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:''This article discusses only the real-life events surrounding the release of the game, and does not cover the details about the game, such as the story or races.''


'''Star Control 3''', made by [[Legend Entertainment]] for [[Accolade]], was supposed to be the successor to [[Star Control II]]. However, many fans of the series were disappointed by the game: it featured fewer and less distinct ships and races, less diverse modes of gameplay, and a less interesting story that conflicted with the established facts of the [[Star Control Universe]] and the ending of SC2. SC3 seemed to lack the creativity and the fun feel of the original, instead offering "features" that looked good on paper, but didn't make the game better.
[[File:220px-Star Control 3 cover.gif|thumb|right|220px|Cover art of the DOS version]] '''''Star Control 3''''' is a video game developed by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_Entertainment Legend Entertainment]. They were hired by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accolade_(company) Accolade] to create a sequel of ''[[Star_Control_II|Star Control II]]'' when the original creators [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toys_For_Bob Toys For Bob] expressed no interest in creating the sequel with the same budget as ''Star Control II'' (which left them working without pay for several months). It was released for DOS and the Macintosh in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_in_video_gaming 1996].


Many fans pin this failure on the fact that the game was not made by [[Toys For Bob]], the creators of [[Star Control]] and Star Control II. Some perceive Accolade as trying to capitalize on the ''Star Control'' name (for which they own the [[Star Control Trademark|trademark]]) by selling an inferior game, while some think that Accolade didn't have the talent to make a game as good as SC2.
== Gameplay ==


Regardless of the reason, most fans of Toys For Bob and SC2, including SC2's developers,{{ref|1}} dismiss SC3 as being "untrue" to the series (the acronym "SCNot3" is often used on the discussion boards, referring to the fact that SC3 is not a sequel to SC2 as the name would imply), and feel that the story and races of SC3 should be ignored and a "true" sequel should be created. One such attempt is [[TimeWarp]], currently in development.
[[File:StarControl3 Solarsystem View.png|thumb|left|220px|A view of a in the game after colonization and ship construction.]] The game used a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2.5D 2.5D] form of melee combat, but [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2D_computer_graphics 2D] combat was still available. However, unlike SC2, all ship designs absent from the story mode were omitted (with the exception of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arilou Arilou]). The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module_file module] tunes of the second game were replaced with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI MIDI] music, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_art pixel animations] for communication with aliens were replaced with rendered and digitized 2D graphics of live puppets.


Star Control 4 (aka StarCon) was reportedly in development by [[Infogrames]] (who purchased Accolade and the Star Control trademark) as a sequel to Star Control 3, but it appears as if development was halted.
The gameplay was a mix of borrowing the melee combat and alien encounter dialogue trees from ''SC2'', with new colony management elements which could be compared to ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Orion Master of Orion]''. ''SC2''’s resource gathering, and hyperspace travel gameplay elements were omitted.


Recently Toys for Bob have announced that they want their next game to be a Star Control game, a true [[Star Control sequel|sequel]] to Star Control II. They're asking for support from the public to convince Activision, of which they are a development studio. A petition site can be found [http://sc2.sourceforge.net/petition/petition.php here].
== Plot ==


SC3's story expanded on the mystery of the Precursors' disappearance, and introduced new enemies in the form of the Hegemonic Crux.


See also: [[Canon]]
Shortly after the end of Star Control 2, hyperspace mysteriously collapses throughout the galaxy, stranding most space faring races. The Captain, living on Unzervalt, builds another precursor ship, with an experimental "warp bubble" drive that allows it to travel between star systems without using hyperspace. The Captain contacts the other races and they discover that the hyperspace collapse is somehow connected with the Rainbow Worlds, and that it originates near the galactic core in the Kessari quadrant. The Captain is sent to the Kessari quadrant with colony ships from several races to investigate and solve the problems with hyperspace.


