OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

Just what the topic says. Any opinions pro/con on IG II: Alliances would be appreciated. My son is interested in buying, and I trust this forum more than reviewers. I don't know if this matters, but our computer is an Athlon 600 running Win98. Thanks in advance.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

It's a real-time strategy game..there should be a demo available, I know I played a demo. The spy system was interesting, but I didn't much care for the rest of the game.

Phoenix-D

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

Had a lot of fun playing IG II, though the one alien race kinda reminded me of the Vorlons from B5. The real time aspect was a bit of a pain, though I think you could pause and give orders (or maybe that was the first one). It wasn't all that complex, but it was a fun play.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

I did'nt like it at all. I found it difficult to control, and the real-time system is really bad. For me was a disappointment. But it depends fo the age of the player (The graphics are very good).

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

age of the player? im probably the youngest player on this forum at a youthfull 23, at a mental level of about 12, and i didnt like it much either. what age group did you think it would appeal to?

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

I've got you beat at 19.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

hey!! if you want to discuss your age, take it the to "How old are you thread". http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Now back on topic: I only played the demo, and i liked it, you can design your own units, real time battles in space and on the planets, you can pause during combat and give orders. I never played it for long, a few days after i installed it my computer sort of blew up, (i don't think it has anything to do with IG II if you are wondering http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif )
I played the demo on a celeron 300, so that athlon shouldn't be a problem.
Don't know anything about the AI, but from what i heard, it wasn't that good. I don't remember if it had multiplayer, if it did, it could be fun, if you can find someone to play with.

ZeroAdun: when was/is your birthday, i might be younger than you, i turn 20 august 7

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

I found the game very boring once you break the code.

PROS:
1. Excellent graphics. The planets, the stars, everthing.
2. Ship battles fun to watch because of excellent graphics and special effects.
3. Good sound effects.
4. Plot is fun the first couple of times you play.
5. Decent ground battles.
6. Excellent graphics. - it deserves two votes

Cons:
1. Very little depth.
2. Ship design is pathetic
3. Research is very weak.
4. Plots repeat, so low replayability.
5. A lot of micromanagment of build priorities of planets necessary at harder difficulty levels. Just download the build order from the web site and then just build at the correct population levels and you maximize population growth. Tedious but easy, just follow the code.
6. Very little depth - this also deserves two votes.
7. No customability.

This game is the opposite of SEIV. Excellent graphics but very little depth. It is all show and very little substance. It is like candy that is initially very good, but makes you sick if you eat too much. It is fun for the first couple of games and then it is just boring.

If SEIV is a A, this game is a an aveage of C+. Starts as an A+ but quickly drops to a D - average C+

What would be really cool if you could integrate the grahics of IGII with the depth of SEIV, but I would rather have the depth of SEIV then great graphics. SIEV is much better.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

In my view the problem with IGII, is that this game wants to have the best of different kind of games, and for this, I think that can't have enough depth.
This is a mix between MOO2 (or Pax Imperia), Homeworld, Starcraft, SimCity and a RPG game, and for this reason you never will see depth, but anyway, I admit that can be funny to play during some time.

[ 05 January 2002: Message edited by: Master Belisarius ]</p>

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

The game has an awsome tutorial, but that alone is not enough to warrent buying it at full price.

I bought it, played it for a week, beat it, and moved on. I think it is a good game for a persons collection, if there into that.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Puke:
age of the player? im probably the youngest player on this forum at a youthfull 23, at a mental level of about 12, and i didnt like it much either. what age group did you think it would appeal to?<hr></blockquote>

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Fifteen or less. Any age that prefers graphics and action better than strategy (The galactic zoom & animation of IG2 is awesome).

BTW, i totally agree with Jourin' s post.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

"Any age that prefers graphics and action better than strategy"

I hate generalizations like this.

Phoenix-D

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
"Any age that prefers graphics and action better than strategy"

I hate generalizations like this.

Phoenix-D<hr></blockquote>

i prefer to generalize people into Groups of those who get out of the shower to take a pee, and those who do not. its a matter of us and them, and its high time something was done about their kind.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

If you can get it for under 20 pick it up.....

The game lacks bite.

and has no staying power.

