This is only THE best game ever made. It was released for the IBM PC by Accolade. Everyone with a computer should own this game. It is a combination of space exploration, diplomacy, role-playing, and space combat all in one. Its prequel (Star Control) was nice but much more simple, and its sequel (Star Control 3) was possibly the most hideous butchering of a good series I have ever witnessed.
You should be able to find links to anything and everything that's significant in the Star Control community by going to the Pages of Now and Forever at http://www.star-control.org/.
Hundreds of years ago, the "talking pets" (dyanari) had managed to enslave most of the galaxy, including the once peacefull ur-quan, but one day an ur-quan discoverd that excruciator pain would cause thier slave masters to disconnect, they revolted... but continued their revolt attempting to destroy most of the races in the galaxy in the process.
In the process of this revolt, a dispute amongst two factions of the ur-quan emerge. In order for the Ur-Quan races never to become enslaved again should they destroy all other races in the galaxy or meerly enslave them behind impenetrably planet sized slave shield? The enraged Ur-Quan factions decide to solve this dilemma once and for all with yet another war: A doctrinal conflct.
At times Star Control 2 is very much an interactive book. A choose-your-own-adventure, if you will, but way more complex and fun. It's quite successful at making you feel in control of things; the decisions you make can and will change the universe. But this is only half of the game. The other important part is the hyper melee, the ship-to-ship space battles. There's strategy here. Pulling off that successful gravity whip, bringing the previously invincible Chmmr Avatar within firing range of your Kzer-za Dreadnought, and then pulverizing it with blast after blast of undodgeable (because you're that good) flaming space death. It gives you that feeling of accomplishment and rightness in the pit of your stomach. Or, you fail and get repeatedly slammed into the planet surface by the Avatar's tractor beam, and must sit mostly helpless while the enemy slowly makes its way over and cuts you in half with its laser, execution style, royally pissing you off.
The music. Egad! The music! So awesome. It totally makes the game, setting the mood for each scene and always complementing the dialogue. How creepy is the damned VUX theme? It seriously creeps me out to listen to it. And the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah music, it just unsettles you. You lose all hope. When the monstrous catterpillars talk trash to you, you're saying to yourself, "Garsh, they're right. I'm toast. I haven't got a snowflake's chance in Satan's hell." The Orz theme, of course, is hilarious. I'm going to demand that it's played at my funeral; I'll put it as a condition in my will or something. Another cool piece is the background for normal space. There's nothing much to it, just the sort-of quiet lonely noises you might hear in space if sound actually worked there. But it still makes you feel small. I'd go on, but I don't have the adjectives and would start repeating myself. Anyways, it's fantastic.
The setting is standard science fiction fare. I won't get into that, or the story, except to say that it is very well done. If you have never played any Star Control games before, it would probably be best to not know much before starting. But please, you must give it a shot. Lie, cheat, steal, you'll likely do at least one of these things since you can't buy it in stores anymore, but it's worth it. Remember to support Toys for Bob.
As mentioned above, the music in this game is absolutely incredible, especially if you were once immersed in the vast Star Control universe. So good, in fact, that many people are still downloading the tracks from the Web even though the game was released in November 1992! This is no doubt attributable to the contest that was held for writing the soundtrack advertised on comp.sys.amiga.audio just months before the game was released.
All the orignal MODs and the newer 3DO mp3s can be downloaded from: http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/3do/music.shtml
Listed below are the original samples and composer comments from the Star Control 2 MOD files for a bit of a "behind-the-scenes" look. I've presented them here exactly the way they appear in their respective MOD properties, complete with typos.
