''Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters'' is a 1992

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

, the sequel to '' Star Control''. It was developed by

Toys for Bob Toys for Bob, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. As the creators of the award-winning ''Star Control'' and ''Skylanders'' series, the studio originated as a partnership between Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford (p ...

( Fred Ford and

Paul Reiche III Paul Reiche III ( ) is an American game designer, particularly known for his work on video games. Reiche is best known for being the co-creator, together with Fred Ford, of the '' Star Control'' universe. Career Pen and paper RPGs Reiche was ...

) and originally published by

Accolade The accolade (also known as dubbing or adoubement) ( la, benedictio militis) was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. From about 1852, the term ''accolade'' was used much more generally to ...

in 1992 for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

. This game features

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

-abundant star systems, hyperspace travel, extraterrestrial life, and interstellar diplomacy, with the game featuring 25 different alien races with which communication is possible. Released to critical acclaim, ''Star Control II'' is widely viewed today as one of the greatest PC games ever made, and has appeared on numerous publications lists of the greatest video games of all time. The game was ported to the 3DO by

Crystal Dynamics Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California and part of Embracer Group. The studio developed the '' Gex'', ''Legacy of Kain'', and ''Tomb Raider'' series. Founded in 1992 by Madeline Canepa, Judy L ...

in 1994 with an enhanced multimedia presentation, allowed by the CD technology. The

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...

of the 3DO port was licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later in 2002, the game content under CC-BY-NC-SA-2.5. The 3DO code was

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...

to PC as ''

The Ur-Quan Masters ''The Ur-Quan Masters'' is a 2002 open-source fangame modification, based on the action-adventure science fiction game ''Star Control II''. The original game was released for PCs in 1992 and ported to the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1994. I ...

''. A sequel, ''

Star Control 3 ''Star Control 3'' is a 1996 action-adventure game developed by Legend Entertainment and published by Accolade. The third installment in the '' Star Control'' trilogy, the game was released for MS-DOS in 1996 and Mac OS in 1998. The story tak ...

'', was released back in 1996.

Gameplay

''Star Control II'' is an

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

game, set in an

open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...

universe. It features ship-to-ship combat based on the original '' Star Control'', but removes the first game's

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

gameplay to focus on story and dialog, as seen in other

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

s. The player's goal is to free

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

from the evil

Ur-Quan The Ur-Quan are a fictional race of predatory alien caterpillars in the '' Star Control'' series of video games, created by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford. Introduced in 1990, the Ur-Quan are the primary antagonist of the first game, leading a g ...

, by recruiting aliens to help. The main gameplay elements are exploring the galaxy, gathering resources, building a fleet, defeating enemy ships, and conversing with aliens. One-on-one spaceship battles take place in real-time, based on the core gameplay of the original ''Star Control''. Each ship has unique weapons, maneuvers, and secondary abilities, and winning a battle requires a combination of ship selection and skill. This combat mode can be played separately in a two-player battle mode called Super Melee. In the story mode, the player is limited to the ships they can gain from sympathetic alien races, whereas Super Melee includes every ship in both ''Star Control'' games. The only ship unique to the story mode is the player's capital ship, which is upgraded as the player gains new technology and resources. After a brief opening sequence, the player is given near total freedom to explore the galaxy at large. Exploration often involves travelling to stars, landing on planets, and gathering resources. The player navigates their star map, with over 500 stars and 3800 planets to potentially visit. Players must manage their risk as they explore, as planets with more dangerous hazards usually feature more valuable resources, which are vital to upgrade the player's fleet. More rarely, a planet will feature an interactive alien race, who the player can engage with as a potential friend or foe. The interactive dialog options help advance the story, with branching conversations similar to other adventure games. These conversations also reveal secrets and information about the galaxy. The game vastly expands on the characters and backstory from the first game, with each

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

having their own characteristic conversational quirks, music, and even display fonts.

