Star Control

The Good
Well, stellar battle at its finest... in 1990. This was a fantastic little game back in its day. I remember going to my friend Steve's house after school and giving a good few rounds against him. He'd play on one half of the keyboard, I'd be stuck with the a's and d's. Awkward and disadvantaged, but still wonderful fun.

The ships are so eccentric and fun to play, you've really got to experience the game to understand. The monstrous Ur-Quan have a secondary fire that releases little astronauts that sap the shields from a ship, but sending them out reduces your ship's hit points. The Shofixti are a raccoon race that pilot a tiny ship -- that self-destructs if desired. Yes, a pyrrhic victory is the idea. There's a classic flying saucer craft piloted by the Arilou that jumps around with its warp drive and strikes with a short-range auto-tracking laser, And then there's a crystalline entity ship used by the Chenjesu that fires projectiles that fly right across the playing area, loop around to the other side of the screen, and keep going... until you press fire and have the shell fragment into a burst of shrapnel.

Such imaginative ships, such fun gameplay, I really do take this sort of game over 99% of the PlayStation3 crap released today. It's really not about graphics, it's about gameplay, But I'm sure you don't need to hear me preach.

The Bad
Not much to nitpick here. The game ran fine in 1990, although I haven't really played it much since then. This is a heritage title that is dated by modern technology, but I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world who fondly remembers going toe-to-toe with a friend after downing some Fresca and Doritos.

The Bottom Line
Blitzkrieg action, although elements of strategy can occur. This is an exceedingly fun game with a great interstellar warfare theme that was expanded upon in later titles.

Highly recommended, although I seriously doubt anybody is going to go and buy it in 2008. Team Fortress 2 is kind of head-and-heels superior to this little gem, unless you have a strong craving for 286-era games.

The Good
At the time SC came out, it was unsurpassed in the depth of its play. Although the controls were fairly Arcade-like and simplistic, the balance of the different ships is nearly perfect. (and arguably unmatched even by SC2, which had a few too many ships) Not only was each ship completely distinctive, but the dynamics of the battle changed completely depending on which ships were in play. An Ur-Quan and a Chenjesu would have a long-distance slugging match without closing, whereas a Spathi and Arilou would have an insanely frenetic dogfight. And there was great joy in discovering particular strategies for each matchup. On a smaller note, the included strategy game section was entertaining, if simplistic.

The Bad
The AI is a bit dumb compared to SC2, but my guess is they programmed the AI in SC2 based on the more successful strategies discovered by players. (IE, the AI was about as good as could be expected) The rotating starfield in the strategy segment was INCREDIBLY difficult to learn, and many players never got the hang of it. (although if you could, it made the navigation a lot of fun)

The Bottom Line
Overall, this is a fun game with incredible amounts of replay ability. While it's easy to see all the game has to offer within a few hours, months could be spent exploring combat strategies.

The Good
While I didn't really like the full game (I was young and couldn't get the hang of it), the melee is simply awesome and so are the ship descriptions. The music (when there is any) is good and the graphics are wonderful.

The Bad
Well, again, the full game isn't very good. And the computer is genuinely stupid.

The Bottom Line
A really well done game you'll probably enjoy.