Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters

Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters



Star Control. Oh, how can words describe it? I'm sure the wikipedia can explain it, but what are you really getting out of it? Here, allow me to try...

It's a game involving diplomatic relations, planet harvesting, mineral gathering, biological capturing, space travel, space combat, problem solving, and artifact gathering. Oh, and universe saving. Without revealing too much, you captain an alien vessel in an attempt to amass an armada of space craft from various alien civilizations (piloted by those same aliens) to end the total enslavement of the universe; you have to mine for resources in order to trade them for monetary units used to upgrade your ship, travel among the stars and discover new alien civilizations and hope you can sweet talk them into joining your cause.

I hate the term "epic". Epic, for the most part isn't epic. And some of you reading this may hate that term as much as I do, and as such may not want to read what I am going to type next.

Spoiler:

In its scope, in its story, in all it tries to do.

Spoiler:

Keep in mind that this game is what, 20 years old? Honestly, I am not the only one to think so, as there is an ever increasing fan base for this game. Well, maybe not Star Control II, exactly. Introducing...



The Ur-Quan Masters is an open source version of Star Control II, complete and exacting in every detail, with some minor adjustments. These adjustments are: different music (if you so wish) and voice overs for all the character encounters (also, only if you wish). And being open source, it is free for download. I've downloaded it, installed it on a thumb drive, and have been playing it off and on while at work *cough* while not at home. You can do the same by follow this link HERE.

Fans of the original may recall having to use star coordinates in order to play the game; for those not in the know, this was an anti-theft / copy device used by the game. Let me tell you that you do not have to do this. However, you may want to find a copy of the map just because it is essential to the game. Can't go about gallivanting across the cosmos blind, can you? Here then are the maps; there are two sets of two: printer friendly and original black background, broken down into two further versions: spoiler free and with alien locations. These maps are not as good as the original... these fit a standard sheet of paper, but you really can't plot anything out.

...

I know I really didn't say much about the game. I leave that up to you to go check things out. Just keep in mind that this game has made a lasting impression on thousands upon thousands of gamers, and that should tell you something. The fact that it is free should be enough incentive to at least try it out.

here's a little something extra, for those who like trailers... the intro.



My next free open source downloadable? Sim City Oh, just found out there's a port for SC2 for the PSP. Happy happy!

This past weekend I discovered that Ur-Quan Masters has been ported for Android systems... it is a free download from Google Play, and works on your Android device (yes, including smartphones).

This game is exacting in every detail, nothing has been omitted. Even the sounds are here! Oh, note that there are two versions: the normal one, and one in HD; I downloaded the normal one, simply because. The only change, of course, are the controls.

Holding your phone sideways, there is a small icon in the upper left of the screen, which, when tapped, allows you to type messages or notes; there is a "joystick" of sorts in the bottom left (more on that in a wee bit); there are two icons in the bottom right: the left one recalls your lander or acts as a cancel button, the right one fires your lander's weapon and is the activation button.

With the joystick, it's kinda wonky. It is set up in the traditional four directional layout (I think), at least that's what the dev says. It's awkward to direct your ship while flying throughout a solar system... but that's really nothing new. When piloting a lander, the joystick is more or a rotational one, and as long as you have it pressed, the lander will drive; remove thumb, lander stops.

Needless to say, this makes combat rather difficult. It is more difficult to navigate your ship than the actual game, especially since you don't know what's going on with the joystick: apparently tapping it also turns on and off your engines. An easy fix for this is to turn the combat settings onto "cyborg"; while in-game, go to settings and turn cyborg on, as this then makes all space combat automatic... all you have to do is select what ship to use.

Once I figured that out, the game went by a lot smoother.

Sure, there are downloads that allow you to play this from a thumbdrive, downloads to play from laptops and desktops and and and, but why wouldn't you want one for your phone? You always have your phone with you, it's easy to bring into work, and that factor right there means you can enjoy this on the fly.

I found and downloaded a high-def rendition of Ur-Quan Masters onto my laptop this past weekend. While the game is still the same there are a few note worthy changes.

1. The graphics are better. That should go without saying, what with the "HD" being added to the title. Planets use rendered NASA photographs, the pictures are smoother, and so on. They still aren't the best, but who's playing this game for graphics?

2. Fluid motions. You can watch the planets revolve around the star they are attached to, the lander sequence is animated. But again, this is a story driven game, so graphics are secondary at best.

3. You can turn off the time limit. You know the time limit? Maybe you don't... for those who don't know the game, the time limit at the end can now be turned off.

Controls are the same as the original, but you can change them to suit your needs.

*sigh*

Star Control II was the game that taught me to save and save often. And in that, I have failed. With the power outage we've been experiencing, I fired up the laptop and started to play... had a notebook close at hand and everything! Got to Earth, went through the lengthy intro conversation, encountered my first baddy... and realized I forgot to put combat in cyber mode. You know, cyber mode, where the computer controls your vehicle for you?

So yeah, I died rather quick. Lost my initial craft right away before I realized I wasn't in cyber mode (fired off a few missiles before I lost the craft though), and got the enemy vessel down to one crew member before my Precursor vessel exploded (I had already lost a few of my crew while collecting radioactives).

Save. And save often.

Learned something else. When I originally installed and first played this on the laptop, the game ran beautifully. The second time I went to play this, I thought a file was corrupted because the game wouldn't load... a window kept popping up saying that "the Ur-Quan main executable" would not run or something. So I uninstalled, installed anew, and ran fine.

Today, when I went back to the game, the same thing happened: game would not load. Went online and found a solution, so here I share it with you, free of charge.

You'll have to run the game as admin. Right click on the icon, left click on "run as admin", and you're good to go.