Plot

Whereas the first ''Star Control'' stores most of its lore in the instruction manual, ''Star Control II'' continues the story with a rich in-game experience, playing through events after the Alliance is defeated by the Hierarchy. In the last phase of the war between the Alliance of Free Stars and the Hierarchy of Battle Thralls, an Earthling ship discovered an ancient

Precursor Precursor or Precursors may refer to: *Precursor (religion), a forerunner, predecessor ** The Precursor, John the Baptist Science and technology * Precursor (bird), a hypothesized genus of fossil birds that was composed of fossilized parts of unr ...

subterranean installation in the Vela star system. A massive Hierarchy offensive forced the Alliance fleets to retreat beyond Vela, stranding the science expedition, who went in to hiding. Decades later, with the help of a genius child born on the planet, the colonists activated the Precursor machinery and found out that it was programmed to build a highly advanced but unfinished starship, which could be piloted only by the now grown genius child, who alone could interact with the Precursor central computer. The new ship set out to Sol to make contact with Earth, but shortly before reaching Sol the little fleet was attacked by an unknown probe; The expedition commander, captaining the expedition's Earthling Cruiser, intercepted the alien ship before it could damage the defenseless Precursor starship, but was killed in the short fight, leaving the genius young man in command. The player begins the game as the commander of the Precursor starship, who returns to Earth to find it enslaved by the Ur-Quan. The Captain gains the support of the skeleton crew of Earth's caretaker starbase and ventures out to contact the other races to find out what's happened since the end of the war and try to recruit allies in to a New Alliance of Free Stars against the Ur-Quan. The Captain quickly discovers that the rest of the humans' allies in the war against the Ur-Quan have either been eradicated, put under slave shields, or put into service as Ur-Quan battle thralls. As the player progresses, it is revealed that the Ur-Quan are fighting an internecine war with the Kohr-Ah, a subspecies of Ur-Quan who believe in eradicating all life in the galaxy, as opposed to enslaving it. The winner of this war will gain access to the Sa-Matra, a Precursor battle platform of unparalleled power. The player must take advantage of the Ur-Quans' distraction to contact and recruit alien races into a new alliance, gather resources and build a fleet, and find a way to destroy the invincible Sa-Matra, before the Ur-Quan finish their war and become unstoppable. The Captain resolves issues several of the races are facing, or exploits their weaknesses, to get them on their side. Notably the Captain finds the Chenjesu and Mmrnmhrm on Procyon undergoing their own plan to merge in to a composite species powerful enough to defeat the Ur-Quan, and captures a psychic alien Dnyarri, which the Captain discovers is a member of the race that brutally enslaved the galaxy millennia ago, causing the Ur-Quan's hegemonic and genocidal rampage around the galaxy. The Captain uses a Precursor Sun Device to accelerate the merging of the Chenjesu and Mmrnmhrm to create the Chmmr, who amplify a Precursor terraforming bomb, allowing the Captain to sacrifice his ship to destroy the Sa-Matra and defeat the Ur-Quan.

Development

Concept

Classic Game Postmortem- Star Control (16552069930)

''Star Control II'' began as a more ambitious project than the original ''Star Control'', with Reiche and Ford hoping to go beyond ship combat to develop a "science fiction adventure role-playing game". The team credits the pre-existing combat from the original ''Star Control'' with giving them a strong core to build a larger game around. The sequel would develop into a much more detailed adventure than the first edition. Ford explains that the original ''Star Control'' had "some story there, but it was mostly in the manual. In ''Star Control II'', we made a conscious decision to tell more of a story". The duo would downplay the scale of the game when pitching it to their publisher

, and the game's development would eventually go over schedule. Reiche and Ford drew inspiration from many science-fiction authors, as well as peers in the game industry. A few years earlier, Reiche had been friends with Greg Johnson during the creation of ''

Starflight ''Starflight'' is a space exploration, combat, and trading role-playing video game created by Binary Systems and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. Originally developed for IBM PC compatibles, it was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, ...