I played it for about 3 weeks then grew bored of it, just not enough to keep a person interested in it.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

Thanks for all the input so far. BTW, he is 13.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

IG2 was terrible. I played it for about 2 hours and then uninstalled it. Luckily, I borrowed a friend's copy instead of purchasing, my own copy (and no, I didn't burn the game or anything, I just borrowed the CD for about a day), so I didn't waste any money on it. The ground battles were flashy and pointless. Either you had over-whelming force and won easily, or your troops were too weak and you couldn't win. The fighters were too powerful. The AI purchased about 60-80 fighters in the first 15 minutes of the game, and no amount of ships I built could possibly defend against them. I think the AI cheated like the Civilization AI cheats, getting significantly reduced costs on everything. Overall, there was way too much micromanagement, especially for a real-time game. There was too much flash and no content.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

I bought IG II at Best Buy, In a cheap little cardboard two game pack for $10. The other game was better.

The AI does cheat in the scripted scenarios (pirates etc). The enemy strength is always relative to yours. It's a roll of the dice, so save and replay.
P.S. If your Human race steal the Prototype Ship because it is so much cheaper to build it's vital and long term effective.

The AI races always know where your weak and will attack you there.

Colony management is the pits. Not much choice as to what to build.

UPGRADES HAPPEN!!!

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

I stuck with IGII for a long time, because I really liked the original IG, and the battles were fun to watch. I gave up on it when I had the realization that the storyline just was tacked on to justify the shooting, and the plot "triggers" didn't work. Example: as the humans, you are trying to solve a domestic mystery, and accidentally discover that a race of xenophobes (Krahen) have massed a fleet and are poised to exterminate the galaxy. Your task is to form alliances (hence the name of the game, IGII, Alliances) with the other races to stop them. One small problem: by the time this story line reveals itself, the Krahen have usually destroyed most of the other races and are on your tail already! This makes the cut-scenes (which are quite good) and the RPG-like quests rather pointless. IGII is another case of a lot of time and money thrown at graphics and audio while comparatively little time was spent on gameplay and balance.

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

I think my view of IGII accords with the general consensus - a great game to have in one's collection because it does look absolutely beautiful, especially in the battles. I agree that the depth, playability and specifically the story line are pretty weak.

IMHO, this is a common affliction to a lot of space action games - I can see the company CEO saying to the programmers, "come up with a fantastic space shoot-em-up, lots of violence, lots of explosions and lots of noise, dont worry about anything else - make it look beautiful and when you have done that, go and talk to the scripting department who will try and piece it all together"

SEIV IMHO works becauser it DOESNT have a storyline therefore nothing to accord to therefore concentrates on depth and playability

I consider that one of the few games to successfully combine this is Homeworld and Homeworld Cataclysm - looks great, plays well, story ok and no adaptability ie you cant change what you build

One day, someone will come up with a meld of the gameplay of SEIV and the battle style and visuals of Homeworld - now that is the game I would want to buy

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

Thanks to everyone who rendered an opinion. Thought I'd give you all an update. Downloaded the demo against my better judgment at son's pleading. We've played it a few times; it is pretty fun and never once crashed our system. It definitely doesn't have SEIV's depth or modability, but there is a lot to like. Besides of course the eye-candy and ear-candy that many of you mentioned, there are a number of good "strategy" features. I like the way intel is done, using individual spies and costing money. I like the way research facilities are divided up into ship, tank, and building research. I like the way manufacturing is separated into ship and tank factories. I like its planetary guns, which can hit capital ships anywhere in the combat sector but can't hit fighters at all. (Of course that Last one can be modded into SEIV.) I like the lack of warp points -- you have to guard an entire border, not just a few chokepoints. (You can sort-of mod that into SEIV by having many warp points per sector.) And I like that it has real ground combat, with terrain and fortresses and everything.

Bottom line: We found a site selling it for 7 US$ (plus 5 US$ S&H http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif ). So we bought it. I'll let you know what I think of the full game in a few months. But of course by then SEIVG will be out and you won't care! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

I think I beat you all at a young, but mature, 14.

So ha http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: Want opinions on Imperium Galactica II: Alliances
 

The thing is, IG2 was fun the first time played. Just wait till you play it a few more times. It's repetitiveness will bleed through the eye/earcandy and the few nice features. It had the potential to be a great game, but it failed. The spies were a good idea, but there is really only one viable strategy when using them. And the AI glaringly cheats, especially at higher dificulty levels. They field massive fleets of fighters and large numbers of ships really early in the game, long before you can make a comparable force.