"A great 4X game, but very similar to the original"

Starships Unlimited: Divided Galaxies (SUDG) is the ''sequel'' to the original Starships Unlimited. In reality it's more like an upgrade. If you've played the the first one, SUDG will be very familiar to you. For those who haven't, it's pretty easy to pick up.

Sound: Much improved from the original. Now there's actually music! It can be a bit repetitive, but overall I like it. It reminds me of old-school game music. The sound effects are good, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Graphics: While a nice enough looking game, the graphics are definitely not the highlight. No 3D acceleration here, although that may be welcome for people with older PCs. This is the kind of game that's great if you want to play it on a laptop. But once again this shows improvement from the original shareware. Ships of different classes now have different size models, and many effects have been made snazzier.

Gameplay: Now this is where SUDG really shines. If you like the Master of Orion games and are anticipating the third, this will make the wait much more bearable.
While this game is real-time, it can be paused at any point. In fact, it auto-pauses for any important event, such as war being declared on you by a rival. However, combat and many other actions can be automated. How much you want to handle yourself is up to you.
The real focus of this game is it's starships, as indicated by the title. You can configure each of them individually, choosing from a number of researchable components. They also gain experience through combat, making veteran units more valuable. Most of the important functions of the game , such as exploration, combat, and colonization are achieved through use of your ships. Worlds are just there to build things.

Value: And this is the biggest flaw of the game. If you've already purchased the shareware version, do you really want to pay $40? I was hoping there would at least be a printed manual, but no such luck. All you get is the DVD-style hard case and CD-ROM. If you haven't purchased the shareware though, the improvements are probably worth an extra $15.

Overall: I recommend that anyone who enjoys strategy games should purchase some version of this game, but which version you opt for is up to you. Just be sure that if you purchase Divided Galaxies you download the patch. It corrects many bugs and improves performance.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/02, Updated 08/22/02