Master of Orion

Great graphics, great game play. Bit too easy on Normal difficulty.

As a fan of the original (which I feel still holds up today), this game retains almost everything I loved about the original. I can play it multiplayer on my Mac without having to mess around with DosBox and Patches, and all the complexity I'd prefer avoid. Which I (sadly) can no longer go with the origianl Moo II. This works, it's effortless to use, and it's great. There are a few elements of added complexity, and the UI for moving ships is not as intuitive as I'd like, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. Graphics are up to modern expectations. The graphics for worlds, solar systems, and the galaxy are all improved and great additions. Planetary types are more complicated. It gives fans of the old game new elements to learn about. Hopefully it's not overwhelming for people that are new to the game. For fans of the old game: The Elerians look less like the Borg and more like the Shi'ar Empire - as much as I loved their old look, I have to admit the new look is more fitting to their theme. The Elerians are also an NPC race unless we get a DLC. Alcari's leader is now male, but the Mrrsharn's leader is now female (more cat than lion, sadly). Bulrathi are more bear like than bulldog, and are more nature sharmens than warlords - which helps differentiate them from the Mrrsharn. I think it's easy to mistake that the Humans have been based off the Americans, but I think they've been based off the EU. I kinda wish the human leader's voice actor had a European accent, but given who the voice actor is, it's fine. The only thing I'm not a fan of is that I can't name my custom race. I assume that's because of the voice acting used for the news broadcasts, which names empires by name. That wouldn't work if we got to giv our species custom names. Speaking of which, an amazing cast of sci-fi greats was used for the voice actors.