Old game appreciation society

Heh heh heh - I haven't got any better ideas for today, so it's Old Game Appreciation Society time ! When I do one of these, I'll be giving a mini review of my memories of a game so old you're not likely to ever find it.

First up : Master of Orion 2. The copyright on this one dates all the way back to 1996. And it's still installed on my main machine. That's gotta be some kind of record ...

Anyway - what is it ? Think Civilisation in space and you won't go far wrong. It's a little simpler than Civ though, instead of having a map that you navigate units over, you steer fleets between solar systems. They can only go system to system, which makes it even easier. It's grand scale space strategy in the best way - as in turn based. I like the turn based style because it gives you time to think. You can also manage everything in your own time, instead of being rushed like in real time games.

What's it offer ? Total customisation of ships, gameplay that works nicely without getting in the way and the satisfaction of knowing when you've turned the corner into turning the Avalanche of Doom on your enemies (ahem - neighbours). However, that said, when you do get into the position of unleashing the Avalanche of Doom (Stars - think Star Wars Death Star ...), it turns into a bit of a grind because there's nothing the computer can do about it.

I play on impossible and I deliberately make it hard with the most important bit by choosing a race that doesn't research well. On the other hand, they go nuts when the time comes to build warships. It's a well balanced game.

Anyway - Master Of Orion 2, still on my machine after 10 years. I even go back in to have another poke at the computer now and then too ... It narrowly beats its predecessor because it has better customisation. Instead of having fleets of 30000 small missile boats, the Moo2 hitting fleet size is more like 10 Death Stars. It's light years ahead of its disappointing successor and handily takes the crown of Sleepy's Favourite Space Strategy, beating out contendors including : Imperium Galactica, Pax Imperia II, Stars! and Star Wars Supremacy (aka Rebellion for the US). I've also looked at GalCiv but that isn't going on my list because I didn't actually rate it. Thought the balance was badly off and the developers have a serious attitude problem.

PS Back to work today, only had two people coming up to me asking about PC problems ... One's looking to acquire new stuff, the other has a mate who has a virus.