Game Reviews

Imperium Galactica II features an interface that lets you manage complicated tasks simply and quickly. Specifically, its presentation of pertinent information eliminates many of the tedious aspects of maintaining an empire, and it provides a template for incorporating many options and features while keeping them manageable. For example, essential information about the planets under your control - such as population, growth rate, and production status - is clearly displayed in thumbnail windows. These can be expanded to provide more detailed information such as income, tax rate, and morale. Finally, you can zoom down to the surface to make more specific changes to the colony's auto-build. With this hierarchy of information, you can control your empire more efficiently and concentrate on more important matters.

The interface also has a stylish presentation. The research menu displays a rotating wireframe of your project gradually becoming more defined as you progress in its development. When you select an agent from the spying menu, you'll see an animated sequence zoom in to show that agent's profile and statistics. The game's attention to aesthetic detail makes it more enjoyable to play overall.

Imperium Galactica II's combat interface is similarly user-friendly, as it provides a simple options console that contains rotate, zoom, and scroll keys surrounding a perspective-oriented minimap. There's also a time bar, so you can pause to queue up orders as well as speed up the fight when victory is assured. Moreover, before entering a space battle, you can group your fleet into one of ten formations. This option facilitates strategy because it decreases the time required to execute such tactics as flanking, escorting, surrounding, feinting, and full frontal assault and instead lets you focus on performing these sorts of maneuvers rather than merely setting them up. As a result, the battles can be more exciting because you can implement dynamic ship maneuvers and tactics easily.Early in Imperium Galactica II, battles involve dozens of fighters and a few destroyers or corvettes. Fighters cannot be micromanaged well, so these types of skirmishes are more fun to watch than to play. Midway through the game, battles become more involving and exciting. In this stage of the game, you have large capital-ship technology but relatively mediocre beam weapons. Consequently, strategy is largely based on attacking and defending against crude but powerful torpedoes. Of course, you can install more powerful beam weapons on your ship, but the slow fire rate will significantly decrease your ability to defend against fighters.