Star Reach

Star Reach is a video game in the strategy genre developed by Interplay Productions, Inc. and published by Interplay Productions Ltd. originally released in 1994. It is currently playable on DOS.

Space Federation (or Star Reach, as it's known in the US) is a fun action/strategy space opera that attempts to combine the furious action elements of Star Control and the solid AI of Master of Orion, but ends up being a marginally above-average game that doesn't have nearly the appeal or longevity of its predecessors.

Not that it doesn't try: at first glance, Space Federation seems to have it all: attractive VGA graphics, intuitive ship controls that allow you to switch effortlessly between the different attack ships in your fleet, planet micromanagement options, and even diplomacy. Each of these modules is well implemented, and there's little to fault when analyzed separately. The problem, however, is that the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts. They feel disjointed together, and the inconsistency is even more pronounced due to the game's real-time gameplay. Having to micromanage your planets in the middle of a raging space battle, for example, is a bit awkward, to say the least.

Overall, Space Federation tries to be too much, too soon. None of its gameplay elements are as good as their counterparts in classic space strategy games, and the below-par enemy intelligence and barely-different alien races only make matters worse. All in all, a game whose pretensions exceed its scope, but manages to be entertaining for a few hours that anyone should save up to try. Every once in a while, you see a glimpse of a brilliant game struggling to make it through. Unfortunately, that's far from the case. Give this fringe game a try if you're really bored of the classics, e. g. Master of Orion.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.