Star Control I and II

“Captain: Isn't altruism the highest pinnacle of morality?
Melnorme: No, it is not.”
It's funny that Stardock released these two games in one package. I mean, it's totally understandable, of course, but still funny. See, the first Star Control... It wasn't that much of a game. Despite being released in 1990, it felt a lot like something way more ancient. The whole thing was just two phases – something that looked somewhat like Paul Reiche III's early game Archon and space battles that were shockingly similar to Spacewar!. Yeah. That Spacewar!. The one by Steve Russell. One of the very first games known to our history. Can't say SC was too bad and I actually remember playing it with a friend after school. Mostly because we didn't have anything else at the moment, but still, it wasn't bad. Yet 1990 was a year that gave us games like Ultima VI: The False Prophet, Prince of Persia and Wing Commander. Gaming started to mean business, while it was obvious that Star Control did not. Heck, its full name was Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV. Which, again, was a direct nod to 60s (with their Star Wars). It was just that. Some dudes came together and made Star Trek's “3D chess” with real-time battles. Exactly what they've wanted to have as kids. Tons of ripped off design included. Now, Star Control II? It was a whole different story.
Believe it or not, it's thanks to SC II we've got games like Fallout and Baldur's Gate. No, seriously. How is that possible? How did a Spacewar! variant with optional turn-based element (even though the original SC did have AI opponent, it was something designed for hotseat multiplayer) ended up giving a new life to an RPG genre that was slowly declining day by day? Well, the funniest thing is... The process was pretty much the same with what I've mentioned above. There were the same two guys – Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford. And back in 80s? They've played Binary Systems' Starflight. Don't tell me they didn't, SC II is almost identical to Starflight (even visually), while Starflight was a milestone. Some sort of Elite for such games. There was no way in Hell to live back then and miss it.
Anyway, you've got the idea. Paul and Fred took Starflight with its space exploration and mineral gathering, and added their old Spacewar!-like battles from previous SC game to it (hotseat multiplayer is still available as a separate game mode). But that's not what makes sequel so good. If something, that's the worst thing about it. I mean, Spacewar! was released in 1962. What they did in a previous game felt ancient years ago. Yet, you guessed it, battles in a sequel are not that different. They're rough, they're clunky and they're the main reason why entry threshold here may be a bit too high nowadays. Those clunky rough battles from previous SC are the main reason why people fail to enjoy SCII. And it's sad. Because what we have here? Is often considered to be one of the very best games ever made. Hence the question again – why?
Well, you see... Paul and Fred not just copied Starflight. They made it... alive. Don't get me wrong, there's still quite a lot of ripped design here. More than before actually, thanks to which some people calling it “the best Star Trek game out there”. But somehow, the familiar things from Gene Roddenberry's timeless masterpiece, combined with our guys' own humor (which was pretty typical for gamers) mutated into something unique. Does story in SC II feel like cheap-ass The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy wannabe? Yep. But unlike pretty much all the other space games on market, alien species in SC II felt... Well, I said it – alive. They had personalities, OK? They weren't just shallow nobodies. They had their own unique features, obsessions and fears. Mysterious Arilou Lalee'lay, cowardly Spathi, multi-racial Zoq-Fot-Pik... Some of those were in a previous game too, but only in SC II they started to shine for real. How was that achieved? Well, it's time for us to remember Fallout and Baldur's Gate again. You know what I'm talking about. The dialogue trees.
While other features like solar systems of certain design and planetary exploration, in which we controlled landers and collected things on surface, were copied from Starflight as is, the advanced dialogue trees were SC II thing. You may argue that Starflight had that “statement / question / posture” thing too, but it's not the same. It just... Isn't. It's like comparing Fallout with, say, Ultima or Wizardry. Our main goal in SC II was to make alliances in order to defeat ultimate enemy in the end. And let me tell you – making enemies was way easier than making friends. Everybody's was a bloody psycho. And learning their ways? That was the way. We needed to explore, we needed to ruse, to intimidate at times, and, of course, there was our ship. Which... was a thing on its own. All the other things aside, SC II provided that certain romantic feeling we all want from this kind of games. Us. Our ship. And a wast galaxy to explore. SC II did all of that right. We'll be able to customize our main vessel (which, again, felt a lot like USS Enterprise), we'll be able to build up our own little fleet (more ships and technologies will become available with every new alliance you'll be able to make), and, of course, the galaxy itself is deep and brimming with mysteries (aside from other things, there are three types of space to explore here).
SC II is a legend. Is it perfect? Nope. Which is pretty obvious nowadays when its clunkiness may actually scare people off. Some things will grow on you (controls, for example, are pretty Gothic-like, which means that after you'll become used to 'em, you'll actually start liking 'em). The others (like that bloody space combat)? Not so much (even AI assist, which is a thing, won't help much with that). Still, diving into this game today? Totally worth it. Even more so since, for whatever screwed up reason, we didn't get lots of such games with time. Personally, I launched SC II just to refresh my memory, but ended up playing through the whole thing in one sit. Just because of how addictive it is. The problem is... This version here? It is not your best option.
Right here, in Steam, you can get a game called Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters. Which is the same exact SC II, only better. How? Well, unlike this release, it at least tries to be a native app instead of using the default version of DOSBox. But that's not the reason. The real reason is – while fixing some bugs, Free Stars version (they've changed the title to avoid copyright problems, but everything else is the same) incorporates some advanced features (like cutscenes and voice-over) that were only introduced in the advanced port for 3DO consoles. In Free Stars you'll be able to manually select which feature you want from the original DOS version and which you want to replace with something from 3DO. Awesome stuff. And the best of all? It's completely free. In other words, you can get bigger and better version for free, while this here gives you the lamest DOSBox thing out there (while also using one of them lame scalers by default) and wants you to pay $2.49 for it. Yes, there's also the first game included as a bonus, but as we all know now – it's not really worth it. Still, for history purpose? I like having this one in my library. Like I said – SC II is a legend. Enough said.

