Stars! (1996)
Genres:Strategy
Themes:4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate)
Story:Stars! is a turn-based strategy, science fiction 4X game.
Vote to bring this game to GOG and help preserve it.114
Easy to learn, hard to master, big and open enough that 100s of different strategies, tactics, and play styles have been created over the years. Xplore, Xpand, Xploit, Xterminate!
Trailblazing Tutorial mode, extensive tech tree, ample freedom for race and ship design, smart enough AI players to make solo play a challenge.
But multiplayer sets apart the toughest strategists from mere dictators in scenarios where less than 500 worlds to master is considered "small". Diplomacy, management, trade, stealth, dirty tricks, tons of shiny ships turned to smithereens. You could lose 100+ big battles, turnaround and win 200+ more before defeating the last enemy.
Shout "Packet!" in a room full of gamers, and Stars! veterans cannot help but shiver. P-}
Played back in the 90's, never found anything else that comes close to the depth and breadth of detail available in this game. As far as I'm concerned this is THE 4X game, all others just don't make the cut. It was possible to automate many aspects of play or micromanage aspects beyond the wildest dreams of the most insane control freak. And yes "Packet!" does still make me shiver.
For me, this game defined "grand strategy." I never actually finished a playthrough! I kept one universe going for about 18 months and then other games took my attention. I recall there being an option to print-out the game map for strategizing purposes--on dot matrix, of course! The map of one game must have totaled something like 80 or so pages and--when taped together--covered the dining room table. I remember using a compass to draw "spheres" of control around my hub planets and then drawing ruler-straight lines to trace the resource packet lines. It was so much fun creating warships to battle specific races and how your tactics had to (HAD TO) adapt to what the AI was constantly throwing at you. I have never found its like for satisfying the college-age gaming obsession I had for this game! This is truly the gold-standard against which I have compared EVERY SINGLE 4X game I have played in the last three-and-a-half decades. They just don't make games designed to played for months and months like this anymore.
Oh my gosh I spent soooo many hours of my childhood playing this game. A true masterpiece in the 4X genre. This game had it all. Virtually infinite replayability. There was a sequel in the works that never got released :-(. Having the original on GOG would be so clutch.
I loved the flexibility and customization options for the startup settings - you could make anything possible, gas giant floaters immune to gravity and radiation conditions and a very lopsided range for temperature, and then swallow up a lot of uncontested planets keeping your head down. Or go the super breeder way, spending most of the rest of the game balancing out the immense growth from your home and early found superbreeder planets. If any game could capture the feel of Iain Banks space opera, this is it. Also, loved the alien merchant speeding through.
When you suddenly realize that the enemy AI has mass-driver technology and you don't. When the consequences of that fact are that you cannot capture mass-driver packets. And when the AI starts sending those packets as ballistic weapons instead of their fleets (which you can easily decimate). And when you start having a dedicated hyper-fast, hyper-large transport fleet just to capture rogue mass packets sent from enemy plantes spotted by the advance scouts...
That is when you know you're playing a true 4X game.
I had an old copy of this game and I absolute loved to play this. A game could take weeks to finish playing several hours a day. What differ this game to other 4x games these days it that there is no story, no music and I can't remember any tutorial. Just a sandbox, of the size you choose. You set up your species or spend some points to make your own, then you are just thrown in. Micromanagement to the core AND IT'S HEAVEN. I still remember one of my first game where four of my largest planets was bombed to smithereens by an enormous enemy fleet and I was thrown away to one of my backwater planets where I rebuilt me forces and took out me revenge on the aggressor and the rest of the universe. A brilliant game that was.
I remember games that lasted several months in which my greatest strength was diplomacy (conducted outside of the game), because unfortunately, despite my love of strategy games, I've never been good at them - I've always struggled to micromanage perfectly. :) Stars! I'll remember for the rest of my life, I hope it drops on GOG also in macOS version.... :)
Played this with my dad and brother...it's a delightfully complex game, while being quite easy to get started in. Great strategy game, fun to design your own ships. A bit like Master of Orion, but better.
Myth II: SoulblighterTake control of squads or individual units in order to accomplish tactically-challenging missions in the epic battle of the Forces of Light versus Dark.Action Fantasy
Black & WhitePlay the role of a deity in a land where the surroundings are yours to shape and its people are yours to lord over. Be an evil, malevolent god and the natives will worship you with fear in their eyes. Play as a kind, benevolent god and they will worship you with love in their hearts. Your actions decide whether you create a heaven or hell for your worshipers. Then select a creature from the land to act as your representative in the world. Raise it to gigantic proportions and teach it to do your bidding--whether the animal grows into an evil colossus of mass destruction or a kind and gentle giant is up to you. Progress through the game's rich storyline performing powerful miracles to battle other deities and become the world's supreme god.Top Open world Sandbox
Breath of Fire IIThe incredible sequel to the best-selling RPG hit Breath of Fire is here! You are the last member of the Dragon clan, fighting to rid the world of a growing evil. A cast of unusual and exciting companions joins you in your adventures across a wondrous land full of magic and mystery. You'll find strange mystic items, memorable monsters and exotic locations in your quest to conquer evil. There's strategy and spellcasting galore in the hours of compelling action and adventure that awaits you. Breath of Fire II is the ultimate in RPG excitement!Action Fantasy
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber"Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber is a tactical RPG for the Nintendo 64.
Featuring a gripping storyline with multiple possible endings, and a genre-defining character class system, this strategic epic has rightly retained its place in the hearts of tactical RPG fans for over a decade.
