The Best Video Game Ever
User Rating: 10 | Star Control II 3DO
When I bought Star Control 2, back in the nineties, I didn't quite know what I was getting into. I purchased the Star Control Collection (1 and 2, at the time), thinking it was a different kind of game. A sister of mine had gone to a video game store and I bought the game as the result of a phone conversation with her. I expected a space adventure in which you were on a space station (I'm glad it wasn't). I have to confess when I realized the game wasn't the one I was expecting, a sense of disappointment took over me. However, the box of the game I had bought was full of promise. Interaction with more than 18 alien species they said; travel to more than 500 star systems and explore more than 3000 different planets. It felt epic and the screens printed on the back of the box were so colorful. I soon started playing Star Control 2 and the experience was breath taking. While graphically simple, the game soon presented me with a huge and dynamic universe. The galaxy had a mysterious Past (and a consistent one too), an exciting Present and an epic Future to be shaped by your choices and actions. Total freedom of exploration and a sense of continuous discovery were constant throughout the game. It was possible to take sides with many of the alien species while making war to some of others and the alliances you celebrated with them were of your choosing. You might, for example, choose to unite with the Thraddash or to allow them to wipe themselves out of existence and the game was still winnable no matter how you chose to proceed, as long as you kept a certain balance of forces. Not only was the game filled with detail not found, even today, in most (if not all) modern games, it also presented an extremely refreshing sense of humor. Resource gathering, galaxy spanning exploration, constant discovery, deep and varied interaction with more than 18 alien races, a sense of total freedom of choice, a deep sense of humor, the feeling that you are really on a quest to save the universe all make up for the masterpiece that is called Star Control 2. I've completed the game twice, having played it differently on both occasions and it is a literally huge game.
--