I was giddy when I discovered Ur Quan Masters a few years ago. I had played a lot of computer games as a kid but for me (and my friends at the time) Star Contr

I was giddy when I discovered Ur Quan Masters a few years ago. I had played a lot of computer games as a kid but for me (and my friends at the time) Star Control 2 was one of a handful that I continued to play over and over again. It was the first time I'd played a game realizing that the artistic relevance of a game could exceed a book or a movie. I know it wasn't necessarily a "first" in these categories, but it was my first experience with a game that: (1) Was primarily quest driven with the player having a great deal of choice on which quest to take when (it wasn't spelled out the way it's done in modern implementations). (2) Had excellent dialog (it was legitimately funny at times and poked fun at itself). (2) Had a universe that felt impossible to succeed in exploring all of it. (3) Had a great balance of strategy, exploration and arcade elements. At no point did it seem like any one of the three components were after thoughts.