A colony called Draconis Empire subjugated the Inner Sphere and established the Empire of Terra. It destroyed the communication relays, severing communications with the Outer Sphere. The next two hundred years was the age of strife for the Outer Sphere, for they had to rediscover the precious knowledge to which they no longer had access. Eventually, the Outer Sphere colonies formed two interstellar states: The Northern Star Alliance (NSA) and the Intergalactic Trade Guild (ITG). After the two hundred years however, the Empire of Terra invaded the Outer Sphere and began taking over the NSA. In 40 years of battle that followed, the Empire took most of the NSA territory and finally invaded the Morningstar Prime, the capital of NSA. The game begins with Captain Jacob Angelus becoming a field commander for the NSA. Despite Captain Angelus's "exceptional" battlefield performance, it is clear that NSA cannot win this war and it is only a matter of time before the Empire overwhelm them. An unknown spacecraft crashes on Morningstar Prime which Captain Angelus secures. NSA scientists who study the craft reveal that Major Parker outfitted CSS Astrid with an ancient device called a Singularity Drive that enables the ship to bypass the intergalactic barrier and travel to other galaxies. NSA plans to use the ship to evacuate NSA citizens to another galaxy, where the Empire cannot follow. Angelus is sent to find CSS Astrid but his search is complicated by Imperial forces in pursuit. Eventually, CSS Astrid is recovered and brought back to Morningstar Prime. On Morningstar Prime, Captain Angelus must deal with the treachery of an NSA general as well as the arrival of fresh Imperial reinforcements. A tragic final battle takes place in which Captain Angelus and his allies help evacuating anyone they can to CSS Astrid and see to their safe departure. Despite all the efforts, the Imperials destroy an entire detachment of NSA forces as well as an NSA shuttle, presumably loaded with passengers. Captain Angelus himself does not make it to CSS Astrid and is stranded on Morningstar Prime. Development The game was announced on February 25, 2003. It was originally going to be published through Vivendi Universal's NDA Productions division. Reception Ground Control II: Operation Exodus received "generally favorable reviews" according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. GameSpot named it the best computer game of June 2004. See also Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy Notes References