Rating: 
Summary: Like most, I¿m disappointed
Review: ... the interface and control features are weak.I was especially looking forward to the in-depth political side of MOO3, the give & take of alliances of convenience with the bitter betrayals (i.e. UN security council). I quickly realized that if you don't get into the Orion Senate then you never will. It's my impression that being in the Orion Senate is a random happening at the start of the game, you're in or you're out, based on how close your home system is to Orion. In the games where you are in and you try to get others in, the other races vote against you. In fact more races were voted out then into the Senate during my games. Empire to empire dealings go strictly along race lines, it was very predictable. I found it frustrating that every planet changed my military production when the production finished (hello, I need warships not ground troops). I really disliked have to recreate my warships after improved technology was invented. I expected this to be automatic and my existing fleet upgraded when put into some type of drydock. I didn't find any way to upgrade existing ships. When any military units are produced they go into a reserve area, which if you produced a mobilization center can form an active unit from all reverse units. I found this very unrealistic. In a game where most things are controlled by the computer, if you don't take control of ship to ship combat then you can't bomb or invade the planet. If you do bomb the planet, you have to keep bombing it turn after turn effectively anchoring your fleet in that system because the population and building get less in number but never completely get destroyed. Did I mention that when you take control yourself you will have to guess where the enemy is, because nothing shows you. I did like the 3D galaxy map. If you can take control of a key system at the beginning of a spiral arm then you have control of the whole arm. I also liked the research system. You can research 6 fields at the same time allocating X % to each one equaling 100%. You could also apply more money into research to gain more research points. All in all, a very weak game. I have uninstalled MOO3 altogether for the hard drive space and went back to playing MOO2.
Rating: 
Summary: MOO3 Patch 1.25 Mods Optional
Review: I gave MOO3 five stars in the first release review here on Amazon, mostly for being the most intriguing game I had ever encountered. Having now played with the latest official patch, version 1.25, I think the game has become even more intriguing, a never-ending source of surprises and new things to learn. Excellent mods are also available that are consistent with patch 1.25 and which will lead delight with their changes to game appearance, operation, and even the appearance of the user interface. Clearly, MOO3 is not for everyone, indeed not for most; but it does appeal to some who, like me, find it a game highly entertaining and rewarding to play. Before condemning the game entirely, do try it with the latest official patch from the games official site and also experiment with the mods, especially the invader mod and the mega mod (not both at the same time) which are both quite good. One thing is certain, even those who hate the game must admit it is entirely unique and unlikely to ever again be duplicated.
Rating:
Summary: Big disappointment after Master of Orion 2
Review: I love MOO2, have since it first came out and I still play it to this day. It has great replayability. MOO3 on the other hand, doesn't have much playability, so don't even consider replayability. Months after getting it, I still haven't finished the first game because I got too bored with it. I dominate the galaxy with no chance the other races could put up even a small challenge. That could be alleviated by playing at a more difficult setting, but it's quite a statement that I'm winning and not enjoying it. To run the empire the way I want requires incredible micromanagement. The AI governers can not be trusted to develop the regions or fill the military que. Each turn I have to visit every single one of hundreds of planets and tweak what's going on. It is mind-numbingly tedious. On the other hand, the space combat must be done hands-off. Once you opt to start a fight, take your hands off the controls until it's done, letting your AI run the real-time battle. It's just not practical to run the battle yourself. All in all, a huge disappointment and I'll go back to playing MOO2.
Rating:
Summary: Poor addition to a genre with potentional, but few successes
Review: There are many 4X/Space-Stratagey fans out there, and many attempts to make games in this genre. But sadly, few are successes. Some are good, but few know about them, such as Pax Imperia: Entiment Domain (one of my favorites). Some are good, and everyone who knows the genre exists knows the game, such as Master of Orion 2. Some are just colasal flops, and usually for many different reasons. Do I have experience enough to judge a good 4X game? Well, I have played many of the games, but some disagree with my views on them. Here are the ones I have. My all time favorite, Pax Imperia: Entiment Domain; Master of Orion 2, one of my less favorites; Space Empires 4, in the middle of my list; Conquest: Frontier Wars gets second place; Star Wars: Rebelion, had potental, but didn't quite deliver; Star Trek: Birth of the Federation, also had potential, but didn't quite deliver. And that's all I can think of right now. Anyway, on to Master of Orion 3. The prequel, MoO2 was many people's favorite, and it was good for when it came out (though I prefered Pax Imperia: Entiment Domain), but I wasn't one of it's biggest fans. Now MoO3 is a different story. I didn't actually buy it mind you. I got the full version 60 minute demo, and it was terrible. Although better visually than most, the menus and selection are very poorly done and getting anything done is nearly impossible. I didn't see the battles, but that makes no difference if the main interface is so bad you can't get anything done. There is little helpful information for running your empire. All-in-all, this game isn't worth the time of day. If you want a 4X game, I reccomend getting Conquest:Frontier Wars, MoO2, or Space Empires 4. I haven't tried Galactic Empires yet, but it looks cool, so that could be a possibility. But this isn't the game that you are looking for. So hit the back button, and move on. If you don't believe me, just read the other reviews on this game.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, but Galactic Civilizations is Much Better
