Best Game Ever: Star Control II
By: Jeff Rivera
Best Game Ever is a series of posts I'll be doing dedicated to the best games ever made. Each game I profile will be a game I'd accept as someone's answer to the question, "what do you think is the best game ever?" So please, do not email me and tell me I'm stupid for posting about game X when game Y is clearly superior. And you never know, game Y might be the next game profiled. For more in the series, check out the "best game ever" hub page.
Star Control II.
Originally released on the PC, and later ported to the 3DO with enhanced sound and added speech, Star Control II was easily the best open world game of its time; and you can now download it FOR FREE (link at the bottom of the post) as it's been made open source. It's really rare, even today, to find a game that offers the same level of freedom, non-linear progression, and sense of scale that Star Control II has. Here's the lowdown.
The game is set in the far future after a major galactic war. The Alliance of Free Stars (which included Earth) lost the way and Earth is now trapped under a planet encompassing slave shield. A race called the Ur-Quan rules the galaxy along with the races that chose to join up with them during the war to avoid being annihilated or enslaved.
You play as a descendant from a science team that left Earth in the past who later colonized a new planet where alien technology to build a massive starship has been discovered. You're chosen to go out and find out what happened with Earth, as the inhabitants of the newly colonized planet had no knowledge of the outcome of the galactic war. After finding out that the alliance basically got curb stomped, you decide to take it upon yourself to fly around the galaxy recruiting races to start the fight back up again against the Ur-Quan. Depending on the alliances you make, the game changes course and the storyline alters noticeably.
The game is split into three main gameplay components. First and foremost, there's an exploration element where you're looking for resources, new races to recruit into your growing alliance, and additional alien technology to augment your ship. Secondly, there's the political aspect where you need to convince races to join your fight and keep them at peace with one another. Finally, there's space combat that plays out as a 2D top down battle. It's all great stuff.
Here's the intro video:
Here's a battle sequence:
A conversation with the Spathi, a coward race that you still want to recruit as allies because they make awesome starships.
You can get the game for free here: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php
Versions of the game are available on Windows, OS X, Linux, and a few other devices (including PSP).
I know it's a busy time for gaming, but honestly, I doubt any game coming out in the next few months will be as good.
For more games in the Best Game Ever series, check out the hub page: here.
