Ascendancy

The Good
There is much to like about Ascendency. Although it is a relatively deep space 4x strategy game, it does not take itself too seriously. The aliens are clever, with interesting drawings for their portraits and creative ship designs. The planet graphics are as well pleasing to the eye, although they don't hold up well to today's textures in games. The music is a joy to listen to, wonderfully put together. Above all else, Ascendency is just plain fun to play. It is easy to get the hang of, and yet difficult to master (with a patch that updates the AI above the intelligence of a rock). The sheer numbers of technologies to play with throughout the game will keep you busy for hours. How can you hate game that lets you enlarge the sun in a solar system and thus slingshotting your enemies ship way out into deep space? Its one of the those games that makes you say "just one more turn". The interface is so intuitive that you'll find yourself flying back and forth between menus with easy, making the time just fly by. Creating fleets and moving them around the universe is simple, as is colonizing and attacking. Battles are fought in the same game system and interface as the rest of the game, so there is no second learning curce. Sound effects are pretty standard, some of the weapons sounds are pretty cool though.

The Bad
I gues there are a few things wrong with Ascendency, but its hard to hold them against it. For one, there is really no difference between aliens besides one special power unique to each race. All technology and buildings look the same. Now you may think this is a terrible flaw, but it really isn't. Each special power comes in handy often, and every game plays out differently. There is little in the way of ship modification. You select a size, then fill it with stuff, then its off, not much to it. As I mentioned earlier, you need to download the "Antagonizer Patch" for the game to update the AI. It shipped with dumb as nails AI, but this patch fixes that up quite nicely.

The Bottom Line
Ascendency is a game that should not be missed by an strategy lover. Some are put off by the lack of diversity between races, but those people are missing out on quite a gem. The game was never made to offer completely different play styles with every race, it was made to offer a completely different gameplay experience, while keeping the basics the same. So find the game, buy it, and lose yourself in the universe that is Ascendency

The Good
The best thing Ascendancy has going for it is the "feel" of the game. This may sound silly, but after having played the two games put out by The Logic Factory ( Ascendancy and The Tone Rebellion), it's clear that the folks at The Logic Factory are trying to make games with a very "new age" feel to them. (Yes, "new age" is a trite and overused phrase. But that's really the best way to describe it.)

The music is new age. The descriptions of the alien races are kinda new agey. The manual is kinda new agey (it doesn't tell you how to win the game, for example).

The graphics were fantastic for the time the game was released, and the ship models were simply incredible. Made me want to play the game to the end for each individual race just so I could see all the ship models. And the galactic map was three-dimensional, which (for me) added an element of immersiveness that has never been present with the two-dimensional starmaps of MOO and MOO2.

The Bad
The AI, which is legendary in its awfulness.

The tedium of endgame micromanagement, especially if you have a large empire.

The utterly bizarre combat sequence, in which only one ship per side moves each turn. If it's a battle of one ship vs. eight ships, the single ship moves, then one of the eight ships moves, then the single ship moves again, then one of the eight ships moves, etc. This combat sequence makes it impossible for a swarm of smaller ships to gang up on a single larger ship, and dramatically tilts combat in favor of large ships and powerful tech.

The Bottom Line
If you can get past the tedium of the end-game micromanagement and the bizarre combat sequence, this is actually a great little space strategy game for the casual strategy gamer (i.e. the kind of person who, like me, has trouble playing MOO or MOO2 on medium difficulty).

The Good
Simple to get a game started, many choices in races, each with many different abilities, some with research, some builders, some travelers, some invaders. Chamachies and Nimbuloids are my favorites, but telepaths are good too. The starmap and tech tree have excellent graphics. Each technology has a function, it can be fun trying it. The ruins on some planets can give you an edge in research, just helps keep one jump ahead of the others. I like to set most planets to auto, and concentrate on 1 or 2 for heavy industry.

Patchnote: I recommend it. The game gets a real boost with it, enemies do things they never did before, they play MUCH more aggressive (I got my butt kicked first time). Moby has a link to find it. You can still play the original, or use the patch. Cheat codes available, too, but I haven't tried them.

The Bad
After several games, you develop a method, and the lustre wears thin. OK, the AI is weak, see Patchnote above.

The Bottom Line
A fun game that can entertain you for hours.