'', inspiring Reiche to offer creative input on Johnson's expansive science fiction game. Once Reiche and Ford conceived ''Star Control 2'', they would draw large inspiration from ''

''. This friendship and mutual admiration even led to hiring Greg Johnson, whom they credit as "one of the most significant contributors to ''Star Control II''". Ford also cites their shared love of author

Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names. ...

from their childhood, and were intrigued by the idea of exaggerated societies taken to their extremes, and intelligent characters committed to an interesting agenda. Reiche would cite the influence of numerous fiction authors over the ''Star Control'' series, including Jack Vance,

Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...

Robert Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

David Brin Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is an American scientist and author of science fiction. He has won the Hugo,Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name ...

David Brin Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is an American scientist and author of science fiction. He has won the Hugo,''Uplift'' Universe and

Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are ''Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, ''The Mote in God's Eye'' ...

's ''

Known Space Known Space is the fictional setting of about a dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by Larry Niven. It has also become a shared universe in the spin-off ''Man-Kzin Wars'' anthologies. The Internet Spec ...

'' series are often mentioned as inspiration for ''Star Control II''.

Technology

The creators started by asking "what people do when they go out and have an adventure in space", while keeping in mind what they could actually implement.Archived a
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This led them to create numerous stars and planets, through a combination of

procedural generation In computing, procedural generation is a method of creating data algorithmically as opposed to manually, typically through a combination of human-generated assets and algorithms coupled with computer-generated randomness and processing power. In ...

and handcrafted assets. Despite the fact that

exoplanets An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

had yet to be fully discovered, Reiche initially took on the challenge of simulating

planetary systems A planetary system is a set of gravitationally bound non- stellar objects in or out of orbit around a star or star system. Generally speaking, systems with one or more planets constitute a planetary system, although such systems may also cons ...

based on scientific principles. They ultimately decided to bypass some details of the simulation, due to its lack of distinct planets to explore. Instead, they imagined cracked planets with magma chasms, ruby planets with precious

zirconium Zirconium is a chemical element with the symbol Zr and atomic number 40. The name ''zirconium'' is taken from the name of the mineral zircon, the most important source of zirconium. The word is related to Persian '' zargun'' (zircon; ''zar-gun'', ...

, and even rainbow colored planets. The planets were created with a procedurally generated height map, which required difficult programming solutions to simulate the appearance of a 3D sphere. They additionally simulated 3D asteroids by digitizing images of

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular vol ...

they had taken from a parking lot. The ''Star Control II'' team also invented their own fictional, flat version of space, so that the stars could be arranged in a more clear and interesting way. The algorithmically-assisted generation of the star map helped to create a vast, mysterious setting for players to explore. The map also added circles of influence for the aliens, not just to describe their location, but to provide narrative hints about their changing power, relationships, and stories.

Fictional universe

Reiche and Ford wanted their new game to further investigate their self-described "superficial" stories and aliens from the original ''Star Control''. Thus, the story for ''Star Control II'' would greatly expand on those original characters, and add a few more. This was the last time that Reiche would design a game using pen and paper, including dozens of flow charts for the major plot points, player choices, and dialog trees. Paul Reiche III describes this creative process, "I know it probably sounds weird, but when I design a game like this, I make drawings of the characters and stare at them. I hold little conversations with them. What do you guys do''?' And they tell me." Early in the process, they used the first game's character and ship images to create simple visual stories about the two main sides of the conflict. The main antagonist the Ur Quan were already understood as a race of slavers in ''Star Control'', so Reiche developed their motivation by writing their backstory as slaves themselves. To justify the Mycon's organic structures and high energy plasma, they decided that the Mycon lived beneath the planet's crust, and must have been artificially created to survive there. Fred Ford inspired the character design for the Earth

starbase The concepts of space stations and space habitats feature in science fiction. The difference between the two is that habitats are larger and more complex structures intended as permanent homes for substantial populations (though generation ship ...

