Amazon.com Review
The Master of Orion series is synonymous with addictive turn-based strategy gameplay. Though the premise--choosing a unique alien race and then leading it in a galactic quest for glory--isn't new, there is something about the series that draws people back. Is it the original take on the diplomatic, economic, military, and exploratory components of galactic conquest? Is it the intrigue of the Antarans, an ancient and predatory race that always seems to pop out of hyperspace to attack at just the wrong time? Is it the sense of accomplishment that comes from building a functioning interstellar empire? Frankly, I don't know. But for whatever reason, these games are notorious for creating a bad case of Just One More Turn syndrome.

Master of Orion 3, then, has large shoes to fill. Appropriately, "bigger" is one of the best adjectives that can be used to describe this third installment. Fans of micromanagement are in for a treat, as the most noticeable new feature is the vast number of options available. The level of control is nice, but can be overwhelming--you'll sometimes find yourself swimming in a sea of menus, interconnected sliders, and check boxes. The array of empire management tools are all used to advance along one of three paths to victory: dominating your enemies militarily, getting elected as president of the Orion senate, or finding all five hidden artifacts.

Each planet in your empire has many components that must be managed individually--including taxes, build queues, regional zoning, terraforming, resource collection, economic infrastructure development, and military versus planetary spending limits. Successful management leads to a productive planet; mismanagement results in revolt and unrest. A vital addition to the game is an AI viceroy for each planet. Viceroys will carry out mundane work based on empire-wide policies you can set, but don't expect them to do exactly what you want very often. And even with the help of viceroys, the galactic scale is no less daunting. You must manage not only a galactic budget and research, but also diplomatic relations, spy infiltration, and military development and deployment. The manner in which the player interacts with the Orion senate is new to MoO3. You can now become a member of the senate and use it to impose sanctions or declare war on other alien races.

When diplomatic negotiations fail, space and ground combat become necessary. You assign task forces mission types that include long-range attack, short-range attack, point-defense, indirect fire, and reconnaissance. Ground forces are likewise grouped into task forces based on their size and strength. Once in combat, you can opt to control things directly or sit back and let the computer take care of everything. You can even skip combat altogether and jump right to the outcome--the fastest and easiest way to manage battles.

In the end, Masters of Orion 3 succeeds with compelling gameplay that will leave you engrossed for hours (or days) at a time. Thanks to the strategic depth of the game, vast number of management options, diverse and interesting alien races, a randomly generated universe, and a sprawling technology tree, no two games will be alike. Though dense and complex, the payoff is well worth the effort. MoO3 is a fantastic title perfect for anyone who enjoys strategy games. --Jon "Safety Monkey" Grover

Pros:

• Engaging and immersive gameplay
• More depth, longer games, and greater diversity
• Addictive--expect to dump eight hours into a single session
• Multiplayer includes a turn-limits option and financial benefits for brief turns

Cons:

• Calling it "graphically dated" is being polite
• Incredible complexity may leave a lot of gamers confused
• Productivity, social life, family, and personal hygiene may suffer

• CD-ROM (March 26, 2023)
• ASIN: B00005Y4Q5
• Average Customer Review: Based on 105 reviews.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: 5858

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Possibly the worst game ever?, Feb 23, 2023
That is, if you could even call it a game. Micromanagement hell is more like it. Mediocre graphics at best, hours upon hours need to be spent to learn how to navigate the controls, an AI that is mindbogglingly poor and all this on top of the long delays and poor support. I'm amazed it made it out the door. I'm amazed that the people who brought you MOO2 packaged this and sold it with a straight face. I really wanted to like this game, but it simply is no fun at all. You can either let the game play itself by hitting the end of turn button when you get bored of staring at the screen, or you can delve into a what quickly becomes a hell of micro-management. I've read most of the other negative reviews on here, and they all seem spot on. Read on for more details. I can only hope that someone else will save the genre.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

