Master of Orion 2 PC Game Review!

Rated Kids - Adults

Mr. Beard's Review
Master of Orion
PC Game


The way I am doing these reviews is either people Suggest a game, or I find a random game to play. I play the game for an hour and give my initial opinion. Sometimes however I do play a game a little longer. It all just depends on my mood when I'm ready to write the next post. Every time I play a game and give it my personal rating. I rate the game on 5 different personal points.
Game Play
Graphics
Music
Story
Replay Value
I'll get to each one separately and explain why I feel it gets a full star or not. Now I can get into great detail with everything about this game, but this is just a quick review of the game. If you would like to know more just let me know in the comments below. Plus I will also be posting links to some other great resources.

Ok, so I have only ever played the first Master of Orion. I got both one and two for less than three dollars from GOG. Right now though it is on sale. So there is no telling how much it will be by the time some of you read this. Also, there are a bunch of other games I do eventually plan to get on there when I manage to get enough funds together. So on to the review!

Game Play

Well, the gameplay still has that Master of Orion feel, but it also seems like it has a system like Master of Magic. It does seem to be a mix of the two games. It has an actual colony view of your planet. it has the same style look and feels as the kingdom views in Master of Magic. The research is a bit more complicated, and each solar system has multiple planets. I spent the better part of my initial hour just trying to figure out how all of this works exactly. They also have new races, and still, the custom race feature which for me was a bit complicated. I may need to look at the manual for this game. You can still design ships with upgrades that you research and also build new additions to your colonies as you research them. This does feel like a great combination of both Master of Magic, and Master of Orion. I am just sorry I do not have more information from my first hour of play. I will be making a Tips & Tricks for this game as well after I get the others done. This game has so much going for and the new improvements are well worth it! That is why I gave it a full star.

Graphics

These graphics are some amazing 32-bit style old classic graphics. They did improve on the original designs of the races and even made some new ones. The galaxy map is still your basic black map with lots of stars. The planet environments are definitely nice as well. There are many different ones as well. The way they restyled the menus are also a big improvement on the feel and navigation of the game. The battle scenes and event scenes are a huge improvement from the first game. I will not lie. I still do enjoy the originals very much, but these new updates are taking a close second in my heart. Overall I gave it a full star.

Music

The music is very epic and has more of a saddened feel to it. It gives me the vibe of a funeral style game. Almost like something very tragic happened. I am in no way digging that at all. It just does not make a good fit in here for me. The event and menu music seems to fit in there just nicely, it is just that overall music that just seems out of place for me. I had to give this half a star.

Story

I know there is a story here, I just have no idea what it is. Like the first one it was in the book, and I never really noticed it in the gameplay itself. I am sure it is being mentioned in the game and I just might be missing it or not making it far enough into the game. I did, however, get a copy of the manual and here is the introduction for the story that it gives.

"(Excerpted from "Pre-Psilonic Galactic Civilizations" Vol. II, by Ectron
Victor retired Master Adjudicator, Psilon Central History Institute.)
As a story is told and retold over the course of generations, no matter the
attention paid to detail and no matter the importance of the tale, the truth
is gradually nibbled away by little mistakes and innocent exaggerations.
Carried off on these well-intentioned, tiny feet, the facts deteriorate
softly and painlessly into a condition generally referred to as "shrouded
by time."
The legends concerning the Orions and Antarans are shrouded by time.
What is certain is that at one time both races coexisted in the galaxy. The
the scope of their power and technological advancement has surely been
enhanced by hyperbole, but that they were far superior to anything now
known is indisputable. Perhaps it was inevitable that two such behemoths
meet in violence. The legends paint the Antarans as ruthless, xenophobic
killers, but we all know that history is written by the victors.
The Orion-Antaran war was a protracted holocaust of galactic
proportions. While we can never know if they truly flung entire star systems
across deep space as weapons (as the storytellers claim), our
astrophysicists have uncovered evidence of directed energy bursts the
power of which staggers the imagination. That both races had the ability
to raze planets no one contests. The Orions eventually defeated the
Antarans. Rather than exterminating the race, as the stories claim the
Antarans would certainly have done, the Orions chose to imprison their
enemies in a "pocket dimension" - a volume the size of a single star
system, formed and carved somehow out of the fabric of space-time.
Physicists to this day puzzle over the theory and the technique, but the
result was obvious; the Antarans were banished one and all from
this dimension.
At this point, even the storytellers admit that the legends become vague.
Sometime after the war, the Orion race inexplicably disappeared. They
left only two legacies for the galaxy's future inhabitants. One was the
tales of their power and legends of the Antaran war; the other is the Orion
system itself. One planet circles this star, and it is reputed to be the
original homeworld of the Orion race. Despite the incredible potential, this
abandoned world must hold, no one has yet plundered or colonized it. The
reason for this is that the system is only uninhabited, not undefended.
The Orions left a single Guardian to protect their home. Perhaps they
intend to return some day.
Perhaps the Antarans intend to return, too."

I am not too sure how much of that actually takes place or happens during the game. So far even the events only really involve finding special planets, peace treaties and things like that. Maybe the story is just implemented and not really explored or experienced outside the initial setup of it. For that, I gave it half a star.

Replay Value

This is my first time playing this game. So far it has a huge amount of similarities and the best parts of both Master of Magic and Master of Orion. I am not too sure if they kept that same bit of changing games as they had in the first one. It does seem to me though that this game still has that same game mechanic that gives it a different game feel each time you play. I mean just with the different races, and the ability to customize a race makes for a lot of different styles of play. Overall I think this game has tons of replay value, and for that, I gave it a full star.

There is so much involved in this game that I do enjoy a lot. It has a great deal in common with both Master of Magic and Master of Orion. I will be playing this a lot in my free time as well. I will also be putting it on the list of this to do for Tips & Tricks. I am just more disappointed in myself for not being able to get further into the game. Typically games like these I figured out quickly and easily.
I do hope you all enjoyed this review and I hope it gave you a bit of insight on the game. I also hope you all have an interplanetary day!
Master of Orion 2 Official Site!
Master of Orion 2 GOG Site!

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