Arilou (ARILOU.MOD) Chmrr (CHMRR.MOD) Countdown (CNTDOWN.MOD) Dnyarri (DNYARRI.MOD) Title: Going Back A Bit Title: working song Title: Victory Song 2 Title: Pet - Unfinished - Length: 2:51 min Length: 2:02 min Length: 0:15 min Length: 1:11 min 01: ENIGHHAT.SAM 01: 01: TR909BAS.SAM 01: BOOMTR.SAM 02: BLSNARE.SAM 02: BASSRUMP.SAM 02: EXPLOSIN.SAM 02: PARKER1.SAM 03: FUNBASS.SAM 03: BLSNARE.SAM 03: BASS5.SAM 03: RAVEST.SAM 04: BASSD4.SAM 04: 04: TOM_I.SAM 04: MOHONK.SAM 05: COOLFLTE.SAM 05: D. Nicholson 05: D. Nicholson 05: SNAPSYN.SAM 06: 06: 06: BECKEN.SAM 06: 07: Possibly suitable for 07: CASIOSNR.SAM 07: D. Nicholson 08: The Arilou? 08: 09: 09: 10: D. Nicholson 10: 11: MOBYBUZZ.SAM 12: 13: Dont know if this is 14: any sort of thing you 15: can use but its some 16: thing i have been 17: working with Druuge (DRUUGE.MOD) End Theme (ENDTHEME.MOD) Fight (FIGHT.MOD) Hyperspace (H-SPACE.MOD) Title: Druuge Title: Final Victory Theme Title: Attack! Title: star control2,tune5 Length: 1:21 min Length: 3:45 min Length: 1:47 min Length: 3:04 min 01: GGUIT.SAM 01: ANATRUMP.SAM 01: HSBASS4.SAM 01: (c) riku nuottajarvi 02: SNARE.SAM 02: SYNBASS.SAM 02: ZBASS.SAM 02: 03: DEFBDRUM.SAM 03: CHOIRSYN.SAM 03: ZSNARE.SAM 03: rentukkatie 11 a 3 04: CHANT.SAM 04: BDRUM2_I.SAM 04: KLAXON.SAM 04: 90580 oulu 05: DROLL2.SAM 05: ALTDR.SAM 05: 05: finland 06: 06: D50ORGAN.SAM 06: Music for Battle! 07: This is what I have 07: 07: Dan Nicholson 08: been working with 08: Final Victory Theme 08: 908-687-3479 09: for the Druuge 09: for Star Control II 10: 10: D. Nicholson 11: D. Nicholson Ilwrath (ILWRATH.MOD) Introduction (INTROx.MOD) Kohr-Ah (KOHR-AH.MOD) Melnorme (MELNORME.MOD) Title: Ur-Quan Kzer-Za Title: INTROx.MOD Title: Slylandro Theme Title: mod.POTATOJUICE Length: 2:56 min Length: 3:39 min Length: 1:32 min Length: 2:38 min 01: NITZHIY.SAM 01: WIND2.SAM 01: TIGHTBSD.SAM 01: #Composed_By_Eric_Berg 02: ZBASS.SAM 02: BASSDRUM.SAM 02: BANGBANG.SAM 02: #PO_Box_80798 03: DEEPBASS.SAM 03: ALTDR.SAM 03: OPENCHRD.SAM 03: #San_Marino,_CA_91118 04: SNAREREV.SAM 04: TOMDRUM4.SAM 04: FISHIN2.SAM 04: #Made_in_the_USA! 05: FORWARD.SAM 05: ANATRUMP.SAM 05: FISIN1.SAM 05: ST-09:bass-ffdunk 06: 06: SYNTHTOO.SAM 06: WATER.SAM 06: spoils 07: Music possibly for 07: 07: WIND1.SAM 07: Ahhhhhh_1 08: The Ur-Quan Kzer-Za or 08: THUMP.SAM 08: C-YELL 09: another evil race 09: EFX.SAM 09: dovoice 10: Dan Nicholson 10: 10: HighOp4 11: 8-17-92 11: D50ORGAN.SAM 11: synbrass2 12: dog_bark Mycon (MYCON.MOD) Orz (ORZ.MOD) Outfit Ship (OUTFIT.MOD) Parking (PARKING.MOD) Title: star control2,tune2 Title: ORZ3.MOD Title: Theme Music? Title: Victory Song 1 Length: 3:19 min Length: 2:18 min Length: 1:32 min Length: 0:15 min 01: (c) riku nuottajarvi 01: #Composed_by_E_Berge 01: TECHNO4.SAM 01: BDRUM6.SAM 02: rentukkatie 11 a 3 02: Drop.ss 02: PLBASS.SAM 02: FARTBASS.SAM 