Star Control: Origins
Welcome Aboard Welcome to Star Control, Captain! You’re here because you’ve shown exemplary service, aced all your flight exams, and – most importantly – passed all the sanity tests. Humanity has learned that it is not alone in the universe and that we are hopelessly outmatched by alien civilizations seeking to destroy us. You have been selected to command Earth's first and only interstellar starship to accomplish this – try not to break it. It was expensive. Your mission: Save humanity, Captain. At all costs and by any means necessary. A Vast Universe Set in the year 2088, humanity has discovered it’s not alone in the universe. Worse yet, it is catastrophically unprepared to deal with what's out there. In response, Star Control is formed and the player is selected to command the crew of the U.E.S. Vindicator. Star Control: Origins takes place in a huge living universe just waiting to be explored.
Steam User 8
I am old enough to have played the original Star Control and Star Control II, which I loved. Star Control: Origins did not disappoint. It is a brilliant update on the original while keeping everything that makes me so nostalgic for it. Having the entire game voice acted is brilliant. The writing is great, very funny at times. The aliens each have their own unique character and personalities. The story is excellent with a cool swerve that I won't spoil. I would definitely recommend anyone try out the game.
I do have two criticisms of the game however, but maybe these are just because I have only played the campaign and not the other modes. First, there is little in the campaign to motivate you to use any of the alien ships rather than your own flagship. After a few modifications, your flagship is better than anything else available to you. Plus, these ships don't seem to have quite the unique abilities and tactics that made SC and SC II melee so addictive. And second, the resource gathering portion of the game can become boring and repetitive. However, its pretty much the same resource gathering system as the original games, so its not a criticism unique to this installment.
I very much to see additional campaigns for this game or a sequel soon. A very worthy successor to the Star Control legacy.
Steam User 6
Star Control 2 was of my favorite games back in the 386 era. Despite the controversy at this games release. It is a worthy Star Control title, I enjoyed it, and I wish there was more. It's hard for me to judge this game alone without the rear view nostalgia of the original games so take this as a biased review. It's clear Stardock respected the original game and had something to add.
Steam User 3
I don't have anything inherently negative to say about this, I'm generally speaking a sucker for adventure games, I specifically tend to lean more sci-fi. Huge fan of Mass Effect, if this was more serious and had a darker theme I'd be heavily invested. Though as it stands it may take me a hot minute before I get around to revisiting it, for whatever it's worth though? I did enjoy it, the experience was moderately positive, I'd probably give this game a solid 6/10 as an honest point of view.
The plot certainly had my attention, the exploration was fun, I love the upgrade system, dogfights were a bit annoying, the aliens were somewhat off putting and the lack of a direction is a bit of a hit and miss, I know some people like the concept of being thrown into a huge world and figuring it out on their own, but I prefer some direction.
(Maybe I'm misremembering things, if so I apologize).
Steam User 5
I really, really wanted to like this game. I bought it because one of my favorite writers (Chris Bucholz) was the chief writer on this game. Unfortunately, it's just not really any fun. A lot of mismatched gameplay features, many of which just aren't any fun, pile onto the wonderful script.
EDIT: I gave this another go, after playing the original Star Control games (the second one is available free on Steam under the Ur-Quan Masters). It took a while to "click" - once I realized it's a fairly faithful remake of the original, and it should be played through the lens of a 20+ year old classic, it made a lot more sense. You don't need to strip mine the galaxy, and the addition of the quest guide was huge. I'm moving this to a recommend - it's got its flaws, but the writing and humor are great, and the game itself is only like 12 hours to beat.
Steam User 3
Never heard about the series and couldn't even remember when I got the game. But what a pleasant surprise it was!
Gameplay-wise it is very simple. Sometimes I even get a feeling that not everybody knew exactly what they were doing, but they surely had a great fun working on the game.
For example, there is little variety in exploration. You fly for a bit, then you land your hovercraft, go to some point and activate it. Or collect some resource. That's it.
Combat is much more varied. There are lots of ships, each with it's own quirk and weapon types. This part is not exactly my cup of tea however, although it didn't prevent me from enjoying the same since you can make AI fight for you.
The writing and presentation though... is simply stellar.
The visual style is great. Aliens, planets, ship design - everything is distinct and very fitting. Worlds lit by some weirdly colored star are a pleasure to look at.
Story and writing are excellent. This is a comedy game and a good one at that. Voice acting nails the delivery perfectly as well. This part alone is worth the price.
Overall, this is a great game and well worth the recommendation.
Steam User 2
A real delight, great if you like story line, space exploration, meet lots of interesting aliens.
Steam User 3
A nice short game. To be clear, its a RPG and not a 4X or RTS game. It has a short storyline but it progresses at a nice pace. The different accents of the different races was a nice feature. Loved that the Mysterious ancient starbases were Australian! I felt there were a few missed opportunities. Apart from the first officer, none of the other crew members really played a part. Also there were so many different resources you could find, but outside of buying the logs and a few small missions, they werent used for anything and there wasnt anything to distinguish between them.