commander, as well as the Pkunk's insult ability, while the Spathi were inspired by a running joke about Paul Reiche's desire for self-preservation. The rich storytelling was a contrast to the first game's emphasis on

player versus player Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are mos ...

combat, but they realized that their combat

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

could give story-loving players an option to delegate battles. Once Reiche and Ford imagined the different alien personalities, Reiche hand-drew a flow chart for each alien's dialog options, which Ford would implement into the game with placeholder tags. However, the sheer quantity of writing and art proved to be challenging for the game's epic scale. Fred Ford surprised the team with his prolific coding, and it was the rest of the team who needed to catch-up with art, writing, music, and other assets. They quickly enlisted the help of friends and family to create game content. One crucial friend was ''

'' creator Greg Johnson, who Reiche had previously helped on ''Starflight'' while sharing office space. Johnson ended up writing dialog for several aliens, as well as creating most of the artwork for the alien spaceships. They were also able to hire

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

George Barr through mutual friends, who had inspired the game's " pulp science-fiction" feel, and happened to be living nearby. Long-time friend

Erol Otus Erol Otus is an American artist and game designer, known internationally for his contributions to the fantasy role-playing game (RPG) genre, especially early in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' franchise. He is also known for his artwork on the multiple ...

was another collaborator, who Reiche describes as contributing the widest range of content, including music, text, art, illustrations for the game manual, and (later) voice-acting. The largest number of collaborators were needed for the game's numerous dialog options. The creators were admirers of the ''

Monkey Island ''Monkey Island'' is a series of adventure games. The first four games in the series were produced and published by LucasArts, earlier known as Lucasfilm Games. The fifth installment of the franchise was developed by Telltale Games in collabor ...

'' games, and aimed to achieve the same level of player choice and humor. Reiche felt that each character needed their own

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

to match their distinct personality, and built a font-editing system to achieve this.

Deadline and budget

Reiche and Ford felt it was difficult to maintain Accolade's interest in the game. In fact, Accolade had played a version of the game with placeholder dialog, and was content to ship the game with the "cryptic" text as-is. This led to an industry legend that the duo absconded to

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

to finish the game without Accolade's interference. The creators later clarified that Accolade did not interfere with development and was satisfied to publish the game in any form, and that this was important to their creative freedom and artistic success. As the project went over schedule, their payment from Accolade came to an end. Fred Ford decided to financially support the team for the final months of development, and they were ultimately able to finish the project with the help of numerous family, friends, and other collaborators. The team stretched their music budget by holding a contest to create the game's soundtrack. Reiche and Ford had previously discovered the sample-based

MOD Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...

file format while porting the first ''Star Controls music to consoles. They posted the music contest to a

newsgroup A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distinct ...

for

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

users, despite the fact that the game was for PC, because Amiga hobbyists were the main community of MOD- tracker users in that time. The contest attracted people from around the world, due to the popularity of the MOD format in the largely European

demoscene The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...

. The contest also led them to discover a teenager named Dan Nicholson, who they hired to create additional music as needed. Further music came from existing team member

, who first composed the

theme on a synthesizer before it was re-sampled and exported to the MOD file format. The critically acclaimed soundtrack would include music from Aaron Grier, Erol Otus, Eric Berge, Riku Nuottajärvi, and Dan Nicholson. Months after its release, the team would create hours of voice dialog for the 3DO version of the game, taking advantage of space afforded by

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

technology, while bucking the trend of CD-based games with

full motion video Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...

Game Developer Magazine ''Game Developer'' was a magazine for video game creators, originally started in March 1994 by Miller Freeman, Inc as quarterly, later bimonthly, and finally monthly. In each issue, industry leaders and experts shared technical solutions, reviewed ...

featured the game in its list of open source space games, praising its scale and charm, as well as its new features. In the end, the 3DO version would feature 11 hours of voice audio, including performances from Reiche, as well as friends Greg Johnson and Erol Otus.Archived a
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Reception

''Star Control II'' received a positive reception around its release, as well as several awards. Soon after, ''Star Control II'' began to appear on many "all time best" lists for players and industry figures, a reputation that has continued ever since.