03: 90580 oulu 03: Scooby Doo.ss 03: WARP.SAM 03: BLAST.SAM 04: finland 04: Clap2 04: ESCAPE.SAM 04: SPACEEY.SAM 05: bobo_flute 05: KBASSD.SAM 05: 06: Barritone Sax.pp 06: KWERK1.SAM 06: Victory Song 1 07: STEELSNR.SAM 07: D. Nicholson 08: WIND1.SAM 09: TECHNO3.SAM 10: TEKNOS1.SAM 11: 12: 13: Theme Music Perhaps 14: by Dan Nicholson 15: 553 Thoreau Terrace 16: Union NJ 07083 17: 908-687-3479 Pkunk (PKUNK.MOD) Planet (PLANET.MOD) Quasispace (Q-SPACE.MOD) Starbase (SB_CMDR.MOD) Title: PKUNK2.MOD Title: ORBITX.MOD Title: mystic shadows Title: star control2,tune4 Length: 4:16 min Length: 3:08 min Length: 3:50 min Length: 2:56 min 01: #Composed_By_Eric_Berg 01: FSYNTH.SAM 01: TOUCH.SAM 01: (c) riku nuottajarvi 02: #PO_Box_80798 02: OPENCHRD.SAM 02: SOFTBASS.SAM 02: rentukkatie 11 a 3 03: #San_Marino,_CA_91118 03: 03: BOMOMOMP.SAM 03: 90580 oulu 04: #Made_in_the_USA! 04: Mellow Music 04: finland 05: Vocal33 05: by Dan Nicholson 06: d-10basser1 06: 9-1-92 07: Tom_Reverb 08: dovoice 09: Celeste 10: hooman Base Menu (SB_MENU.MOD) Shipyard (SHIPYARD.MOD) Shofixti (SHOFIXTI.MOD) Slylandro (SLYLANDR.MOD) Title: Alien Trance Title: Druuge Music Title: SHOFIX2.MOD Title: MOD.ZANYGYRA Length: 1:01 min Length: 2:35 min Length: 3:50 min Length: 4:03 min 01: OPENCHRD.SAM 01: NOC1.SAM 01: ABDR.SAM 01: #Composed_by_E_Berge 02: FSTSNARE.SAM 02: CLHIHAT.SAM 02: SCRATCH.SAM 02: filtered_bass_reson. 03: BASS3.SAM 03: 03: PIPEFLTE.SAM 03: xylophone 04: 04: CLANK.SAM 04: GatedBass1 05: Druuge Music 05: JSNARE.SAM 05: Snare4 06: D. Nicholson 06: BASSD2.SAM 06: Tom3 07: DIGDUG.SAM 07: CLAP.SAM 07: dog_bark 08: BASSC.SAM 08: BONGO.SAM 08: HighHat2 09: VSNARE.SAM 09: OUTLAW.SAM 09: bobo_flute 10: WATER.SAM 10: Belch 2 (Danny) 11: 12: ow! that funky alien! 13: Dan Nicholson 14: 908-687-3479 Space (SPACE.MOD) Spathi (SPATHI.MOD) Supox (SUPOX.MOD) Syreen (SYREEN.MOD) Title: Configuring Ship Title: W2.MOD Title: Fuchia fantasy Title: SYREEN2.MOD Length: 1:09 min Length: 2:28 min Length: 6:16 min Length: 7:17 min 01: FSYNTH.SAM 01: #Composed_by_E_Berge 01: Another strange song 01: #Composed_By_Eric_Berg 02: STURM2.SAM 02: stadiumorgan 02: Written by The Finn. 02: #PO_Box_80798 03: CROWD.SAM 03: HighOp4 03: 03: #San_Marino,_CA_91118 04: SHHH.SAM 04: GatedBass1.pp 04: Be sure to watch out 04: #Made_in_the_USA! 05: ESCAPE.SAM 05: boss-snare4 05: for Cascada's new 05: 06: BLAST.SAM 06: 800ii-rubber3.pp 06: vector demo due this 06: davesynth 07: 07: ooooooyyyyeeeee.pp 07: easter of '92... 07: 08: LZR.SAM 08: devoknall.pp 08: 08: 09: 09: beank.pp 09: Greets go out to: 09: 10: Music For 10: b2.pp 10: Zodiak of Cascada 10: blip 11: An Engine Room 11: bobo_flute.pp 11: Sauron 11: 12: 12: Wow! 12: Fred Nietzche 12: Clap2 13: Dan Nicholson 13: tacobell 13: U4ia 13: synbrass2 14: 908-687-3479 14: Mark J Cox 14: Marimba_Reverb 15: 15: SOUND10 16: Contact me if you like 16: dovoice 17: my stuff... or even if 17: bassdxpop 18: you don't... your 18: dxjapan 19: comments are welcome. 