Outpost

The Good
I've always been astronomy nut, so I was quite happy to receive the v1.0 CD version of the game as a present from my parents back around the time of its release. Since then I've played the game every once and awhile, even buying the v1.5 CD version a few years back.

When I first started playing the game, the first thing I noticed was the amount of customization you could do in the beginning stages of the game. You must balance your survival needs while taking into consideration that you have limited space to store equipment, so deciding whether to take a fusion reactor or a solar satellite with you (or both) is a very important matter in the long run, because it is very difficult (especially in the beginning of the game) to make up for the lack of a needed facility due to the limited physical resources you have when you initially land.

The game is also suitably hard, given the scenario the game is simulating. During the beginning stages of the game, you are one step away from disaster all the time. You have nearly zero in the way physical resources (and mining starts slowly), your fellow colonists are quite depressed in regards to their current situation and you have to police them heavily lest they will turn to crime, and alien microorganisms threaten to ruin your day - especially since it takes months to research anything meaningful. As you become more established, the game actually gets easier, but not without additional concerns popping up from time to time. In other words, events unfold quite realistically.

The interface is also quite strong for a Windows 3.x game, with a fully featured right-click menu and easy to use controls. What you can access with that great interface may not make sense all the time (see "The Bad" for more), but you can get to it without any serious effort.

The graphics are also quite good - in fact, I would go as far to say that Outpost is the best looking Windows 3.x game ever made, but then again that isn't saying much. But really, it has great high resolution graphics.

As far as the audio-based media, I can't really complain much given the genre and the platform for the game; its mostly historical material from the NASA Moon program or the voice acting of your AI helper. Only one bit of music, but it is that excellent Classical piece known as "Mars" (forgot the composer's name, though), so it's fine.

A lot of other little touches here and there; the ability to research new technologies (as opposed to waiting for them to pop-up at random, ala SimCity), a demonstration of the impact of real-life near-future technologies (nanotechnology, for example) on a societal level in a realistic fashion come to mind right off the top of my head.

Outpost is really addicting, too. Really, really addicting. Moreso than it should be, given its problems.

The Bad
The main problem with Outpost is the same problem that affects many games these days; the dev team - for whatever reason - released the game too early, thus resulting it the product's share of bugs and missing features. For example, some features and buildings (which are referenced in the manual) were not implemented until the v1.5 release of the game, implying the game was still a few months away from a minimally satisfactory release date. It is also clear, from looking at both the strategy guide and some period conversations with the developers that there where a lot more features intended for this game - up to and including interactions with alien species. I wonder how many of these features the designers were going to include at the actual release.

Another valid criticism of the game is that it isn't exactly streamlined. The presentation of most Windows 3.x games wasn't good at all back in the day, and this is no exception. The user interface is easy enough to control, but the way information is displayed is unflinchingly NASA-like. There are no helpful guides or streamlined presentations of data here. You are given lots of hard numbers, and you better be adept at data management or your colony is dead meat. Or - in other words - if you find managing the budget in your SimCity games to be somewhat difficult, then I heartily recommend that you avoid Outpost. It just simply isn't the game for you.

There are some other complaints I could present here - like how the game universe is completely static, in that there is no real random content in this game, save for the outcome based on the player's skill. The position of all the planets and the resources on those planets are exactly the same from game to game, which limits replayability. Other things, like the fact that the rebel colony fragrantly violates the rules of colony design that you must abide by, also annoy.

The Bottom Line
To say that Outpost is - as CGW would have it - the worst game of all time is an overstatement. True, it has some serious design problems and was prematurely released on top of it all. However, I truly doubt that this game is worse than some of the more well-known stinkers in gaming history - like Battlecrusier 3000AD, which had an incomprehensible interface in addition to (even worse, potentially computer damaging) game design. I may not be totally satisfied by Outpost all the time, but at least I know my computer won't start emitting blue smoke during gameplay.

That being said, Outpost does have a lot of problems. This is a shame, as there is a truly excellent game just underneath the rough bits.

I can neither recommend Outpost nor can condemn it. It has very serious issues, but I have garnered numerous weeks of enjoyment from the product. Since it is so cheap to acquire these day's I would recommend that (if you are interested in management simulations) you acquire the game and immediately patch it. You might like it or you might hate it after you are done with it, but what do you have to lose for a few bucks?

If nothing else, pick up the excellent strategy guide. Someone else here said it was only fluff. Not so - there are some interesting things the devs bring up gameplay-wise (be sure to study the section on morale), and they go into the science behind the game and its setting. Great stuff, if you are into astronomy at all.