Reviews and awards

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' stated that ''Star Control II'' was as much a sequel to ''Starflight'' as to ''Star Control''. The reviewer praised the

VGA graphics Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can now ...

and wrote that the game "has some of the best dialogue ever encountered in this genre". He concluded that the game "has been placed on this reviewer's top ten list of all time ... one of the most enjoyable games to review all year. It is not often that a perfect balance is struck between role playing, adventure, and action/arcade". In their 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the future, they gave the game four-plus stars out of five, stating that "it offers hours of 'simple, hot and deep' play". ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' gave the game a full five-star review, telling their readers that "if you are a science-fiction gamer who enjoys a superb game environment, a high dollar-to-play ratio, and numerous challenges, SC2 is a definite must-have for your software library". ''Questbusters'' called it the "best science-fiction role-playing game since ''Starflight''", and "best RPG of the year". Giving the game four out of five stars, ''

Game Players ''Game Players'' is a defunct monthly video game magazine founded by Robert C. Lock in 1989 and originally published by Signal Research in Greensboro, North Carolina. The original publication began as ''Game Players Strategy to Nintendo Games'' ...

'' described the game's epic scale, where "there's so much to do -- so many planets to explore and mysteries to solve and battles to fight -- that the game may dominate your spare time". ''

PC Games A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-dete ...

'' noted the game's "rich history", describing the game as "part arcade, part role-play, ''Star Control II'' is all science fiction, with an emphasis on ''fiction''." ''

COMPUTE! ''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', was an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET c ...

'' suggested that the game "gives you exactly what you want in a space adventure", also giving the strongest praise for the music and sound as "among the best done for any game on the market." The game was also rated 96/100 by

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

magazine ''

Pelit ''Pelit'' ("Games") is a Finnish video games magazine published in Helsinki, Finland. History ''Pelit'' dates back to 1987, as an annual extra games-only issue of '' MikroBitti'' and '' C-lehti''. Another annual issue was published in 1988, and in ...

'', who immediately hailed it as one of the best games of the year. Reviewing the 3DO version, ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' remarked that the user-friendly interface makes the complicated gameplay easy to handle. They also praised the impressive graphics and the voice acting's use of unique vocal inflections for each alien race, and concluded that the game is "an addicting epic sci-fi adventure that will have patient space explorers and zero-gravity tacticians glued to their screens for a million hours. All others should stay away." The four reviewers of ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'' likewise praised the accessible interface and impressive graphics, but complained that the alien voices are sometimes difficult to understand. They cited the CD-quality audio and the Melee mode as other strong points, and one of them commented that it "blows he PC versionout of the water." They gave it an 8.25 out of 10. '' Next Generation'' reviewed the 3DO version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "if you've the patience to spend hours digging for minerals, the game is addictive, but not state of the art." The year of its release, the

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...

honored ''Star Control II'' as an exceptional game among their "Class of '93", calling it a "perfect blend of action and adventure", as well as "sound that is exceptional enough to make gamers think they've upgraded their sound boards". The game also received ''

'' magazine's first "Game of the Year" award, and an award from ''Computer Gaming World'', naming it the magazine's 1993 Adventure Game of the Year (a co-honor with ''

Eric the Unready ''Eric the Unready'' is an adventure game developed and published by Legend Entertainment for MS-DOS in 1993. ''Eric the Unready'' is a parody of the fantasy genre in general, though it parodies numerous other topics as well, ranging from '' Star ...

'').

"Greatest game" lists

''Star Control II'' quickly began to appear on "all-time favorite" lists, a practice that continued for many years. In 1994, ''

PC Gamer US ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games mag ...

