Imperium Galactica 2: Alliances

DEVELOPER : GT Games
PUBLISHER : GT Interactive

 

System Requirements Pentium 200 Mhz, 32 MB RAM

Recommended Pentium II 300MHz, 64+ MB RAM, TNT2 3D card, 8X CD-rom

Ratings
Code Issues Graphics: 7.5 – The colony and battle graphics are nicely done, but minimal animation means that colonies are a bit lifeless.  Starmap is simple, but gets the job done. Audio: 8 – Nice use of sound in the colonies, and battles are filled with laser blasts and the agonized screams of fallen captains.  Full audio cues will keep you informed of events. Interface: 9.5 – Definitely the game’s contribution to the genre.  Seamless.	Play Issues Solo Play: 7 – Fun, but lack of battle tactics mean that most games end up playing out the same way. Replay: 6 – The three campaigns are randomized, but I lowered the score because you have to download skirmish mode. Multiplay: 6 – They are definitely working to make this a better experience.  Learning Curve: 9 – Great interface and tutorial means you’ll be playing in no time.  Perhaps not winning, but playing nonetheless.
Other/Notes Documentation: 7 –  You won’t really need to consult it too much, but overall the medium-sized manual is more than adequate. Pros: Great interface, 3D battles and colonies, and a true effort on the part of the development team to continually improve the game. Cons: Much of the stuff they’re improving should have been done long before shipping, lack of tactics in battles, although they’re working on this as well. Overall: 7.0 (with patch)

There was a poll on this site asking what game strategy fans think will come out on top in the space conquest genre. At first, the majority was going with Imperium Galactica 2: Alliances. A decent game in its own right, but I'd be scared if this is the best thing to come out of the genre this year. In my opinion, the failure to innovate will probably leave this title choking on its own dust in the coming months. Look, there's nothing wrong with the failure to innovate. Many games stick to the basic formulas of their predecessors and come out fine. Imperium Galactica 2: Alliances, while light-years ahead of the first in the series, can't seem to get all of the rehashed elements exactly right.

Players can choose from three different races, the Solarians, Kra'hen, and Shinari. Already we have problems. Remember that little title Master of Orion 2? Sure you do. Remember how many races you could choose from? Yep, a bit more than three. Heck, you could even create your own. IG2's races seem a bit ho-hum--the intelligent humans (Solarians) who excel in research, the powerful Kra'hen who build the mightiest fleets, and the sneaky Shinari who produce the best spies. To be fair, there are more races that come into play during the campaigns, but I never found them to stand out.

Each campaign is semi-random. The starting places of the sides and planet compositions are all randomized, as are the order and choice of quests players receive. Big plus in the replayability department. Each side has their own objective that has to be completed to claim victory, but how you go about completing it is entirely open. Random quests will arrive in the form of video messages to spice things up a bit. You may be concentrating on building up your colonies when all of a sudden you're called to destroy an incoming meteor or defeat a band of pirates hassling the trade routes. Each one is accompanied by video of your advisors, as well as some very convincing voice acting.

The Starmap is your "main screen", because it is from here that you have access to all of your planets, as well as have the ability to move your fleets. While it is rather bland, it "sits" in three-dimensional nebulas that give it quite a bit of depth. Coupled with the fact that you can rotate it, zoom in and out, and even tilt it a bit, you'll never have trouble getting your bearings. It must be noted that the interface is the best in the genre yet. Everything has hot keys, but you can rely entirely on your mouse to navigate. All the game elements are easily accessed, and the screen is never cluttered. Your fleet is represented by a small ship icon, and with a few clicks you can direct its course to scout for new planets and easily set up waypoints for patrolling. Planets can be clicked on to access their building queues. If the planet has ship or tank factories, you can designate the type and quantity of the ship or tank you want to build. Ships and planets have a circular field of vision that can be expanded through radar upgrades. When enemy fleets enter these fields they can be detected and intercepted. That's when things get interesting.

