No worries. Despite basic gameplay - and what modern 4X space game didn't crib its gameplay from the MOO series? - Galactic Civ is very much its own game. And an enjoyable one.

The story begins in 2178. Humanity has known about alien civilizations for 50 years, but space travel was too damn expensive for any of them to really interact. Then we resourceful humans discovered hyperspace travel (and promptly handed it out to the aliens). As the story begins, everyone involved finds themselves able to explore the galaxy and colonize worlds. Let the space race begin.

There are two major differences from the outset: Unlike other games, Galactic Civ only lets players take on the human role. To allow for some customization, six different factions (not the nine described in the manual) are available, each with its own bonuses. Second, civilizations are clearly defined by traditional Dungeons & Dragons alignments. You know, chaotic evil, lawful good, that sort of thing. It’s especially interesting - and I mean that in a good way - because the player can make decisions that define the human alignment (either good or evil). Not only do alien civilizations respond better to like alignments, but choosing good or evil eventually allows for alignment-specific technology and bonuses.

Gameplay is at once simple and deep. We've seen a lot of it before: The player directs starships, sets build lists for planets (though a governor can be appointed to do this), directs research, keeps track of money, and so on. Micromanagers like myself can micromanage, and folks who aren't as control-oriented can let the AI handle that. Aside from basic gameplay, the player is given ethical choices to make (which help define the humans' alignment) and has a voice in the United Planets council, which passes laws affecting various factors like ship speed or economics. Galactic Civ definitely has "one more turn" appeal, where I promised myself I’d just play one more turn and look up to see hours had passed.

As I alluded to above, the manual and final game diverge a bit. Unfortunately, Galactic Civ doesn't have a built-in tutorial. I tried to wade right in and promptly was subjugated by one of the "pure good" races. I recommend turning their AI way, way down for that first game. It'll give you time to really learn various aspects without scrambling to fend off aliens. (And yeah, like most civ games, the AI races seem to cheat a bit.)

Research is always a huge part of 4X games, and Galactic Civ does it well. Almost too well: The sheer amount of topics available from the start can be daunting. Good news, though. While the player can choose one topic to focus on, all of the others slowly progress. Finding the right bonuses to boost research resulted once in a mini-Renaissance, with many tech leaps coming at the same time. I did wish, though, that some tech options were closed off as others were chosen, just to make me really think about what to research next.

Combat, unfortunately, is underwhelming. Unlike other 4X games, Galactic Civ doesn’t allow for ship customization. Weapons and defense research instead results in better stats for current ships and allows for the construction of new, high-end ships. Combat, then, is played out on the starmap: One ship fires, the other fires, the one with the worse stats explodes.

Graphics are simple and clean. There are a few short cutscenes, but players won't find massive battles rendered in 3D (as in Star Wars Rebellion) or animated movie-style aliens. Sound is what you’d expect. There's the requisite ambient music in the background, and minor sound effects to accompany battles or exploration of anomalies or what have you.

There's currently a mini-boom in "justified heirs of MOO" games, including Master of Orion 3. Galactic Civ is one of the better ones, and though it eschews the traditional path of bigger and flashier, it's still well worth the time of any fan of the genre.