'' named ''Star Control II'' as the 21st best computer game ever. The editors called it "an epic" and "thoroughly enjoyable to play and look at." That same year, ''

PC Gamer UK ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games mag ...

'' named it the 33rd best computer game of all time. The editors wrote, "If ever a game deserved an award for being underrated, it's ''Star Control II''." The next year, players voted the game into ''PC Gamer''s Readers Top 40. ''Computer Gaming World'' created their own list in 1996, ranking ''Star Control II'' as the 29th best PC game of all time, calling it "a stunning mix of adventure, action, and humor." In 1999, '' Next Generation'' also ranked it among their top 50 games of all time. This acclaim continued well into the next millennium. In 2000, ''

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

'' inducted ''Star Control II'' into their Hall of Fame, and ranked it the 26th best game of all time just one year later.

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

noted ''Star Control II'' on its 2002 list, ranking the game as the 26th best game of all time. In 2003, ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' included ''Star Control II'' on their list of greatest games of all time. In the same year, ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' named ''Star Control II'' as their 53rd greatest game of all time, and ranked it again at 17th greatest in 2005. In 2006, Computer Gaming World inducted ''Star Control II'' into their Hall of Fame, explaining that "what made ''Star Control II'' stand out, though, was the incredible amount of backstory and interaction with all the alien species". PC Gamer listed ''Star Control II'' the 52nd greatest PC game in their 2011 rankings, and

Hardcore Gaming 101 ''Hardcore Gaming 101'' is an online video game magazine founded by Kurt Kalata. Kalata established the site after graduating college, when he noticed the overabundance of game strategy guides, and felt that someone should create more books about ...

listed it among their 2015 rankings of 200 best video games of all time. Compared to classic games from the same period, ''Star Control II'' is also ranked on several "best of" lists. Hardcore Gaming selected the game for their 2007 list of favorite classics, with "a combination of sandbox space travel and arcade-style combat, a plotline equal to any space opera you can name, hundreds of pages' worth of interactive dialog and dozens of memorable, unique races, it's easy to see why most reviews of ''Star Control II'' quickly turn into love letters." When ''

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

'' compiled their 2013 list of "Classic PC Games You Must Play", ''Star Control II'' reached the very top of the list. In 2014,

USGamer Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other ...

mentioned the game as one of the landmark titles from the 1990s. ''Retro Gamer'' remembers ''Star Control II'' as one of the top 10 games made for the

3DO Interactive Multiplayer The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, also referred to as simply 3DO, is a home video game console developed by The 3DO Company. Conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, the 3DO was not a console manufactured by the company ...

, and later listed it among their top 100 retro games at the 68th position. ''

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'' also ranked it at #37 among their list of classic DOS games. Its status as a classic game would lead ''IGN'' to list the series among the top 10 franchises that needed to be resurrected. Comparing it to the original ''Star Control'', Cinema Blend celebrates ''Star Control II'' in their short list of sequels that progressed well beyond their predecessors.

"Greatest design" lists

''Star Control II'' is also recognized for its excellence in several creative areas, including writing, design, and music. In 1996, ''Computer Gaming World'' ranked ''Star Control II'' among their top 15 most rewarding game endings, proclaiming that the game "entertains right down to the end, with the some of the funniest credits since

Monty Python's Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fou ...

