, I can say my fears were unfounded: This game is absolutely
legend, and its appeal remains undiminished.
Like my Starcraft review, I want to examine this classic and see if we can figure out what made makes it so great, and why its charm has never been duplicated.
Preamble thus complete, let’s get pedantic:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Master Of Orion 2”
Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.
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