Master of Orion 3

The Good
Well MOO3 did have a really interesting story in the manual, it was a little hard to follow sometimes but overall not too bad. Oh. wait you wanted to know about the game.... well I guess nothing.

The Bad
Seriously there is next to nothing good about MOO3. The interface is one of the most difficult un-editied pieces of crap to ever hit the PC world. It took nearly 300 turns of gameplay to figure out half of the controls. Oh, and the controls there really isnt any. Basicly MOO3 is the first game in the history of PC gaming that doesnt require a person to play it. I'am not kiddding folks! This game basicly holds back many of the normal controls that a person is used to doing on their own. And with no off button to be found, its a big pain in the butt. About the only functions you control in this game is the "general" and I do mean general direction of the game. You tell the computer in what range you like someting and the PC decides what to do. The only real control you do have is with two buttons, the next turn button and the exit button. The graphics are not just bad they are a disgrace. I have read many a review where a person will use that word to decribe a game, but never have I thought it really true. However for MOO3 the title sticks. The main control screen graphics are ok but not flashy. But where MOO3 really lets down the game buyer, is in the ship combat screen. No joke MOO2 has at least 3 generations of advancement of ship graphics on MOO3. My wife who has only played a few PC games (Sim city 3000, Rollercoaster Tycoon) described the look of the Ship combat screen as very similar to Atari, and she is right. They really are just like the old Atari 2600 games.

Now I just love the Master of Orion series, so when I was confronted with this game I would not accept that it was crap. I played I think around 500 turns on my first game. And was starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnell, when the game declared another race the winner because they controled the council. Now that civ was the only member of the council so it was a no brainer that they would head it up. On my next 3 games I tried all I could to find out what I was doing wrong. I was sure if I just changed this or tried that, the game would work. I even wondered if there was a missing menu of options that I simply had not found that would save the day. Sadly no menu was found nor tatic work. I felt like Ponce De Leon searching for the fountain of youth. Or the other spaniards looking for the 7 cities of gold. Lots of labor and love for squat.

The Bottom Line
Sadly, the wost game I have ever played in the 15+ years of my gaming history. Not did it just fail to live up to my hopes, it didnt even come close to being a bad game. Collect it for its place in gaming history, cause I doubt they can make another one this bad anytime soon. I seriously wonder if that was their intention all along