''Holy Grail''". The game's ending was similarly ranked as the third greatest of all time according to ''

''s editors, with their readers ranking it the sixth greatest ending. Moreover, GameSpot twice acclaimed the

among their top ten game villains, mentioning them at the top of one 1999 list as "one of the very best villains. Even now, we are hard-pressed to find a race of adversaries as complex and three-dimensional as the Ur-Quan." ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' also included the Ur-Quan in their 2021 list of best aliens in pop culture, describing them as "tremendous sci-fi villains, importing heady old-school concepts into ''Star Control''’s relentlessly fun space-based action". The world design of ''Star Control II'' is also celebrated, with '' Paste'' magazine giving it top ranking on their list of "games that capture the infinite potential of space". ''GameSpot'' ranked the ''Star Control II'' universe among their top ten game worlds, whereas GameRant listed ''Star Control II'' as the third largest open world map, also noting it as "perhaps the most underrated game of all time". The game's music is remembered as the 37th greatest game soundtrack by the music magazine ''

FACT A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

'', describing it as "a lost 80s treasure trove of unreleased techno, synth pop and Italo". The music of ''Star Control II'' was similarly listed as the second greatest game soundtrack according to ''GameSpot''s editors, which was echoed once again by their readers.

Legacy and influence

Long after its release, ''Star Control II'' continues to garner acclaim across the game industry. Responding to film critics who criticized video games as a superficial medium, '' The Escapist'' magazine highlighted ''Star Control II'' as "the scripting was second to none. Don't be fooled by the fantastical setting - the story maturely dealt with wide ranging issues, from genocide to religious extremism, and still remained terrifying, touching, and damn funny in places." The magazine would revisit this in a 2014 retrospective, calling it a "must play for space loving gamers", offering "a massive experience filled with exploration, action and some of the funniest aliens you'll run into any video game". ''

Rock Paper Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' (also rendered ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun''; short ''RPS'') is a UK-based website for reporting on video games, primarily for PC. Originally launched on 13 July 2007 as an independent site, ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' was acquir ...

'' featured the game in 2016, celebrating "some of the most memorable aliens ever put in a game, and still some of the best written." In a 2018 retrospective of the entire series, ''Hardcore Gaming 101'' notes that "there are aspects of ''Star Control II'' that are rough around the edges..., t once you surmount those obstacles, it reveals itself as one of the smartest, funniest, most adventure-filled science fiction games ever made". In a multi-part feature on the

history of video games The history of video games began in the 1950s and 1960s as computer scientists began designing simple games and simulations on minicomputers and mainframes. '' Spacewar!'' was developed by MIT student hobbyists in 1962 as one of the first su ...

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noted that ''Star Control II'' is "often considered one of the greatest games ever made". ''Kotaku'' referred to it as "one of the early ’

90s The 90s ran from 90 AD to 99 AD. Significant people * Titus Flavius Domitianus, Roman Emperor (AD 81– 96) * Nerva, Roman Emperor (AD 96 AD 96 ( XCVI) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Jul ...

most revolutionary sci-fi games", and game historian Rusel DeMaria describes it as one of the best games ever written. Additionally, The Dickinson Press called it "one of the best PC games ever", and ''The Completist'' notes it as "one of the greatest games ever made". Indeed, ''Star Control II'' is admired and influential amongst notable developers in the game industry.

Tim Cain Timothy Cain is an American video game developer best known as the creator, producer, lead programmer and one of the main designers of the 1997 computer game ''Fallout''. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of a ...

credits ''Star Control II'' with inspiring his open-ended design in both ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...

'' and '' Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura'', calling it his personal favorite RPG of all time and one of the best computer games ever developed. Founder of

BioWare BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zes ...

Ray Muzyka Raymond Alexander Muzyka is a Canadian investor, entrepreneur and physician. Originally trained as a medical doctor and practicing as an emergency department and family physician after graduation, he is the co-founder of video game developer Bio ...

also cites ''Star Control'' as an inspiration, stating that "the uncharted worlds in ''

Mass Effect ''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn and Preston Watamaniuk. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the known univers ...

'' comes from imagining what a freely explorable universe would be like inside a very realistic next-gen game." Indeed, journalists have noted heavy similarities in the story, characters, and overall experience of ''Mass Effect'', even calling ''Star Control II'' a spiritual predecessor. ''

'' notes that ''Star Control II'''s "galaxy-spanning sci-fi setting whose adventure elements foreshadowed ''Mass Effect'' by a good 15 years". ''

PCGamesN ''PCGamesN'' is a British online video game magazine focusing on PC gaming and hardware. It has a full-time team of over a dozen writers and is the oldest owned-and-operated site within publishing group Network N. History Parent company Netw ...

