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Old 08-04-2005, 04:24 AM   #1
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Default Star Control 2, now Ur-Quan Masters, now free.

I searched the forums. Nothing about it. I checked the main site. Nada. How come? Personally, I have never played it, but I heard tons of great things about it from various sources, and it puzzles me that I had to find about its rerelease almost by accident.

A very brief history of Star Control 2:
  • 1992: Star Control 2, a game that combines adventuring, action and unprecedented freedom of exploration is released ny Accolade. Never a massive bestseller, but instantly gets raving reviews and a cult following.
  • 2002: Toys for Bob, the copyrights' owner releases 3DO (a console type from the early 1990s) version as an open source.
  • 2005: After years of fans' voluntary hard work, entirely playable version 0.4.0 of the PC port sees the light of the day. Known under a name The Ur-Quan Masters, it combines the best of the PC and 3DO releases of old Star Control 2, and is downloadable completely free of charge.

Head here to learn more.
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Old 08-04-2005, 07:06 AM   #2
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I'm a big fan of this game, I didn't post about it because I always considered it more a Sci-Fi Space Shooter RPG than an adventure game.

I've been downloading every version of The Ur-Quan Masters since the 0.1. Now it's much better, even better than the original, especially when played in 1024x768 with pixel filtering. It looks very clean.

Also the add-on music packs (which even contain remixes by original composers) are very good.
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Old 08-04-2005, 07:50 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talas
I'm a big fan of this game, I didn't post about it because I always considered it more a Sci-Fi Space Shooter RPG than an adventure game.
Oh? Let the mods sort this out, then. I was led to believe it's an adventure spiced up with elements of other genres. A bit in vein of Cryo's Dune - have you played it? That game had very strong elements of strategy (gathering resources, training troops), but they were a mean of acquiring very specific, and ultimately linear, goals. Also, there was a well-defined player character and the story was moved forwards mainly by numerous dialogues. This is close to what I imagined Star Control 2 would be like (judging only by other people's description, mind you).
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Old 08-04-2005, 08:55 AM   #4
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Dune is easy to label an adventure since it looks like an adventure. Star Control 2 on the other hand looks and plays like a top-down space shooter, so it's a bit more complicated.

SC2 is a lot further from the adventure genre than Dune IMO.
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Old 08-05-2005, 06:50 AM   #5
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I've never heard of it, so it couldn't possibly be an adventure game.

Heh, kidding. But from the screenshots it looks like a hybrid, so I'm going to move the thread into General Gaming.
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Old 08-05-2005, 07:03 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fop
Dune is easy to label an adventure since it looks like an adventure. Star Control 2 on the other hand looks and plays like a top-down space shooter, so it's a bit more complicated.
With a lot of RPG elements like a party (a space fleet), resources, upgrades, a base and a very good story.

The Ur-Quan are some of the best villains ever, their story is so tragic that you can feel sympathy for them... except when they are chasing you

Play the game, it's awesome.
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Old 08-05-2005, 10:25 AM   #7
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Yeah, Star Control 2 is an amazing experience. When I first played it, it totally took over my life. All my spare time was spent in the Star Control universe, and when I couldn't play, I still wasn't able to get it off my mind.

It's definitely one of the biggest titles in gaming history.
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Old 08-05-2005, 03:41 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kolorabi
Yeah, Star Control 2 is an amazing experience. When I first played it, it totally took over my life. All my spare time was spent in the Star Control universe, and when I couldn't play, I still wasn't able to get it off my mind.

It's definitely one of the biggest titles in gaming history.
I know what you mean, sometimes I found myself whistling or mumbling the hyperspace theme (my favorite), even today.
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Old 08-06-2005, 01:31 AM   #9
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That's a cool tune, very demoscene-style. I've got a soft spot for the Thraddash-tune, it's just so in your face (like the aliens themselves). Very simple, but I like it a lot.

Btw, did you know that the developers couldn't afford hiring musicians (in fact, they had to fund a lot of the game out of their own pockets), so they arranged a contest instead. The best tunes were put in the game (and the authors won something, can't quite remember what).

There was a two-part article about the Star Control series in Retro Gamer issue 14 and 15, btw.
http://www.livepublishing.co.uk/retro/retro14.shtml
http://www.livepublishing.co.uk/retro/retro15.shtml
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Old 09-12-2005, 10:08 AM   #10
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Reloaded has a review of it now.

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