==Notes and references==
The Captain explores the Kessari quadrant, clashing with the local power bloc, the Hegemonic Crux, led by the Ploxis Plutocrats. During his investigation of the hyperspace collapse, a new threat becomes apparent - an ancient race called the Eternal Ones that consume the energy of all sentient beings once an eon are near to returning.
{{note|1}}{{PaulMail}}
::I like they folks at Legend very much. They took on SC3 largely because they liked SC I & II, so clearly they have excellent taste! Unfortunately, I think that the design for SC3 tried to cover too many bases, and as a result lacked focus and punch.
:{{PaulMail}}
::No, we'd do a new and different SC3. I love the folks at Legend, and I appreciate all the work they did, but to take SC into the future we'd need to undo some of the plot stuff SC3 included.
:{{FredMail}}
::We have never considered Accolade evil. Just a little slow and unimaginative.
:{{FredMail}}
::Paul played it much more extensively than I did. But I can say that when you've planned to do a sequel of something you created and someone else does it first and differently, it leaves a funny taste in your mouth.  


[[Category:About the Star Control series]]
It is revealed that to protect themselves from the Eternal Ones the Precursors genetically modified themselves to regress to the intelligence of a cow. They created semi-sentient robots, the Daktaklakpak, to reverse the process after the Eternal Ones left. The Daktaklakpak malfunctioned and forgot their purpose, leaving the Precursors stranded at that intelligence level. The Captain temporarily reverses the process on a single Precursor, who explains to him before its death that the only way to stop the eventual destruction of the galaxy is to stop the Eternal Ones as their unnatural use of interstellar fatigue will collapse the galaxy.
 
The Captain then solves various problems in the Kessari quadrant, including persuading the Owa race to stop dumping their antimatter waste on Rainbow Worlds, which was preventing them from performing their function of mitigating interstellar fatigue, and breaking the power of the Hegemonic Crux, culminating in the defeat of a Crux Precursor battleship at the galactic core.
 
The Captain finally meets with the Heralds of the Eternal ones at the galactic core, and after defeating them discovers that the technology they use to gather the sentience energy needed to sustain the eternal ones is 99.999% inefficient. Using this technology and various other artifacts and technologies from the Precursors and the Daktaklakpak, the Captain is able to construct a device that harvests the required energy in a non lethal manner. The Captain then gathers sentience from many Kessari quadrant races and uses it to sate the Eternal Ones.
 
== Critical reception ==
 
The game received positive reviews. On Metacritic ''Star Control III'' has a score of 89% based on the reviews of 5 critics. TotalGames.net complimented the long play-time, soundtrack, speech, and "complex and intriguing" story. ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Games_Magazine Computer Games Magazine]'' praised the "deep" plot, characters, and deemed it "one of the best games of the year". ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Gamer PC Gamer]'' said "Even with its few faults, Star Control 3 is a worthy successor and a blast to play" and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Revolution Game Revolution] wrote it "maintains the excitement and feeling that made its predecessors classic". GameSpot described the game as "A vast oddity, integrating real-time strategy and action elements with the exploratory playability of an adventure title into one game."
 
In a negative review, ''Macworld''’s Michael Gowan wrote that ''Star Control 3'' "lacks a modern game feel, with stale character interaction and clumsy fighting modes."
 
== References ==
 
1. Gowan, Michael (February 1999). [https://web.archive.org/web/20010810062339/http://www.macworld.com:80/1999/02/games/games.html "Name Your Game; From Goofy to Gory, Macworld Reviews 48 Ways to Play"]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macworld Macworld]. Archived from [http://www.macworld.com/1999/02/games/games.html the original] on August 10, 2001. 2. [http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/star-control-3 http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/star-control-3]
 
== External links ==
 
*[http://www.gog.com/gamecard/star_control_3 Star Control 3] at GOG.com
*[http://www.star-control.com/sc3/ Star Control 3], The Pages of Now & Forever.
*[https://www.mobygames.com/game/star-control-3 ''Star Control 3''] at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MobyGames MobyGames]

Revision as of 15:57, 27 September 2017

Cover art of the DOS version

Star Control 3 is a video game developed by Legend Entertainment. They were hired by Accolade to create a sequel of Star Control II when the original creators Toys For Bob expressed no interest in creating the sequel with the same budget as Star Control II (which left them working without pay for several months). It was released for DOS and the Macintosh in 1996.