When battles are initiated, the Starmap zooms in on the fleets, and you can fight in full 3D. This aspect is much more visually appealing than MOO2's 2D combat. You can zoom in to get close to individual ships, or even view everything from overhead. Better yet, the space battles are reminiscent of Freespace 2. Capitol ships let loose at each other while fighters zip around dogfighting and frequently being taken out by the bigger ships in a single blast of gunfire. On the tactical side of things there are quite a few prearranged fleet formations, but it is also here that lies one of IG2's biggest problems--lack of battle tactics. There is simply one rule: build as big and as powerful a fleet as you can! If your fleet is weaker it is pretty much over. MOO2 had so many different weapons and additions to customize your ship with that it was entirely possible to defeat a much larger fleet if you used your weapons right. IG2's research list, however, is disappointingly skimpy. How many times do I have to research such clever devices as "enhanced radar", "quad laser", and new and improved "missiles". The races each have their own unique weapons to research that are a bit more creative, but these are few and far between.

You'll also have to research new buildings to keep up the morale of your colonists, keep them fed and protected, and keep them moving in order to provide enough of a workforce. The Colony Screen gives you a 3D look at your colony. The graphics and audio on this portion of the game are very well done, with excellent landscape textures and superb atmospheric sounds for each of the planet types. Weather, while having no real effect, is nicely depicted. There could have been a bit more life, however, within the colony itself. It would have been great to have vehicles and pedestrians traversing the roads. The only action you'll see is when land battles take place. Ground combat consists entirely of tanks, so there's not much depth. You can, however, research several types of chases and weapons to give you an edge over the enemy. Also, any defense towers you've built can be seeing firing on incoming tanks. The AI seems a bit quirky during ground combat. You'll often see the computer take all of its tanks and move them away from you while you lay waste to the buildings. Eventually, though, it will defend itself.

Of course, to do all of these things you need money. A toolbar at the top of the screen keeps you informed of your "credits" (again, a better name please), as well as lets you change the speed of the game or even pause it to make some of the tougher decisions. Trade ships belonging to peaceful races will bring in funds, and they can be enhanced by building structures like trade ports. Taxes, however, will always be your main source of income. Tax rates affects the morale of your colonists, but you'll have to keep the money rolling in if you want to keep up with the overall AI, which can be quite challenging. There is one area, however, where the AI is absolutely awful…and this ends up being the main disappointment-diplomacy. When encountering other races you have the typical diplomatic options such as "demand", "improve relations", "request alliance" etc. Doesn't matter. The computer acts completely illogical. You can give it tons of gifts and praise it to the high heavens, thus garnering a friendly response. Two minutes later, after doing nothing to bother them, they'll contact you and declare war, muttering something about how badly you've wronged their people. Egad.

Let's Patch 'Er Up

It must be noted, however, that many of the game's shortcomings have been addressed. Skirmish mode has been added in a patch, and this lets you play as other races. Although this mode is a little less enjoyable considering the lack of the scripted missions from the campaigns. Also, many players complained that space bases and planetary guns, two structures that can help you defend against fleets, were too weak. These, along with the fighters, have been strengthened. The most recent patch was also supposed to address diplomacy, so that you could ally more easily with the computer (the game is subtitled Alliances, right?), but in my experience it had no effect. But perhaps the largest concern with players was that battles in multiplayer mode were automated. Send in a fleet and poof, the battle is calculated. This can get boring, so they're working on a system that will allow players to play out battles and have additional players watch.

If the preceding paragraph sounded like a readme file, it was intentional. The staying power of the game is going to depend on the designers continued devotion to bringing it up to speed. If this review seems overwhelmingly negative, please excuse me. This is a fun game, made better by applying the patch. It is just not a classic, and I'm afraid that once the other forerunners in the genre get released this one is going to be forgotten. But if you're in the mood for some space conquest give it a try, just don't expect Master of Orion 3.

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Reviewed by Anthony Micari