Okay, who remembers the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer console?  The one from the early to mid-90’s that was going to revolutionize gaming with all kinds of things that didn’t come true.  One thing did come true on Trip Hawkens’ little console that he got everyone else to manufacture- we got one hell of a great game in Star Control II, brought over by Crystal Dynamics (the people behind many 3DO classics).  This was space exploration/battles at its best and it was only on the 3DO (as far as consoles are concerned).  Eventually the 3DO port was opened to the community and ported BACK to PC and called “The Ur-Quan Masters”.  This port is now available in HD thanks to even more dedicated fans.

Star Control II tells the story of the Alliance of Free Stars and Hierarchy of Battle Thralls who are battling it out.  The Ur-Quan come in and pretty much decimate everyone and everything in their path.  On a lone little planet an Earthling ship makes a great discovery- a Precursor machine is found and turned on.  Once activated this machine creates a starship out of the limited resources on the planet.  The humans on the planet figure this is a discovery that will turn the tide of the war around.  Embarking on a journey back to Earth with Precursor ship and their last human ship, things look up, till they reach our solar system.

Long story short, the Precursor ship is the only one to make it to Earth and Earth is not the way you remember it.  The Ur-Quan have put a slave shield on the planet and that is that.  It is up to you to find a way to remove that shield, gather resources and bring together the other oppressed species against the Ur-Quan.

The fun part is that you now can do all of that in glorious HD graphics.  The resolution in this version is four times higher than the original.  For purists there is the option to play with the original graphics.  Unlike the 3DO classic, there is also on-line multiplayer available.

Fans of Star Control II have already scrolled by and found the link.  For everyone else, this really is an awesome game and now, it is in HD.

Grab Star Controll II HD here.

Source: Indie Retro News

Carl Williams

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