Universe II description
Three years after the release of the game Universe, the company Omnitrend (existing, by the way, to this day) released a sequel with the unpretentious name of Universe II.
In the game universe forty years have passed since the end events of the previous part, in which the protagonist successfully paid off the loan for his vehicle and found the same current hyperspace accelerator.
But the situation in the Local Group became worse, and now it is split by civil war into two camps: the federated Worlds and the United Democratic Planets. The main character is a veteran of the special Forces of the Federated Worlds, supposedly retired, but working "under cover". And if the purpose of the first part of the game was clear from the beginning, here not all so is simple.
Universe II is the spiritual and actual successor of the first part, which deepen and widen the game of space trade in all directions and really turns the simulator into a mixture of several genres (see below).
And now about the innovations.
First, about the interface: the game has the ability to use the mouse, as well as all the teams are now posted on the groups menu, and so convenient that their location is intuitive.
Second, new possibilities of doing battle: the boarding and the seizure of territories for ore mining now available in a full tactical battles, where in the hands of the captain is given control action, respectively, boarding teams, or squads of paratroopers and landing capsules on the tactical map in a graphical mode!
Third, the game went to a whole new level of crew control – now it is not just quantity indicator next to the line Crew, and almost a full RPG: all crew members are professionals, each has its own qualification and experience. For example, mine will not work without operator mining machinery and to take any flights – no astronavigator. Generally speaking, the qualifications of crew members is now based on literally everything that happens on and around the ship, including fighting (Yes, for this we need to recruit an experienced infantry). It should also be noted that the specialist is better, the large salary he requires, and if he has no money to pay, he does not just leave the ship at the nearest station, but also tell all that this ship made to work for free, they can hire a new crew member during this visit to the station would be impossible.
And finally - the new interface of the spaceport is nothing like a text adventure game! All space ports you can move freely, talk to people and find items and hints.
Summarizing, we can rightly say that the Universe II is a giant step forward in comparison with the first part. If the first part set the tone, the second has become a real masterpiece. Challenging, interesting and addictive. However, with all this affected the graphics – the game was black and white, but now it runs entirely in graphics mode and not require switching between executables.
If the Universe was a complicated game, the Universe II requires even more attention to detail and more careful planning. Definitely recommended for those who like Elite or Elite 2, and also anyone who just wanted to join the classics.
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Source: Archive.org, Mobygames.com