Star this, star that. Given the abundance of real-time strategy games that take place in a sci-fi setting, a new offering doesn’t exactly raise eyebrows. What does Star Control 3 have that other titles in the spaceploitation genre don’t? Star Control 3, the third installment in the series, builds on a complex history of events in a multiracial galaxy where there is no shortage of political conflicts and intrigue.
In this adventure, a mysterious force seems responsible for the collapse of Hyper Space travel — the destruction of which threatens all sentient life. As a captain in the League of Sentient Races, your mission is twofold: explore the unknown Kessari Quadrant — all League ships, colonies, and resources are under your command — and rescue sentient life from an untimely demise.
In your first contact with the game, the interface and graphics look odd and outdated. Star Control 3, a direct port from the PC, harks back to 1996 when Accolade first published it, which explains both the old graphics and the Mac-agnostic interface. In any case, once you get your bearings and proceed to gameplay, aesthetic concerns fall away. Star Control 3's most compelling quality is the fusion of diplomatic interaction and the quest for survival.
Most of your game advances in animated tête-à-têtes with alien races, old friends, and new enemies. Behavior, sense of humor, speech, and intelligence characterize individual species. The cinematic scenes feature Claymation instead of full-motion video, and wonderful voice talent brings the characters to life, resulting in a high degree of expression and fluidity. During these diplomatic exchanges, you read a discussant’s mood from visual dues. When you miss a plot twist, you can invoke the ICOM, a Hal 9000 look-alike, which provides useful information.
The execution of the action and strategic components is less brilliant. Blending too many elements produced a mishmash of interfaces. For example, 3D gameplay has mixed results. The rotating 3D star map — present in the original Star Control — tries to depict space realistically, but its rotation sometimes obscures unlabeled stars. In the 2D map, the calculation of distances between stars is complicated. The battle scenes, labeled “Hyper Melee,” occur in isometric view — you can’t move in three dimensions.
Furthermore, though the box says “Explore. Manage. Conquer,” you don’t spend a lot of time building or managing your empire of League worlds. The complexity extant elsewhere in Star Control 3 is missing in the tacked-on colony management. In the colony screen, you have only two architectural styles. You don’t manage your colonies from a central control; you must travel to a planet to modify the sliders, which regulate resources. It’s laissez-faire — establish one colony for each spedes in the League, produce some colonial modules, then balance them to build fuel and ships. On the other hand, less management translates into more exploration of the quadrant and more interaction with characters on your quest.
Star Control 3 has a multiplayer mode; it’s limited to Hyper Melee. Fight friends on the same keyboard, or over a modem, serial, or network connection. Star Control 3, although dated, proves entertaining for fans of the series or gamesters who like interactive adventures without total strategic conquest. Sometimes less is move.
Jo, Jennifer. (August 1998). Star Control 3. MacAddict. (pg. 62).
Legend Entertainment
Games
out of 10 (0 vote)
80 / 
2015-03-29 / 
2023-04-29 / 
4304760d82653d83d405ba45dc1ce58213c73320 / 
/ 
from Mega.Co.Nz
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
SheepShaver
