Master of Orion, venerable patriarch of the space-based 4x genre, set on an elegant galactic map of deepest black with pinpricks of bright neon light, stars to be explored, expanded to, exploited, with alien races to negotiate with (or more often simply to exteriminate). In the ancient days of 1993, MoO became a common term among PC gamers. It was, simply, one of the finest turn-based strategy games ever made. In a recent review of Endless Space, Cubed3 waxed eloquent on the subject, praising the game for its skillful recreation and refinement of the MoO formula. Enter Horizon, another 4x game, from the same publisher as Endless Space.
Straight away, Horizon differentiates itself from other 4x titles. It has quests, for instance. While exploring the galaxy, players will receive flavour text directing them to different areas of the map, either in general directions or specific planets. There, choices or combats will be presented with concomitant rewards, such as improved relations with another species.
Combat is uniquely tactical, all the way down to orienting specific sides of a ship toward the enemy. As a ship can be designed with different weapons on its front, back, left, or right sides, this is of significant tactical value. All the ship’s heavy weapons may be forward, for instance, concentrating fire in a supernova of destruction. Or perhaps the ship is designed to have all light weapons, which cover a 360 degree arc, and thus has slightly less firepower but simpler tactical approaches. Sounds great, right? Sadly, not; two reasons being…
One: Horizon has an incredibly clunky, micromanagement-oriented interface. Lacking is the wonderful colony management screen of Endless Space, in which the player could easily set each world’s building projects. Instead, each and every planet must be clicked on, and each of its six building options (industry, farming, and so on) must be managed. The same can be seen with the combat side, which is so tedious and clunky that gamers will be forced to use the auto/skip buttons – a prospect fraught with its own perils due to the wonky AI. Technology research does not escape either, wherein one focuses not just on a branch of tech (weapons, armour, propulsion…), but on individual techs within each and every branch of technology, all to be researched at the same time.
This clunky nature is exemplified by how often elements of the UI will pop-up and cover other parts of the UI that need to be seen or interacted with. Given how integral a good interface and good user flow is to a 4x game – given that it is what the player is expected to spend dozens or hundreds of hours with – Horizon‘s interface woes are unforgivable.
Two: Everything else, really. There are the comically bad graphics that invoke the ghosts of the crude 3D renders that infested PC games of the mid 1990s. A lack of sophistication in many of the game’s mechanics is another problem. One shining example is colony management. Most 4x games include complex interplay between morale, luxury goods, supplies, industry, and so forth. It makes for engaging “on the ground” decisions when building colonies, decisions that play into the strategy of harnessing the total output of a galactic empire. However, Horizon makes it far too easy to break down every building option – farming trade industry or other – into a simple matter of money. In doing so, the game drains the fun out of the 4x formula, just as it does in nearly every other aspect of the equation.
