Without genre-blending house journey Star Control, we most likely wouldn’t have the likes of Mass Effect, so at present’s launch of a contemporary reboot – Star Control: Origins – appears motive to cheer. Offering foolish branching dialogues, arcade house fight and planetside exploration mini-games, it seems to be like a fantastic time, full of strange aliens to satisfy, planets to discover, and spaceships to shoot at.
It’s only a pity that my enthusiasm is dulled by a still-ongoing legal battle between Star Control: Origins builders Stardock and authentic Star Control 1 and a pair of leads Fred Ford and Paul Reiche over who owns the rights to the collection and its universe. Still, if that’s not a problem, extra energy to you – Star Control: Origins is out now. Below, a charmingly daft launch trailer.
While Star Control: Origins bears the title of the collection, it’s formally a tough reboot, set in a recent universe with some related ideas. That means no menacing Ur-Quan, paranoid Spathi or cheerfully menacing Orz, however the brand new races under appear a likeably cartoonish set of alt-universe parallels. They’re clearly higher than the horrible designs from Star Control 3 which we will not converse of any extra right here. The game techniques seems to be like acquainted stuff, too, that includes physics-driven arcade fight, though the planetary exploration phase seems to be like a significant enchancment.
I converse just for myself right here, but when the scenario surrounding the game had been completely different I’d most likely be pouncing on Origins proper now. Sadly, a mixture of the authorized messiness surrounding it and my towering backlog threatening to smoosh me out of existence implies that I’m almost certainly going to skip on this one. I’ll, nonetheless, suggest that anybody new to the collection try The Ur-Quan Masters HD, available here – a free fan-made remaster of the second game. Don’t fear, it’s a properly standalone story.
Star Control: Origins is out now on Steam, Humble and GOG and prices £31/€40/$40.
