New Avault review

[Saturnalia]

http://www.avault.com/reviews/review_temp.asp?game=moo3

3/5 stars

The reviewer did NOT like the AI, saying that it would tend to build farming DEAs even when mining was specified. That and the AI colonized worlds even when ordered not to.

The reviewer also did not care for the graphics and sound.

[Stuie]

Any highlights? Can't see it from behind the firewall at work.

[Hetz]

Overall: 3/5

Master of Orion 3 has proven to be one of the most difficult reviews I've ever had to write. The elements for a great game are present, but the focus and execution of those elements is not. Combined with an underwhelming and questionable AI, this puts MOO3 at a disadvantage right out of the gate. In the end, it's difficult to recommend this title to anyone but diehard MOO fans.



Looks like Tom's review was right...

[Fireblade]

AI:

Unfortunately, I found that the AI only loosely follows the guidelines that you set. For instance, even though I set Mining as the highest DEA priority for Mineral Rich worlds, I often caught the AI building mainly Farming zones instead (despite the fact that Farming wasn't even in my Development Plan). In addition, I found that if I set the AI not to colonize worlds on its own, it would do so anyway - even if the planet was toxic to my race.

Difficulty:

In terms of difficulty, Master of Orion 3 falls totally flat, especially compared to its predecessors. I was hard pressed to tell the difference between the Easy and Hard levels of difficulty, as both played nearly the same. In fact, it's not uncommon to see AI players actually bring a fleet to one of your systems, then do nothing. The enemy will simply sit in orbit of a system until you send in an opposing fleet and destroy them; they won't even press an advantage. The only real challenge posed by MOO3 is with the Antarans and the various Guardian battleships, each of which takes aggressive action.

Overall:

Master of Orion 3 has proven to be one of the most difficult reviews I've ever had to write. The elements for a great game are present, but the focus and execution of those elements is not. Combined with an underwhelming and questionable AI, this puts MOO3 at a disadvantage right out of the gate. In the end, it's difficult to recommend this title to anyone but diehard MOO fans.

mfg
Fireblade

[Hetz]

Man, this sucks.

Looks like I will be taking a pass on the game now, until they fix the AI.

[Harry Seldon]

Keep your eyes open for Galactic Civilizations. It's AI should rock.

[Todd Hawks]

MOO3's AI *should* have rocked as well.

[Stuie]

Maybe I'm sorry I asked...

Thanks for the snippets, Hetz and Fireblade. Looks like I might be returning to a wait-and-see approach for this game instead of a rush-out-the-door-and-buy-it approach.

[Bill_in_PDX]

I too am very concerned about the recent reviews.

Most disappointing to me from the Avault review is the comments about dumbed down space combat. I hope that some of the folks here who have beta tested it can comment on that aspect of the game.

[JonahFalcon]

"In addition, I found that if I set the AI not to colonize worlds on its own, it would do so anyway - even if the planet was toxic to my race."

Huh? That never happened to me. EVER.

[Craig P.]

There seems to be violent disagreement amongst the reviewers about the quality of the AI. Tom Chick and the Avault reviewer find it subpar, Barry Brenesal thinks it's one of the best he's ever seen. They can't all be right.

[JonahFalcon]

I don't know - did they play beta versions? I have never EVER seen the AI "send colony ships to planets you didn't want" when the AI was turned off. EVER.

I've seen them BUILD colony ships on planets I wasn't directly controlling - but those ships never went anywhere - except to one red planet I'd already colonized but had a population under 1,000 (a planet with a population under 1,000 is not "active" yet.)

As for aggressiveness, the computer is aggressive to me when at war - often sending waves of spies to disrupt my empire before sacking it.

Avault is primarily a video game site, by the way.

The review reads like a Civ III negative review - "It isn't what I *wanted*!"

[Corentor]

Don't worry boys, Jonah Falcon will be sure to swoop in, question the reviewer's credibility, flame the review, claim everything was a lie, and say the reviewer didn't really even play the game. And someone will propose the sending of massive numbers of angry emails lol.

Really guys, what those 2 reviews said was that it is a niche game only for those who know what they are getting into. Meaning that its meant for the crazy pot heads like us who have been hanging out at apolyton, IG forms or TOS for months on end waiting for the game to come out. Which is perfectly fine.

edit: LOL Jonah Falcon beat me to it.

[JonahFalcon]

Do shut up, Corentor. Stop trying to start a flame war.

[Corentor]

Originally posted by JonahFalcon
Do shut up, Corentor. Stop trying to start a flame war.

So how much did Infogrames pay you again? Just out of curiosity