Review: Master of Orion 3 (MOO3), the much-anticipated sequel to a worthy series of turn-based space strategy titles, is an exceedingly ambitious but ultimately overly complex offering. It's clear that MOO3 is very deep, with many layers of complexity and nuance integrated into the game. This is all well and good, but the problems arise from (1) insufficient explanation of the complexity (the documentation waxes poetic on the backstory to the game, but is practically worthless when it comes to basic tasks like creating task forces and getting them to do what you want them to), (2) trying to address the complexity with a very heavy-handed AI in the form of planetary viceroys who seem to do what they want regardless of what you tell them to do, and (3) a clunky, awkward interface which makes it hard to find things you want to do. MOO3 is disappointing because it could have been so much more. One can clearly see the attempt to embrace many levels of subtlety and complexity in the game, but it appears that the fun element was lost in the effort. Playing MOO3 can be a very frustrating experience simply from the perspective of trying to perform basic tasks (one is almost always confused), never mind penetrating the levels of complexity that the creators seem to have intended. A steep learning curve is one thing, but when that's the case directions are critical (and lacking almost completely here), and an intuitive interface would also help matters. In all, an ambitious, but ultimately failed, project. Galactic Civilizations, another new turn-based space strategy game created by Stardock, is much, much better than MOO3. It's somewhat less complex, but has a great deal of complexity anyway -- and, after trying to play MOO3 several times, it comes as a breath of fresh air. I would suggest, strongly, GalCiv over this title.
Rating:
Summary: Play MOO 2, this isn't worth the time it takes to learn
Review: This game is cumbersome, difficult and, well, boring. I played at least 20 hours of this, and I really wish I could have those hours back. I guess I kept expecting to stumble across something I had missed that made all the ridiculous interfaces useful. The space combat just plain stinks, there is no reason to even attempt to control it. The ground combat is completely unintelligible. I never could manage to figure out how to bombard a planet, it just wouldn't ask me if I wanted to although it is listed in the 200 page manual as an option. My spies continually died long before they ever did anything useful. Threatening representatives of other races resulting in nothing (playing politics was the thing I was most looking forward to in this update). I tried really hard to like this game, the graphics are good, and the 3-D map is cool. But the MOO series is about being able to control worlds and manage empires, and frankly, I felt like I was just along for the ride. MOO 2 is a much better game and I still highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Space game cats in shambling zombie shock
Review: A lot of people have missed the point of this game. Yes, the gameplay [is not good], the interface is appalling, and it's a grotesque brain-dead shambling zombie of an ending (and surely this franchise is now ended) to one of the greatest videogame series of all time. But considering this game was written entirely by a team of *cats* it's amazingly good. On the other hand, you might want to think very carefully about ever buying an Infogramme/Atari game again. To have released a game this unbelievably bad at full price is both shameful and for this company typical.
Rating:
Summary: All the fun of chartered accountancy!
Review: This game takes all the sharp controls of MOO2 and splatters them in shades of grey. Have a path to the future in mind or a strategy? Forget it. All you can do now is massage the probabilities somewhat. Sure there are lots more probabilities to play with but percentages cease to mean anything as soon as the die is cast. The instruction book is merged with a story that makes little sense and has less purpose other than to make the actual content more dilute. The combat segment takes out all the controls that made it effective. If you had a strategy for developing certain weapons or capabilities they get washed out by the generic "attack" button. They added "realism" by adding all the probabilities and uncertainties. So much so that, give an order, have it go through a couple of layers of bureaucracy and something you intended might happen. That'l be good when the new game "Government Bureaucrat" is leaping off the shelves. I'll hold my breath.
Rating:
Summary: How to understand the previous ratings
Review: Well... Say that people usually don't like spending hours to learn and are not really patient to get to action. Like strategy games? Like complex games? Like micro-management? Would sacrifice graphics for the content of the game? If you answered yes to the previous 4 questions you will give 5 stars to that game for each 'no' take off one star, the last star is just overall satisfaction.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun and addictive, but after lots of learning
Review: I had to start several games over, and spend maybe 10 hours experimenting, before I felt like I had a good _basic_ handle of how the game plays. I've probably played 30-40 hours now, and still many of the subtleties escape me. There's just a tremendous amount going on. On the plus side, there's no absolute need to know any of it; it's possible to play a moderately successful game just by designing new ships every now and then, waiting for the AI to build them, and sending them where you want them to go. That's not too much fun, of course. The fun starts when you finally (after lots of reading - the manual, and third-party stuff; and lots of experimenting) understand what's going on well enough to know how to guide the AI, when to let it do it's thing, and when and how to take over. A lot of the complaints that people have made in their reviews here are based on incorrect statements, though admittedly it's not clear that they're wrong until you've done a lot of digging.
So, in short: if you're willing to spend the time and mental energy to get to know the game, it's well worth it. If you want something simple and quick and elegant, check out Delta Tao's Spaceward Ho! (another great game).
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