[jckalen]

I'm looking for unbias reviews. Moo 2 was a fave - wondering if 3 lives up to expectations.

[derekn]

I was excited when I first heard about it too, loved MOO 2. I saw a review of the PC version on Extended Play and they felt the number of features were just too overwhelming, loads of stuff to manage and the combat now is just plain LAME. MOO 2 at least let you see the ships, weapons firing, the effect etc. MOO 3 looked like a bunch of dots shooting at each other, that's it. I guess for some it could be a good game but at least for now, it's gone from a must buy to a "hold off" for me.

Going to wait for more reviews and then decide.

[juanvaldes]

****ing Amazon has YET to ****ing ship it ot me!!!

[mac freak]

MOO3 posesses the biggest discrepancy between its IGN and GameSpot reviews of any game that I can recall in recent memory...

GameSpot gave it a 6.8 and noted that it was overwhelming in general and had crappy documentation, whereas IGN gave it a 9.3 and lauded its macromanagement system, diplomacy and exporation.

Other reviews tend to follow the same trend: either "sh!t pissy" or "awesome love." I own the PC version and while it's not as good as MOO2, it certainly is a TBS game worth buying, especially if the "tediousness" of past MOO games was a turnoff for you.

[SteevAK]

I have played a little bit on the PC, and I will be buying it as soon as it gets to CompUSA (have a gift card).

Moo3 has had a rather bad reception from the community. If you go to the official forums you will see most people are disappointed with it, and some predict only the modders who will save the game.

IIRC, something was changed very late in the beta testing stage that they weren't able to test fully before shipping, and it actually ended up neutering the AI. The AI is notoriously passive and static. This is suppose to be fixed in the first patch (if that isn't out already).

Another major complaint has been the unrefined MP experience. Chatting is a hassle and limited. Also there is no way to tell when everybody else is done besides ending your turn.

It is definitely a very very complicated game, but I think it still has a lot of promise. I still think the original MoO was the best by far. Nothing like flying around w/ 32000 ships and bombing planets into oblivion

[freakboy2]

Originally posted by SteevAK:
I have played a little bit on the PC, and I will be buying it as soon as it gets to CompUSA (have a gift card).

Moo3 has had a rather bad reception from the community. If you go to the official forums you will see most people are disappointed with it, and some predict only the modders who will save the game.

I played Moo3 on the PC and after about a week I was so disgusted I sold my copy on Ebay - the first time i've ever bothered to do this.

I swear to god - this is the worst game made in a long long time. It's so bad on so many fronts, where to begin is hard to know. Literally, you can invade another country's planets and they don't care - then 10 turns later someone else will say "stop doing that" and declare war the next turn. Of course, you've never even seen that civ before.

The UI is horrendously bad. On the PC you can't play at higher than 800x600. The font smoothing is horrible. It's just a REALLY bad game.

Don't waste your money on it.

It's probably the worst game to be ported to the Mac in a long time. Like someone else said, if you want to know how bad it is, go to the moo3.quicksilver.com site and read their forums. People hate this game so much and are so pissed that they spent 40-50 bucks on it that they are TRYING to keep other people from buying it.

M003 = WORST GAME I'VE PLAYED IN THE LAST 10 YEARS.

Fb2

[warpmoon]

Originally posted by freakboy2:
I played Moo3 on the PC and after about a week I was so disgusted I sold my copy on Ebay - the first time i've ever bothered to do this.

I swear to god - this is the worst game made in a long long time. It's so bad on so many fronts, where to begin is hard to know. Literally, you can invade another country's planets and they don't care - then 10 turns later someone else will say "stop doing that" and declare war the next turn. Of course, you've never even seen that civ before.

The UI is horrendously bad. On the PC you can't play at higher than 800x600. The font smoothing is horrible. It's just a REALLY bad game.

Don't waste your money on it.

It's probably the worst game to be ported to the Mac in a long time. Like someone else said, if you want to know how bad it is, go to the moo3.quicksilver.com site and read their forums. People hate this game so much and are so pissed that they spent 40-50 bucks on it that they are TRYING to keep other people from buying it.

M003 = WORST GAME I'VE PLAYED IN THE LAST 10 YEARS.

Fb2

Have you played MoO2?

[jckalen]

Hmmm, I was hoping for more promising responses. I will be seriously bummed if I have to give up on this title and start waiting for the inevitable shipping delays on Sim City 4 next. Off to read other reviews.

[SteevAK]

Don't give up on it yet. I'd give it at least 2 updates.

freakboy did bring up another problem though. The AI is notoriously fickle and arbitrary.

[freakboy2]

Originally posted by SteevAK:
Don't give up on it yet. I'd give it at least 2 updates.

freakboy did bring up another problem though. The AI is notoriously fickle and arbitrary.

As a side note, I loved moo1 and moo2, civ 1, 2 and 3. and alpha centauri.