Gameplay

A view of a in the game after colonization and ship construction.

The game used a 2.5D form of melee combat, but 2D combat was still available. However, unlike SC2, all ship designs absent from the story mode were omitted (with the exception of the Arilou). The module tunes of the second game were replaced with MIDI music, and pixel animations for communication with aliens were replaced with rendered and digitized 2D graphics of live puppets.

The gameplay was a mix of borrowing the melee combat and alien encounter dialogue trees from SC2, with new colony management elements which could be compared to Master of Orion. SC2’s resource gathering, and hyperspace travel gameplay elements were omitted.

Plot

SC3's story expanded on the mystery of the Precursors' disappearance, and introduced new enemies in the form of the Hegemonic Crux.

Shortly after the end of Star Control 2, hyperspace mysteriously collapses throughout the galaxy, stranding most space faring races. The Captain, living on Unzervalt, builds another precursor ship, with an experimental "warp bubble" drive that allows it to travel between star systems without using hyperspace. The Captain contacts the other races and they discover that the hyperspace collapse is somehow connected with the Rainbow Worlds, and that it originates near the galactic core in the Kessari quadrant. The Captain is sent to the Kessari quadrant with colony ships from several races to investigate and solve the problems with hyperspace.

The Captain explores the Kessari quadrant, clashing with the local power bloc, the Hegemonic Crux, led by the Ploxis Plutocrats. During his investigation of the hyperspace collapse, a new threat becomes apparent - an ancient race called the Eternal Ones that consume the energy of all sentient beings once an eon are near to returning.

It is revealed that to protect themselves from the Eternal Ones the Precursors genetically modified themselves to regress to the intelligence of a cow. They created semi-sentient robots, the Daktaklakpak, to reverse the process after the Eternal Ones left. The Daktaklakpak malfunctioned and forgot their purpose, leaving the Precursors stranded at that intelligence level. The Captain temporarily reverses the process on a single Precursor, who explains to him before its death that the only way to stop the eventual destruction of the galaxy is to stop the Eternal Ones as their unnatural use of interstellar fatigue will collapse the galaxy.

The Captain then solves various problems in the Kessari quadrant, including persuading the Owa race to stop dumping their antimatter waste on Rainbow Worlds, which was preventing them from performing their function of mitigating interstellar fatigue, and breaking the power of the Hegemonic Crux, culminating in the defeat of a Crux Precursor battleship at the galactic core.

The Captain finally meets with the Heralds of the Eternal ones at the galactic core, and after defeating them discovers that the technology they use to gather the sentience energy needed to sustain the eternal ones is 99.999% inefficient. Using this technology and various other artifacts and technologies from the Precursors and the Daktaklakpak, the Captain is able to construct a device that harvests the required energy in a non lethal manner. The Captain then gathers sentience from many Kessari quadrant races and uses it to sate the Eternal Ones.

Critical reception

The game received positive reviews. On Metacritic Star Control III has a score of 89% based on the reviews of 5 critics. TotalGames.net complimented the long play-time, soundtrack, speech, and "complex and intriguing" story. Computer Games Magazine praised the "deep" plot, characters, and deemed it "one of the best games of the year". PC Gamer said "Even with its few faults, Star Control 3 is a worthy successor and a blast to play" and Game Revolution wrote it "maintains the excitement and feeling that made its predecessors classic". GameSpot described the game as "A vast oddity, integrating real-time strategy and action elements with the exploratory playability of an adventure title into one game."

In a negative review, Macworld’s Michael Gowan wrote that Star Control 3 "lacks a modern game feel, with stale character interaction and clumsy fighting modes."

References

1. Gowan, Michael (February 1999). "Name Your Game; From Goofy to Gory, Macworld Reviews 48 Ways to Play". Macworld. Archived from the original on August 10, 2001. 2. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/star-control-3

External links

Retrieved from "https://wiki.starcontrol.com/index.php?title=Star_Control_3&oldid=14138"