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Welcome back to GameSpot PC's Game Collector, where you can always find great PC games to add to your collection. For as long as we can remember, PC game developers have found creative ways to build intriguing, entirely fictitious worlds populated by robots, aliens, high-tech spaceships, and other gadgets. This week, we look back at some classic science-fiction games you may have missed the first time around. Take our word for it--they're all worth a second look.
Emperor: Battle for Dune (2001)
Street Price: $20
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The creator of Command & Conquer, Red Alert, and the classic Dune II turned out its first 3D game in 2001. But from the looks of it, you'd never be able to tell that Battle for Dune was Westwood's very first 3D game. Emperor: Battle for Dune is the follow-up to the highly influential Dune II--a game that many consider to be the first true real-time strategy game and, thanks to Westwood's expert real-time strategy design, is a fast-paced and enjoyable game in its own right.
Startopia (2001)
Street Price: $30
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This offbeat strategy game from 2001 puts you in control of an intergalactic bar, which various aliens--some friendlier than others--visit to wet their whistles and make new friends. You can build all sorts of facilities to keep your customers happy, including places for them to go shopping, simulated landscapes and climates for them to enjoy, and even a sick bay for when they get a little too rowdy. Startopia is a colorful, good-looking game with great voice acting and a great sense of humor.
Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force (2000)
Street Price: $20
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Elite Force was released in 2000, and back then, the Quake III engine was about the most powerful graphics engine around. That's not to say that either the engine or Elite Force have aged badly, because they haven't. This fast-paced first-person shooter still looks good, and it's still a great game for just about anyone who likes shooters, not just Star Trek fans. In Elite Force, you'll meet up with the likes of the Klingons and the Borg, but don't worry--you'll have more than enough high-tech weaponry to deal with both.
Homeworld: Cataclysm (2000)
Street Price: $15
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Homeworld: Cataclysm is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Homeworld, a 3D strategy game that did an excellent job of making you feel as though you were exploring the lonely reaches of space and also had an impressive 3D engine that let you command an armada of battleships from afar or zoom in to see each of your highly detailed ships up close. Cataclysm has all these features and puts more emphasis on challenging space battles with a new and mysterious enemy known only as The Beast.
Tribes 2 (2001)
Street Price: $30
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Tribes 2 is the follow-up to the cult classic Starsiege: Tribes, and it improves on just about every aspect of the original game. Tribes 2 is a team-based first-person shooter in which you play as a group of heavily armed human soldiers or a faction of brutal aliens fighting battles on different planets in a faraway galaxy. You can use lots of different sci-fi weapons and even pilot vehicles, but Tribes 2 is at its best when you play it with a good team of skilled players.
Red Faction (2001)
Street Price: $30
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Volition's Red Faction is the very first 3D shooter to have fully deformable terrain. That's a fancy way of saying that you can blow lots of stuff up. Not just your enemies, not just some explosive barrels full of goo, but also the walls, the floors, the ceilings, and the scenery. Red Faction takes place on Mars, where a group of miners rebel against their cruel masters--but if you don't care about the story, there are still plenty of things to blow up and plenty of powerful, futuristic weapons to do it with.
Descent 3 (2000)
Street Price: $15
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The Descent series pioneered the free-roaming, fully 3D shooter. In all the Descent games, you control a spaceship that can go forward, backward, up, or down--and you pretty much have to, since you're constantly being attacked by powerful drone ships that will do the same. Descent 3 improves on every single aspect of its predecessors, has well-designed levels, good graphics, and the guide bot (a helpful robot that follows your ship and leads you in the right direction)--one of the best sidekicks ever to appear in a computer game.
Aliens Versus Predator Gold (1999)
Street Price: $10
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This suspenseful first-person shooter is a modern-day classic, thanks to the clever way it lets you play as three completely distinct characters, and also thanks to its outstanding sound effects. Aliens Versus Predator Gold pits the space marines and H.R. Giger's nightmarish monsters from the movie Aliens against the heavily armed alien hunter from the movie Predator. Playing as each of the three characters is a completely different experience, though no matter which side you play, Aliens Versus Predator Gold's excellent sound effects will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Dark Reign 2 (2000)
Street Price: $10
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This solid real-time strategy game was one of the first fully 3D real-time strategy games, and it is still one of the better-looking ones around. Dark Reign 2 tells the story of a conflict between two powerful factions, the JDA and the Sprawlers, both of which are heavily armed groups of soldiers on a war-torn, futuristic version of Earth. The game's playable sides are very different from each other, but they're both balanced well and interesting to play.
Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos (2001)
Street Price: $15
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Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos is a terrific sci-fi spaceship simulator that lets you take control of small, fast starships and mammoth capital ships and bring both into heated deep-space battles. Once you step into Independence War 2's larger ships, you'll really feel like you're piloting a huge, powerful behemoth, but the game's excellent control scheme lets you keep up with the daunting task. In addition to a great flight model, Independence War 2 has stunning graphics and a great orchestral music score.
Be sure to visit GameBuyer to find more great deals on both classic and recently released computer games.
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