[Video Game] Master of Orion 3

Category: 4X (expand, explorer, expense?, exterminate) stratedgy
Rating: whatever
Year of Release: 2003
Suck Factor: 6/10 (1=suckiest suck that ever sucked, 10=no suckage)


Synopsis: Set in the Master of Orion franchise universe your goal is to win, either by military might, economic pwnership, or diplomatic conquest.

Pluses:
- variety of races
- macromanagement approach to empire and combat management
- high replayability
- loyal fan base that continues with mods and patches to fix the game at the game's forum

Minuses:
- game was only half-finished when it was released. See my next point.
- Infogrames tanked. They rushed this game out the door, in what I feel was an effort to attempt to get some cash-flow. They went under and Atari bought them, Atari then promptly dropped this game because it was not a money maker, because it was released too early, catch-22.
- last offical patch was v1.25, which fixed a LOT of problems, but quite a few remain. Serious ones like your bank account going from +alot to -alot suddenly. A lot of typos and weird text, which if you suspend belief adds to aliens trying to communicate in non-native tongues, until you meet someone else of your kind, they it is just sad. The fan community has released a couple of mods and patches that fix the game a lot and add to the experience.
- if you are a micromanagement freak, this is not for you, you guide the game via policies and dictates, your AI viceroys, generals and Admirals run the show, you direct them. You can override them, but they are not bad.
- the AI enemies seem to be able to out build, out colonize, and kick your ass, even on easy. Some of it just takes getting used to, which leads to my next minus
- steep learning curve, you will fail a lot at first, but give the game some time


I am a HUGE MoO fan. I bought this game the day it came out (actually had a pre-order). I played it for about 16 hours and shelved it, for 3 years, until recently when I had a need to play a good stratedgy game. I gave it a second go, patched to v1.25 and applied the fan supported 'Vanilla' patch, which fixes game play issues, but not the UI (I like the UI). It was like night and day. I really like the game now, much better, but issues do remain.

That said, I like this game better than any of the other 4X games that have come out in the last 3 years. GalCiv II was ok, but the dialogue sucks and I find some of the UI annoying. O.R.B. looked REALLY good, but the linear game play sucks, which was the same problem I had with Iron Hegemony (which was also ok, but not great, multi-player made it above average). MoO3 is open ended, you choose your path. I am not a big fan of Homeworld, it had good graphics and the UI was unique, but again, fairly linear, but the mods help with the replayability. I stay away from the Civilization franchise because I just don't find it that interesting. I played Civ I and Civ II, but I like the interstellar aspect of MoO and the fantasy aspect of Masters of Magic (MoM) which was another AWESOME 4X game.

So overall I give MoO3 (v1.25 + Vanilla patch) a A-/B+. But I am sure others will argue with me. I value things like storyline, replayability, uniqueness and freedom in games far more over flashy graphics and soundtrack (I turn the music off in almost every game I play), much like with how I like my movies and TV, characters and story over special affects. GET A FUCKING HINT Hollywood and you too games industry.

Unfortunately I see the death of PC gaming on the horizon. Best Buy's PC games department has shurnk to about a third of what it was even just last year, which the Xbox, playstation and PSP sections have tripled. Which is sad, a lot of console games are lame, poorly designed, short and severely lacking in the story department.