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PC | Strategy | Master of Orion 3

Boxart for Master of Orion 3
Master of Orion 3 24 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 3.0
  • SOUND: 3.0
  • CONTROL: 2.5
  • FUN FACTOR 3.5
  • AVG USER SCORE n/a
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.2

Review: Master of Orion 3

Review by STARDINGO | 02/25/2003 | 16:51:46 PM PST

The long-long-long awaited sequel to one of the greatest PC strategy games of all time is finally here?but what exactly were we waiting for?

Aside from the cool alien portraits, the graphics pretty much suck. The sounds are very forgettable, and it takes about four days before the menus even begin to make sense?but Master of Orion 3 is about the closest you?ll ever come to being the President of an interstellar political regime.

This third installment of the landmark super-hardcore strategy series represents a philosophical shift in the way these games work?MOO3 is all about delegation, and not at all about micromanagement. Move some sliders, click on some reports, and watch as your viceroys make almost all of your smaller decisions for you. Most of the game essentially involves you nodding ?yes? after receiving a series of status reports, then clicking on the End Turn button, stepping off your pedestal-on-high only when a particular planet seems ready to rebel, or some interstellar disaster explodes in your face.

Not that there?s a single thing wrong with that. In fact, the very different hands-off approach is part of what makes Master of Orion 3 so appealing. While the game lets you tweak everything down to the particular mining projects on a planet?s surface, the brilliant AI and utterly alien Star Trek: The Next Generation interface (forget everything you know about navigating menus) are built to seriously curb your desire to do so?leaving you free to focus on the larger tasks at hand like watching war fronts and signing treaties with space jellyfish. Even space combat takes a more distant stance?you?re given top-level control of your fleets, but individual ship control is left to the AI. You?re also given the option to ?watch? or just let the computer calculate the results for you without ever even loading up the battle screen.

It?s a liberating, novel approach to turn-based strategy that takes some getting used to, but some people (including fans of classics like Star Control 2 or Starflight) may be turned off by the game?s laissez-faire approach. If you?ve got the patience to stick with it, there?s a good chance you?ll be hooked.


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