Star Control 1
Never had a chance to play it back at the time, turned out it's a pretty cool mini-strategy game.
The main strategic screen is a space quadrant which consists of stars interconnected with hyperspace tunnels.
Each star system can be either a mine, fortress or a colony (its all in the manual).
Mine produces resources (to build new starships), fortress is a fortified system that requires effort for other ships to pass by, and colony lets you populate your ships with new crew members.
All of it comes together in a pretty fun and quick strategy game of management and decision making. What to make of this node, should I fortify it or produce more resources? Should I build an expensive ship or should I make myriads of cheaper ones? Should I quickly expand my empire and stretch myself thin or is it better to keep it at minimal and focus on density?
The mainbase, i.e. mothership that produces new ships, can also be moved to a next node if needed, even at a risk of exposing the base and high cost of not producing anything while the transfer happens.
Some systems conceal Precursor artifacts that could be discovered. They add different kind of boosts to the ship that found one. The rush for finding artifacts is a cool part of it all.
The melee combat mode is pretty basic if you compare it to subsequent SC entries, but still kinda doing the job. It can be completely automated by AI assistant.
There's different kind of scenarios to choose from. From compact sized quadrants, to fully expanded ones with plenty of room for all possible strategies.
What I personally think of SC1 is that original devs should have taken this type of gameplay and then improve and expand upon it, instead of going the route of full adventure mode like they did with Star Control 2. Which takes me to the next part of the review.
In the end, RECOMMENDED, even if just out of curiosity for the origins.
Star Control 2
This is the one where SC fan community placed their bets. The most popular and beloved one. It was part of my childhood, as well as for many others. But playing it now feels pretty rough, clumsy and even boring.
There's no strategy elements now, it's all been cut in favor of a plot, negotiations with other races, etc. I mean it's all pretty cool on paper, but once you get your hands on the controls, you can't help but feel all the unnecessary bloat that comes with this type of gameplay.
First of all, I hate that you need to manually fly and maneuver your ship to each planet, to each star system, to each wormhole when it comes to hyperspace jumps. I'm quickly getting tired of resource gathering mini-game you have to go through on each planet.
Second, lots of grinding, IMO.
Third, lots of flying around looking for solution, things to do, things to chase.
I would certainly get it if these arcade elements would have some merit to it, some sort of fun factor that really makes, let's say, an 8-bit mario game so fun to just move and jump around. But the movement in SC2 is so basic and has that awkward inertia that it simply is not fun to do. It's not a game, it's a mechanical traversal from A to B, a downtime, and that's kinda it.
In the end, CANNOT RECOMMEND. Sadly, it aged like a plate of curd and feels like a game for storyfags only.
The bottom line
So here's the deal: Star Control is moving into SC2 direction as far as it can be seen from numerous blog posts for the new Free Stars game (official successor to SC series). And I'm not a fan of that.
One dream Star Control game for me would be to have an elaborated dynamic strategy game that involves base building and resources management much like in SC1, and a combat mode with roster of ships and the precision of SC3. All in the aesthetics of mid-late 90's art direction: dark and low-key color palette, skeumorphic UI that doesn't affraid of real world materials, no cartoony characters.
Lol, some things are too much to ask.

I played this game when I was an adolescent in the early 90s. One of my favorite memories. The story is deep and detailed, the game play is fun, the combat system is simple and interesting at the same time. 10/10 game for me. Tons of replay value.

Star Control II is an old game that holds up decently, although it isn't the best game I've ever played. The world building is interesting, but dumping it all on the player immediately is a little overwhelming. I would say that the gameplay loop is simple yet satisfying, although it can grow to be a bit boring at times. The combat system is interesting and difficult to master, and it's INCREDIBLY satisfying to have a dreadnought that can just blast anything out of the sky whenever you please. The storyline is a bit jumbled, and I think some dialogue shows the game's age, but overall I think it does a good job. The aliens all feel very interesting and unique, and I enjoy conversing with them to learn more about their species. For any prospective player, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend taking notes on anything interesting you hear/discover/suspect, since you WILL run out of time to win unless you have an idea of what to do and where to look. For a cheap game that still holds up pretty well, this game is a good investment.

A couple of classic, well thought out games that are simply a blast to play - even if you're not a sci-fi nerd, though it helps if you are.

Never ask
A man: His salary
A woman: Her age
Orz: Where Androsynth???

Absolute kino sci-fi but I would recommend downloading the Ur-Quan Masters version which is kind of a definitive edition by the original devs for free.

The Greatest computer game ever made.