This entry marks the midpoint of GameSpite Quarterly 2‘s shift from print to online, and at this point the third issue should be in the hopper. Unfortunately, all the things that have kept me from completing more mundane tasks are also bogging down production of the next issue (and everything in my life, really), so I suspect it’ll probably be around Thanksgiving before the next magazine goes up for sale. The submission deadline for content is in two weeks, and it usually takes about a month to run things through layout and proofing… so, yeah. Please bear with us! It’ll still be close enough to quarterly that we won’t be violating the name. I hope.
21. Star Control II
And on to today’s content proper: A look back at Star Control II. I’m sad to say I’ve never played StarConII, despite it being hailed as a classic. I have very fond memories of renting a Sega Genesis and the first Star Control with some friends back in about 1990 or so, but apparently StarCon II is way, way better than the original. It’s available to play for free, so don’t be a fool like I’ve been.
StarCon 2 is one of the greatest games to come out of the 90s, and indeed can easily make a case for one of the best ever. It hits just the right blend of exploration and discovery without getting stale, and has an incredibly compelling and hilarious story, and diverse space combat. Totally worth anybody’s time.
Google “The Ur-Quan Masters” to get the link to the freeware version.
Or you could just click the link in the article. Yeah.
I commented before i read the article (which was great, btw).
To hear you confirm that you have never played this (I had my suspicions before, especially after the Retronauts from PAX) makes me *frumple*.
What a fool I was. I had the “12 Mbit” Sega Genesis cart, but after looking at the game proper, I couldn’t figure out what I should do with it. So my brothers and I just played the melee portion of the game non-stop. I sold the game when I sold my Genesis the first time. I’ve never seen a copy of it again. I think I would have really loved to play it now. Guess I’ll have to download Ur-Quan sometime.
But Thanksgiving was yesterday. Unless you’re in one of those weird, backward countries that celebrate it a month late.
One of the things I remember SC2 best for was being one of very few games to have a soundtrack composed completely of MOD tracked files from a whole variety of authors thrown together that nonetheless turned out to be a completely awesome collection of music. And that tradition continues with some of the excellent remixes by the Precursors done for the Ur-Quan Masters version. (Unfortunately they seem to have stalled out about four years ago a bit before finishing the entire soundtrack…)
Seeing as how I got to the PC scene a little late (I didn’t have one until college), I missed out on this the first time it came out. Enter PC Gamer and their “10 Free Games” disc one month. Star Control 2 was one of those games, and the world was never the same. Well, that might be a little hyperbole, but I played a good portion, and watched my brother play it non-stop (and even beat it!). And I’m glad I’m not the only one that felt like I was playing Star Control 2 when I was scavenging for stuff in Mass Effect. Boy, that brought back some great memories.
Man, I’ve heard good things about this game, but I’ve always given it a pass; however, if it’s based on Starflight, I GOTTA play it. The first Starflight was a bit overly short/easy, but SF II: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula is one of my all time most favoritest games EVAH.
The submission deadline is in two weeks? And THIS is how you tell me!?
Not my fault if you don’t read the contributors’ forum, duder.
You know, I’ve never played this one, but reading the article it rather makes me think of Escape Velocity, an excellent little shareware game from Ambrosia Software. Cripes, I don’t even know if they’re still around, but I sunk about as much time into that one (and it’s lukewarm sequel and superb third installment) as the author did into SC2. Had a great mod community too. Yikes, nostalgia attack.
@OtherMacGuy There are definitely similarities between Escape Velocity and Star Control II in that they are both descended from the Elite-like Space Trading genre. Star Control II is a bit less open-ended and with a much stronger Diplomacy/Conversation engine nearly non-existent trading engine. Combat is very similar. And Ambrosia is still around and still selling Escape Velocity.
Star Control 2 is a great game, but I must be the only person out there who liked 3 as well as 2.