19: 20: 20: CrashCyb1 21: E-mail: 21: hooman 22: tfinn@pnet01.cts.com Thraddash (THRADDAS.MOD) Umgah (UMGAH.MOD) Ur-Quan (UR-QUAN.MOD) Utwig (UTWIG.MOD) Title: star control2,tune1 Title: Umgah Theme Title: urq.mod Title: Utwig Theme Length: 1:51 min Length: 3:00 min Length: 1:00 min Length: 3:04 min 01: (c) riku nuottajarvi 01: AGEBASS.SAM 01: 1 01: ST3.SAM 02: rentukkatie 11 a 3 02: RITSNARE.SAM 02: 2 02: ST4.SAM 03: 90580 oulu 03: PITBD.SAM 03: 3 03: 04: finland 04: KLIRSYN.SAM 04: 4 04: 05: CHURCHBE.SAM 05: ST8.SAM 06: WATERDRI.SAM 06: 07: 07: 08: Umgah Theme 08: Theme for the Utwig 09: D. Nicholson 09: D. Nicholson Yehat (YEHAT.MOD) Zoq Fot Piq (ZOQFOT.MOD) Title: star control2,tune6 Title: Zot Fot Piq Length: 2:41 min Length: 0:49 min 01: (c) riku nuottajarvi 01: HOUSEBAS.SAM 02: rentukkatie 11 a 3 02: DGONG2.SAM 03: 90580 oulu 03: DROP2.SAM 04: finland 04: GUT2.SAM 05: PEOPLE2.SAM 06: 07: Zot Fot Piq music 08: --still working on it! 09: D. Nicholson
There was also a version of Star Control 2 (a.k.a. SC2 or StarCon 2) released for the ill-fated 3DO system. In addition to some very minor graphical improvements, as well as laughably awful voice acting. This version would have faded into obscurity, if not for...
In August 2002, Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III (a.k.a. Toys For Bob), the original developers of Star Control 2 and also the owners of the design, art, and scenario copyrights, released the source code for the 3DO version of SC2 to the fan community, along with all of the original art, voice acting, and music (the last had been released already). While the PC source had been lost, the 3DO files included voice acting and art not in the PC version, and was designed for a screen resolution more easily scaled to modern monitors (320x240 vs 320x200). The only thing unreleased, sadly, is the trademark on the name "Star Control", still held by Accolade.
The current projects using the SC2 source code:
The Ur-Quan Masters - http://sc2.sourceforge.net/ - This is a project to port SC2, unchanged, to Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and a handful of other platforms that support SDL. (BeOS and older versions of the Mac OS have been discussed.)
Free Star Control Project - http://fscp.sourceforge.net/ - An ambitious project to revamp and expand SC2 (planned for a Windows and Linux release), this project seems to be defunct.
Bear in mind, creating clones of SC2, either of the whole game or of certain aspects, is not uncommon. Most of these projects are "look and feel" clones, usually not based on the original source, nor even based on reverse engineering the SC2 engine.
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