'' explains further, that "while ''Star Control II'' is a little clunky and esoteric by modern standards, this was the ''Mass Effect'' of its era, defining many of the elements you might have taken for granted in Bioware's classic sci-fi RPG series. ... ''Star Control''s weird and wonderful alien races are far more exciting than anything Bioware gave us." Henrik Fahraeus of

Paradox Interactive Paradox Interactive AB is a video game publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company started out as the video game division of Target Games and then Paradox Entertainment (now Cabinet Entertainment) before being spun out into an independen ...

credits ''Star Control II'' as a major influence on

strategy game A strategy game or strategic game is a game (e.g. a board game) in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous, decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decisio ...

'' Stellaris'', after expressing disappointment that the ''Mass Effect'' series lacked the exploration and openness of ''Star Control II''. Game writer and narrative designer

Zoë Quinn Zoë Tiberius Quinn (born 1987) is an American video game developer, programmer, and writer. Quinn developed the interactive fiction game '' Depression Quest'', which was released in 2013. In 2014, a defamatory blog post by their ex-boyfrien ...

called ''Star Control II'' a childhood obsession, describing how she "filled several notebooks with notes and maps as I constantly explored Fake Space, trying to see everything and uncover all the secrets in the game." Vice President of

Insomniac Games Insomniac Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Burbank, California and a studio of PlayStation Studios. It was founded in 1994 by Ted Price as Xtreme Software, and was renamed Insomniac Games a year later. The company is mo ...

Brian Hastings ranked ''Star Control II'' as one of his top games, and one of "the most original and perfectly executed games ever". Alexx Kay of

Irrational Games Irrational Games (known as 2K Boston between 2007 and 2009) was an American video game developer founded in 1997 by three former employees of Looking Glass Studios: Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier. Take-Two Interactive acquired t ...

hailed ''Star Control II'' as the best game "by a mile", noting that it was "one of the first story-based games where your actions had clear consequences". In Joshua Bycer's book "20 Essential Games to Study", his first chapter is devoted to analyzing ''Star Control II'', as an unprecedented open world game far ahead of its contemporaries. ''Star Control II'' is sometimes credited as a spiritual successor to ''Starflight'', inheriting its legacy as a genre-defining space exploration game.

The Ur-Quan Masters

''The Ur-Quan Masters'' is a modified open-source release of ''Star Control 2'', based on a freely available version of the original 3DO code.

Sequel and continuity

In 2017, Reiche and Ford announced plans to create a direct sequel to ''The Ur Quan Masters'', which would effectively bypass the story from ''

'', created by the now defunct

Legend Entertainment Legend Entertainment Company was an American Video game developer, developer and Video game publisher, publisher of computer games, best known for creating Adventure game, adventure titles throughout the 1990s. The company was founded by Bob ...

. This announcement comes after years of fan requests for a sequel. Due to disagreements between the trademark owner of ''Star Control'' and the ownership of the intellectual property within the games previously sold under the trademark, the game development was halted. A settlement has been reached, and work resumed in the fall of 2020.

References

External links

''Star Control II''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

Ur Quan Masters open source project

''Star Control II'' Development History
{{Authority control 1992 video games 3DO Interactive Multiplayer games Accolade (company) games Action role-playing video games Adventure games set in space Commercial video games with freely available source code Creative Commons-licensed video games Crystal Dynamics games DOS games Formerly proprietary software Freeware games Games commercially released with DOSBox Linux games Maemo games Multidirectional shooters Multiplayer hotseat games Role-playing video games Space opera video games Star Control Video game sequels Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Burke Trieschmann Toys for Bob games Multiplayer and single-player video games