This game is just bad. don't waste your money on it.

UI badness: Someone figured it out and to change a planet's production queue (which can only hold 3 things) you have to click like 35 times or something. This should be a right-click on the planet like in civ.

Most of the game is spent pressing the turn button and letting the computer play for you. You have no control to build improvements on your own planet except for worldwide ones.

You can't pick your tech - what more be said.

Fb2

[juanvaldes]

Originally posted by freakboy2:

Most of the game is spent pressing the turn button and letting the computer play for you.

That is what you did in MOO2 also. Hit "T" until something happened and it stopped.

You have no control to build improvements on your own planet except for worldwide ones.

Yes you can, turn off the AI checkbox.

Well, my copy finally showed up, and I can play. So far, just like when I tried to play on the Winblows box, very huge and it seems also of micro is taken away from you. Seems to run great on my system (Dual 1Ghz, 512ram, etc..) and I was pleased that the scroll wheel and command-q worked in the game.

[freakboy2]

Originally posted by juanvaldes:
[B]That is what you did in MOO2 also. Hit "T" until something happened and it stopped.



Yes you can, turn off the AI checkbox.

Well, my copy finally showed up, and I can play. So far, just like when I tried to play on the Winblows box, very huge and it seems also of micro is taken away from you. Seems to run great on my system (Dual 1Ghz, 512ram, etc..) and I was pleased that the scroll wheel and command-q worked in the game.

You can turn off the AI for some things but not for others, and the AI will turn itself back on if it thinks you're idle. Personally, I just thought it was a step backward from Moo2 or any other turn based game because it was so badly designed.

As for always hitting the turn button - that's not what I did in Moo2. I was always tweaking my planets, talking to other civs and doing espionage.

I really tried to give moo3 a fair shake, in the end i could couldn't deal with the crappy AI and UI.

fb2

[nobitacu]

I just bought it, first MOO game I've ever played. So far... a bit confusing... but I'm catching on... just that not being able to tell them which unit I want to build just sucks! Why does that have to be auto??? Unless there's something I'm missing out on... So far from what I've seen... almost everything in this game is Auto, AI controls everything... then... what the hell is the point of "playing" this when everything is done and picked for you? First MOO I've ever bought, also the very last. This game is just play crap POS. Worst $50 I've ever spend, damn... even spending that amount on the stripers is a lot more worth it then spending it on this POS game.

Ming

[NeXTLoop]

I played and loved MoO I and MoO II. MoO III is definitely the hardest to get comfortable with. Not nearly as straight forward as the others. Also, a number of the more popular races are no longer in the game as playable races, such as the Darlok.

As for the management, it is what you make of it. If you're into micromanagement, there's actually more to manage than in the previous versions. However, this version also has much better automatic managment (in the form of planetary viceroys) that enable you to take a "hands-off" approach to most of the nitty-gritty, time-consuming stuff.

As for the space battles, there's pros and cons. They definitely need to make things a little easier to see, as well as add some kind of radar. The battle map is so large that both times I've engaged in combat so far, I've scrolled back and forth multiple times just to find the ship/ships I was fighting. If they can get the kinks worked out though, I think it will actually be a superior combat experience than the previous versions, as it allows for more strategy and tactics, instead of just brute force and number of ships.

The interface definitely needs some work. Some functions are not nearly as clear as they could be. Overall I like the effect. It has a very futuristic technological "feel" to it. But it needs quite a bit of refinement at this point.

When it comes to diplomacy, MoO III builds on the already impressive diplomatic capabilities of the previous games. Not only can you do all the things you could do, but now you can take any one of a number of "tones" with your diplomatic relations. For example, when requesting a trade-agreement, you can come across as pleading, begging, demanding, arguing, reasong, stating, etc. And depending on the race you're negotiating with, different tones will be more/less effective. The only downside to the diplomacy is on the espionage side. Although spying/espionage has been improved, you can no long insert spies and have them just remain dormant. The minute you successfully insert them, they go to work. They can no longer just be in the background waiting.

There's a lot more factors now concerning the management of your empire as a whole. Your government type greatly affects the performance of the empire. You can dictate things such as the level of government oppression over the populace, as well as whether or not your empire will use conquered peoples as forced labor. In each case, those factors directly affect the civil unrest, or lack of.

In a lot of other areas, things are more realistic. Spies die after a while (I'm assuming of old age). One of my leaders died (again, I'm assuming of old age, as he wasn't murdered or assinated).


For right now though, I would give it a 7.0 out of 10. As long as you're not expecting an updated duplicate of the first two games, and are willing to relearn how to do a lot of things, I don't think you'll be dissappointed. Plus, they're currently working on a patch that is supposed to fix most of the complaints that people have been having.

I just got it this morning, and have only played 70 or 80 turns. As I get more familar with it I'll post back some more thoughts.

