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Although too difficult for the casual gamer, BCM offers extremely open-ended gameplay in an astoundingly large universe.

I have never played any of the notoriously buggy Battlecruiser games prior to Battlecruiser Millennium: Gold Edition, so I did not go in with the usual apprehension that some reviewers had. Because of this, I had no preconceived notions regarding what to expect, nor any negative feelings toward Derek Smart, the series' infamous designer. I started play with a completely open mind. What I discovered was an amazingly open-ended and involving spaceflight sim, with a remarkably steep learning curve.

From the start, let me say that BCM: GE is absolutely NOT for the casual gamer. The control of your ship is extremely comprehensive, and as such is also extremely hard to master. It’s not so much the actual flight control that’s difficult; it’s more the array of things that need to be monitored in order to successfully command a ship and its fleet of service vehicles that is so challenging. Once mastered, however, BCM becomes a vast, deep jaunt into a massive interactive universe.

Graphics:
I’ve got a message for Battlecruiser Millennium. The early nineties called. They’d like their graphics engine back. It’s true. BCM will not be winning any mention for its graphics. Ship models are decidedly low detail by today’s standards, planets look more like two dimensional geometric pizzas than spheres, and the first-person missions are more akin to an afterthought than a fully developed stand-alone game feature. The game is not exactly ugly, just dated looking.

Sound:
I really, really liked the music in BCM. Call me a sap, but epic, melodic scores playing in the background as I float gracefully through space make me one happy boy. Sitting on the bridge of my ship, listening to the radio chatter in the background as I give battle commands to my fighters was truly an immersive experience. Even explosions sound good, which is especially impressive considering that this is all taking place in the vacuum of space where explosions generally don’t even happen at all. Well, chalk one up to cinematic license.

Gameplay:
Battlecruiser Millennium is a big, BIG game. You can do absolutely anything you want. Command a military carrier into battle with a full staff of service craft (fighters, shuttles, etc.) at your disposal. Explore new planets. Travel the universe as an interstellar trader. Guard bases in a land based tank. You literally can do whatever you want in this game.

And, depending on the type of career and race (There are several, each with its own specialties and political standing.) that you choose to pursue, you can do it in a ship, a land based vehicle, or a first-person view. To some this sounds like a dream come true. For me personally, I need a little more direction. Sometimes being able to do anything makes it difficult to do anything specific.

Those of you out there, who need goals like me, have no fear. BCM provides several modes of play, so you can choose the style that best suits your preferences. The two central play modes are Roam and Campaign. Roam mode basically hands you a ship and says “Do what you will”. Campaign mode gives you a set of objectives to complete and the means to do what you need to do.

Instant Action flings you headlong into battle without any of the character generation or asset allocation available in the previous two modes. Finally, there are some moderately useful training scenarios used in tandem with the instruction book that attempt to get you familiarized with the complex control scheme.

And complex it is. The vast array of menus, sub-menus and sub-sub-menus is, at best, hard to keep track of. For some, it will be downright daunting. There is a printed command sheet to reference, but the extremely small copy, and the density of said copy makes me wonder if it was really meant as some type of cruel joke or maybe an eyesight test. Needless to say, it will take quite a while to get familiar with navigating the menus necessary to fully enjoy the game.

All things said, Battlecruiser Millennium is a fun game to immerse yourself in. There really are a huge number of things to do, and a massive universe to do them in. So huge in fact, that navigating can become a bit boring. Not boring enough that it hurts the game much, but boring enough that you wish that you could speed it up a little. Hyper drive, it seems, has a speed limit, and getting from one end of the universe to the other can take some time. While this time can serve as a welcome break from having to monitor the ship's systems, it can also serve as an unwelcome lull in the game's action.

All in all, while BCM may prove too difficult for the casual gamer to fully enjoy, the serious space-flight sim fan will find a lot to love. For me personally, the amount of minutiae that requires monitoring was a bit of a put-off, but there is no denying that BCM is a deep, involving, and enjoyable experience. I rate Battlecruiser Millennium: Gold Edition a 78% with points taken off for dated graphics, slow gameplay in some areas and a steep learning curve.

Review by Zack Stromberg.