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Master of Orion 3

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4.6 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 24 critic reviews
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Based on 43 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Infogrames

Developer: Quicksilver Software Inc.

Genre(s): Turn-Based Strategy

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: February 25, 2003

Summary

On Master of Orion 3, you become the controlling force behind an entire galactic civilization. It is not enough to be an able economist or a great captain to succeed; political, administrative, and espionage skills must be applied to craft your civilization's glorious chapter in the annals of time and space and claim the rightful title of "Master of Orion".

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Cincinnati Enquirer

A perfect pick for those who prefer strategy over action.

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IGN

Galaxies are much bigger, available researches are more extensive, and there's far more information to track than in any previous 4x space game.

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GameZone

This game can get hard really quick. If players do not pay attention to all of the in game menus, tips, and book they will be left without a clue on what to do.

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netjak

A game just waiting to be discovered. It does have its problems even beyond those involved in learning to play it, but they are minor in the grand scheme of things and, for lovers of the genre, it is the grand scheme that Master of Orion 3 captures best.

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GameCritics

The new methodology required to deal with this large scale makes MOO3 the first progressive strategy game and avoids previous mistakes of the genre, such as overwhelming floods of micromanagement near the end of the game. It is precisely this refreshingly dynamic experience that makes MOO3 so appealing.

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Game Informer

Sure, the gameplay is incredibly deep, but I wanted more emphasis on the military aspects of the game. [Apr 2003, p.95]

Gamezilla!

One glaring problem is the 165 page manual. While holding an interesting background storyline for the game, material inside is poorly organized and not extremely helpful.

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GameSpy

There are things to like about this new version, especially as a multiplayer game, but in the end there are too many issues, big and small, for it to reach the nearly unreachable standard set by its predecessors.

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PC Gameworld

It’s hard to know which is worse; the interface or the AI. Both combine to spoil the latest Master of Orion title.

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GamePro

The de-emphasis on micromanagement is welcome, but the feeling that the game is doing too much for you might kill it for intergalactic armchair generals.

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ActionTrip

The unbalanced AI, weak diplomacy, poor combat, steep learning curve, are all pieces that draw the players attention away from the game and ultimately decreases any replay value.

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GameSpot

The core gameplay is enjoyable enough if you actually spend enough time getting used to the complex interface, but the timid opponent AI keeps the game from being really interesting.

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Game Over Online

The computer AI is just a mess, and for a game that is mostly about interaction with alien races, to have all those races behave like mental patients, isn’t as much fun as it’s cracked up to be.

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Computer Gaming World

The overwhelming masses of numbers and options make MOO3 harder to comprehend than its more intuitive predecessors. [May 2003, p.88]

Adrenaline Vault

The elements for a great game are present, but the focus and execution of those elements is not.

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Game Chronicles

You can easily spend a lot of time playing even one game to completion, but by the end you’ll probably wonder if you would have been better off getting your noodle baked by watching some anime or slowly roasting ants under a magnifying glass on a cloudy day.

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Game Revolution

The developers and testers got so used to this game's ponderous interface and extreme complexity that they lost sight of the average gamer, whose primary goal is to have fun.

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PC Gamer

Few games have had me scratching my head over design decisions like this one, and yet I'm still avidly playing it nearly three weeks later. [May 2003, p.64]

All Game Guide

In spite of Master of Orion 3's countless detail-oriented improvements, connoisseurs of the series may also find themselves pining for the personality of the earlier games, wishing to trade some of the new intricacy and erudition for a better sense of interaction and consequence.

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Yahoo! Games

Features have been piled upon features in an attempt to enhance gameplay, but this has only succeeded in bulking things up to the point where you risk an aneurysm if you try to figure everything out.

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Computer Games Magazine

As you spend more time with the game, you realize that much of it is out of your control, thanks to the most annoying and unpredictable AI since HAL 9000. [May 2003, p.76]

Eurogamer

If only your enemies displayed the same kind of intelligence, the game might be a lot more interesting - but in fact, the enemy AI in MOO3 is terrible, far worse than in the previous game in the series.

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G4 TV

MOO3 collapses under the weight of its own ambitious design. We doubt this can be fixed in a patch. Gamers need not apply. Masochists, you're on your own.

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GMR Magazine

Then there's the weak, arbitrary enemy A.I., the impenetrable interface, and the absurdly incomplete documentation. [June 2003, p.70]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 4.6 (out of 10) based on 43 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Christopher P. gave it a5:
What a complete waste of potential. What is good in this game--fun amount of complexity, detailed research tree, 16 races--is nearly completely ruined by problems that can't be ignored. Firstly, the 16 races are a joke, because the stats are not balanced at all. If you add up the stat points for each race, they're not balanced, sometimes to the point of extreme; for example, the Humans and Evons. The Evons are a humanoid race with stats that are vastly better than Humans, so the right way to go would be to customize the Evons, since customizing the Humans would be pointless. It gets worse: The enemy AI in this game is bad, really bad. Even after the newest patch, the AIs will completely randomly declare war on you without any provocation, even if you've boosted your diplomacy stat. The AI also very rarely makes an attack on you even if they do declare war, even on the higher difficulties. I also don't like at all that you have to redesign ships from scrap all manually with every military research you make. Ground combat is sort of cool, with more complexity and vast array of options such as allowing nuclear and chemical warfare, different tactics to make, etc (all of which is actually completely meaningless, because the manual nor the master's notes explains anything about the options you can take). The options "land troops" and "land all troops" when invading a planet make no sense. Even if you click "land troops," a few will invade, but the others just go into your reserves, so you have to make new transports. The emphasis on macromanaging could have been a good idea, and development plans are your friend, so the planetary AI isn't completely braindead. The game shows hints of genius with the vast complexity and emphasis on macromanaging that could work if not for the crippling problems it has.

Ryan S. gave it a2:
Just not fun. The interface is unimaginably complex, and while you start off fairly well, understanding most of it, you'll soon be utterly lost, trying to remember to give a hundred different commands before you hit the next turn button. And the manual is glaringly flawed.

Bryan W. gave it a 10:
This(with the newest patch) is quite possibly the funnest game i have ever played. The patch made the AI challenging which is good, since before the AI would often just declare war for no reason. Without the patch the game is horrible due to faulty AI. Its all in the AI.

S J gave it a 9:
Brilliant, but not for everyone, it is shall we say an acquired taste.

Elf gave it a 0:
I liked Moo2 very much, i'm still playing it much. But Moo3 looks like Imperialims-type games to me :[[[[ Pity.

Lorenzo G. gave it a 2:
This "game" is a great crap. MOO 1 is much better than this. What a pity of 20

Red Eye gave it a 10:
I really liked it.

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Master of Orion 3

Game Info

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