The game tells the story of Magnus Gallant, a recently graduated officer of the Palatinean Army who is assigned to the troubled southern region of his native land. There he witnesses the plight of the lower classes – the victims of a tyrannical ruling elite whose only thought is for the preservation of their own lofty status. With civil war brewing, Magnus is faced with a terrible choice: to betray his own noble origins in the name of liberty, or turn a blind eye to the evils of his rotten society."Fantasy Warfare
ParaWorldThe game-concept is similar to "Age of Empires", which is a real-time strategy game. ParaWorld features food, wood, and stone as resources. Food can be picked from bushes, hunted from animals, fished from the sea, or farmed. Stone is located in limited deposits, and wood, cut from trees, is generally scattered throughout a map. Battles can occur on both land and sea.
The story takes place in a parallel dimension, where prehistoric life thrives alongside diverse human civilizations that are not technologically advanced. As a result, dinosaurs take the place of traditional wildlife and livestock, though some of the dinosaurs in-game are highly stylized and not necessarily scientifically accurate. Wild-living dinosaurs can be hunted for food, though some are of dangerous and aggressive species and will attack any player unit that wanders too close. Other prehistoric creatures make an appearance as well, for example woolly mammoths are used where other games might feature elephants.
Players advance through epochs in order to unlock new technologies and upgrades.Fantasy Historical
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 - Yuri's RevengeThe game begins with a presidential briefing in the White House concerning Yuri and how he has begun his take over of the world through mind control. Yuri interrupts the briefing to explain how he plans to take over the world, telling the American President Michael Dugan that he has a network of Psychic Dominators around the world, which he is now beginning to reveal. One of Yuri's Psychic Dominators is on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, which Yuri activates just before ending his transmission to the White House. The President immediately calls in an airstrike on the device, but all the attacking aircraft were shot down, although one crashes into the nuclear reactor on the island, causing the device to lose power and to not function. Despite this, Yuri activates his other Psychic Dominators around the world and the majority of the planet quickly succumbs to Yuri's mind-control.Fantasy Historical Science fiction
Perimeter 2: New EarthPerimeter 2: New Earth is the long-awaited sequel of the critically acclaimed RTS Perimeter. Ideas of territorial gameplay and landscape modification, introduced in the original game, are now realized on a new concept & technology level. The Vista Game Engine enhances the dynamics and depth of gameplay, turning the battlefield into an arena for the confrontation of two elements - ground and water.
Story of Perimeter 2 continues the events from the original game. The Exodus, lead by the wise Spirits has been searching for the New Earth. The Harkback have lost faith in Spirits, overthrew their rule and decided to head back for the Old Earth, not believing its death. They refused to believe in the death of their planet. Both sides took the final step on their way, and mortal enemies entered the same planet face to face.Science fiction
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lone WolfPlaying as Rainbow Six team member Ding Chavez, players travel to Norway to eliminate a terrorist group planning to destabilize Eastern Europe with illegally smuggled US weapons. In keeping with the "Lone Wolf" mode of Rainbow Six assignments, missions are conducted without the help or hindrance of teammates. Planning phases include briefing, intelligence, kit select, and map screens, while actual gameplay takes place from a first-person perspective.
Weapons can be set to fully automatic (continuous), burst (three shots), or semi-automatic (one shot). Crosshair and auto-locking features provide concise control when aiming, though grenades can be used in situations requiring less precise targeting. The mission objectives, a health meter, mini-map, the currently selected weapon, and ammo status are displayed on-screen at all times. Other features in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lone Wolf include a choice of insertion points for each mission (with different advantages), night vision goggles, and an option to save after successfully completing each mission.Action Warfare
Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth BeginsIn the space of fifty years, Earth changed from a planet on cusp of a challenging future to a world a breath away from lifelessness and plunged into an apocalyptic time of ecological disaster, global warfare and the meltdown of human civilization. This is the time of the Maelstrom. In this ravaged world, the planet's dwindling resources have divided what remains of mankind in two: the urban freedom fighting 'Remnants' and the technologically advanced 'Ascension'. Now they must wage war against a new threat, the invasion of a savage alien race, the Hai-Genti, and each other in a desperate struggle for supremacy and survival. Through the game's missions, take command from different viewpoints and employ faction-specific tactics and weaponry to achieve your objectives. Complete with the ability to terraform landscapes and transform units, Maelstrom provides gamers with the power to harness the forces of nature in the most frantic, destructive, action-packed RTS game yet.Warfare
Metal Gear Solid HD CollectionFrom the critically acclaimed director, Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection offers a handful of the most popular Metal Gear Solid titles from the past in true HD for the first time ever. Featuring three complete games, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the HD Collection offers old and new fans a chance to experience the epic game play, design and storytelling of the MGS franchise. The "Metal Gear Solid (MGS)" series is the seminal work of Hideo Kojima, Japan's master game creator, and the progenitor of the stealth action game genre. The series has become a global phenomenon, with over 27 million copies sold worldwide. The player controls a secret agent from an elite special forces unit who is sent on solo sneaking missions through enemy installations, vast jungles, and sometimes even the thick of battle. Alone and surrounded by the enemy, even a special forces agent will find it tough to come out alive. But that is the secret behind the series' popularity-the cerebral challenge of figuring out how to avoid combat, and the thrill of sneaking through enemy territory undetected.The MGS series is also known for its storyline, which blends seamlessly with the gameplay. The scenarios are based on extensive research and incorporate the drama of actual developments in society. These elements have made MGS what it is today: a mature work of entertainment that transcends national borders and the confines of video games, and one of the leading products of the Japanese content business.Action Stealth