[freakboy2]

Yeah, what will happen when you play it more:

1. You'll realize that the other AIs don't really care what you say to them. They're psystophenic and just do what random stuff they feel like now and then.

2. You'll realize that the combat system stinks. Your first impression that it might be cool is right. However it's not. Basically you're better off letting the AI fight for you than trying to control your fleets because everything is set on timers that you'll never figure out. And you'll never get to see it very well, because the ships are either too small or to far apart.

3. You'll hate the UI more and more. Why they designed it on 800x600 is a mystery. Why they have 110 interface screens is also a mystery. Personally, I think the game was designed by a flash designer. It's too bad they didn't use flash, at least then it'd scale to higher res.

4. Saying that you can micromanage more is a bit of a misnomer. You can't control the building of any of the zone constructs. Except by setting up the viceroys. I'd rather do it myself.

5. Ground combat is totally lame. Basically it's rock/paper/scissors with a status bar telling you how its' going. No graphics, no nothing.

6. There is almost no art in the game. What little there is is pretty pathetic.

Just keep hitting the turn button, about 30 hours from now you'll realize you wasted 50 bucks.

Fb2

[NeXTLoop]

A lot of the things you list as problems, especially the AI and combat, are things that the upcoming update is slated to fix. There were some mathmatical algorithims that are messed up in the game, which accounts for some of the problems you list.

[juanvaldes]

Originally posted by freakboy2:
As for always hitting the turn button - that's not what I did in Moo2. I was always tweaking my planets, talking to other civs and doing espionage.

For the turn to turn virtually nothing happens. sure, you might get a new pop unit on some planet in some system somewhere but once you have so many planets you get stop caring about them. And when anything important happens, diplomacy, espionage, buildings, wars, etc... it stops you and you can gain control. Works very well.

I really tried to give moo3 a fair shake, in the end i could couldn't deal with the crappy AI and UI.

fb2

Sorry to hear that, I'm still shaking it down.

if you want to learn the secret to moo3...

[jckalen]

OK, despite the tepid reviews - I just got it - CompUSA didn't even have it on the shelf yet but I twisted their arms & got them to pull one out of the stock room for me. So far I am loving it but it IS very confusing compared to the last two. Considering the fact that I felt micromanagement was lacking in the last 2, this one actually appeals to me.

I will say this - some of the terms and concepts are confusing. It is NOT a game you can just "load & play" and a "quick-start" guide would be worthless. This is a game for people who are not afraid to read (a lot) and think. I am not as concerned with memory-hogging splashy graphics as I am with intricate gameplay.

I am a little concerned about the AI issues but that was a problem in MoO 2 also.

I can see where a lot of people would hate this game - much in the same way that I hate most "Mortal Combat" and "Doom" style games - if it ain't yer cup o' tea, don't drink it.

[alex_kac]

I must say - I loved MOO1, hated MOO2 and so far really like MOO3. The one thing I'm still trying to learn is how to build forces and attack all who dare come near me...but hey, just learning the ropes.

[NeXTLoop]

Alex, that's something that took me a while to figure out too. Select a planet, and have it build ships. Then, click on the planet and "Deploy Task Force".

Unlike in previous versions, you can no longer just send out ships independantly of everything. You have to designate a task force first. A task force can range from 1 ship to hundreds of ships.

[alex_kac]

Yeah, I read that - about the task forces, but I still just couldn't figure it out...until I realized that after setting up the task force, I have to press the Turn button for it to actually setup

[nobitacu]

OMG! I'll never play this stupid game again! worst $50 I've ever spend on anything in my entire life! What's the point of this game???
1. click end turn.
2. wait for turn...
3. read news...
4. click end turn...
5. wait for turn...
6. read news...
7. Do it all over again same thing for a few thousand times! AHHHH! I'm getting my lighter now and burning the damn game.

Ming

[warpmoon]

Originally posted by nobitacu:
OMG! I'll never play this stupid game again! worst $50 I've ever spend on anything in my entire life! What's the point of this game???

To macromanage.

If you're solely looking for a game with the micromanaging elements of MoO2 or perhaps CivX, you will not like this game, since that is not what this game is about.

That being the case, I suggest you either return it (if you can) or sell it pronto, before you loose the chance of getting (most) of you money back.


Personally, I enjoy it immensely, dispite the fact that I like MoO2 and other 4X games as well. But perhaps that's just me.

[alex_kac]

The other thing is - you CAN micromanage the game. But then its not any fun. I prefer to macro manage and when I need to, I micromanage certain parts.

I hated Civ3 - this is really pretty cool The one thing I find monstrous is combat. It was so much more fun in MOO1.

[jckalen]

I have been playing for 4 days now and it just keeps getting better. Yes, you do have to take a LOT of turns before anything interesting happens but that was true in MoO2 too. Try a smaller universe with more computer players and things heat up much quicker but you will probably get your butt kicked unless you pick a good race & can expand quickly.