Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Almost, but not quite"

Like most people who were MOO2 fans I have been starved for the next evolutionary step. Whilst Endless Space is a very good attempt and certainly the strategic elements are well worth a mention, as is ship design, but the combat system lets it down badly.

Using cards to outwit your opponent you have three phases of attack. You do not control the ships directly, but watch them do the same tedious three stage journey over and over again. No real control over the outcome of the battle.

It still amazes me today that game designers do not get that one of the fundamental appeals about MOO2 was the combat. Simple, yet with careful planning, strategic analysis you could turn around combats in your favour and get immense hours of fun winning the unattainable battle. So come on game designers forget about the fnacy graphics and the huge tech trees give us what we want. Control.