![]() Super-Melee, the game's action component, is an enhanced version of the time-honored Spacewar. In either case, the freedom of choice is essentially non-existent but, even so, doesn't detract measurably from the game's entertainment value. Departing from the expected line of discussion usually has no consequence (dialogue forces eventual correct responses) or results in loading a saved game after alienation of a crucial ally. In the few cases where an aggressive posture is actually required, the game ignores nicer choices and gently prods you toward the optimal strategy. ![]() For example, a typical discussion with a friendly alien offers you a choice of five possible utterances, four of which describe horrible and unjustified threats of dismemberment. Though well written and often funny, most of the conversations are rather pointless. ![]() One of the game's few weak points is the dialogue engine. Planet Lander upgrades are necessary to allow capture of the vicious animal desired by the VUX general and your vulnerable ship needs advanced weapons and energy generation systems to survive. Buy as much technology as soon as possible. Capturing non-sentient life forms can also be rewarding, as they are the most commonly bartered commodity accepted by the Melnorme traders who sell advanced technology, useful data and starship fuel. In the grand tradition of the Starflight series, you need to explore nearby star systems and collect minerals which can then be traded for ships, upgrades, fuel and crew at Earth's star base. This is a rare and praiseworthy design achievement.Įarly gameplay focuses on classical strategy elements. By the time you learn about the millennia of enslavement and mind-control they've had to endure in the past, not to mention the self-inflicted excruciating torments they underwent to gain freedom, the Ur-Quan become more sympathetic than most of the friendly-but-fluttery allies populating your own fleet. But nothing compares to the horrible plight of the Ur-Quan, ostensibly the major villains in the game. Other races span a range of emotions from the comical Utwig, depressed over the loss of a gadget they bought from interstellar hucksters, to the disturbingly scary Orz and the tragic Burvixese and Androsynths who are exterminated before the game begins and are known only from rumor and ruins. Guarding Pluto all by himself, he sets the tone for the entire game with his opening line, "Attention big, mean, hostile alien vessel hovering overhead in an obvious attack posture," which he follows by blurting out the location of his home world and his race's secret codes. The first alien you are likely to encounter is the cowardly Captain Fwiffo. The storyline in Star Control II is clever, captivating and funny.
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