Summary
EA, knowingly, sticks with the formula that works.
The Good
Starflight I successfully combined elements of adventure, light role-playing, diplomacy, and resource management to create an entire open-ended universe that teemed with secrets.
Starflight II doesn't change this foruma. But that's not bad thing. In addition, Starflight II sports better graphics, more alien races, and cooler technologies.
Like Starflight I, there's also a fascinting and intriguing plot that slowly builds to an edge-of-your-seat climax.
I particularly liked that the aliens seemed to have more character depth than they did in SF1. I also thought the humor in SF2 is a lot less subtle than in SF1 but (thank goodness) it's actually really funny.
Binary Systems has also developed the alien personalities with a lot more depth than they did in SF1. Whereas SF1's universe had a huge, dark, empty feeling (and rightly so) - SF2 is full of life, color, and excitement.
The Bad
There's really nothing to dislike about SF2. The only negative point I can think of is that those who've never played SF1 may be somewhat confused near the end.
The Bottom Line
Starflight II is a cross-genre game that does nothing more than build upon the plot developed by Starflight I and give the universe a VGA palette of colors. But this works, and unlike most sequels, Starflight II succesfully carries the banner of being one of the best computer games of all time.