bigger is not better..., Feb 13, 2023
I am a huge fan of Master of Orion series. The first two games were true gems. So what is truly wrong with the third one? Its simply too anal retentive. The micro-management you have to do with this game is simply overwhelming. The first two games were fun, easy to play and simple to get into. There was enough details to keep the interest but its not overwhelming. It was also entertaining, fun and quite addictive. However, playing MOO 3 seem to be more like work. Its not very fun to play, instead of being addictive, its a type of game where you want to take a break. While the basic concept of MOO3 remains the same as the earlier two games, the game designers didn't improved the game, they just made it harder.

The sad thing is, the overwhelming details that the designers inserted didn't make the game any better. There is no real reward for all these details. The game get really boring really quick. The designers just want you to micromanaged a growing galactic empire. A very tiresome and unexciting chore.

Most fans of MOO series would be deeply disappointed by this game. Its a game that will cater to the very few while droving most away.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Back to moo2, Nov 26, 2022
If anything this game got me reHooked on Master of Orion 2. This game just sits there and plays it's self and that makes it boring, very boring. Any chance we can get a Master of Orion 4 that is based on the aspects that made this line of games fun and popular instead of something new?

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

Trying to be fair on all aspecs of this title...., Sep 16, 2023
Allow me to try and write a review based upon countless hours of play and analyzing the layout and structure. First, this is a 4x, DEEP strategy title. When first starting the game, leaving the help hints on and seriously reading them can help you better understand the workings. The manual; I use only to look up a reference if something is confusing me (a.k.a. what Casus Belle was). If you try to understand the game by reading it cover to cover you won't succeed. It takes TIME to understand how the game manages the A.I - and YES, you WILL be using the A.I. in LOTS of cases. The programmers wanted the gamer to feel like he's the leader/president/emperor of a galactic civilization, not a viceroy of a particular planet or solar system, therefor micro managing is definitely out of the question. Looking back over your systems from time to time to fine tune is what will get you ahead, not working out each detail of each planet each turn. Another part of the game - shipyard construction, can be very confusing if you don't know how each style of ship can be used. The only way to decide is to play, create ships, and see what happens. It's now second nature to me to create fleets and ship types, but it took many hours of understanding before I could finally do it `on the fly'. This review may sound cryptic, but really the only way to understand the game is to dedicate and play, with an open mind and a willingness to use your imagination. I personally believe that the A.I. could have been fine - tuned to balance ship and troop construction (It seems to build too much of a certain type). The game is slow, but consuming. I recommend it for anyone who loves deep strategy and has a willingness to learn. It could have been better though. Try to borrow or rent before you buy ^_^;;

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

they really screwed this up, Aug 23, 2023
i am coming at this from a moo2 perspective. i am a big fan of that game. when i initially purchases moo3 a year or more ago, i sat down and impatiently tried to learn the game. i only spent about an hour or less and i gave up. what was i missing? anyway, i chocked it up to not spending enough time to learn the game. i went back and had fun with moo2. recently, i sat down and spent another 3+ hours trying to learn moo3. i went through all of the guidance dialogs, read all of them.

the main problems are: the game has become too complex. you can automate almost anything, but there are so many things to control that's all you can do ... automate. so you are left with little to control. attempting to control most any aspect of your economy or war effort by hand will most certainly result in a failure, unless you are willing to spend hours per move.

also, there seemed to be some problem with the game AI. without going into details, after playing for a bit i seemed to come to a stalemate. i was hopelessly outgunned against an enemy that blocked my progress into the rest of the galaxy. he would not attack me, no matter what. i tried inciting him in all possible ways. i even tried to surrender to him, and he refused?!?? i threw everything i had at him and he just kept detroying my ships, but never came after me.

also, as the game got more complex, it too longer and longer for the computer to process its moves. it got so it was taking 20+ seconds on a 2ghz machine. annoying to say the least.

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