
Each ship has unique weapons, maneuvers, and secondary abilities, and winning a battle requires a combination of ship selection and skill. One-on-one spaceship battles take place in real-time, based on the core gameplay of the original Star Control. The main gameplay elements are exploring the galaxy, gathering resources, building a fleet, defeating enemy ships, and conversing with aliens. The player's goal is to free Earth from the evil Ur-Quan, by recruiting aliens to help. It features ship-to-ship combat based on the original Star Control, but removes the first game's strategy gameplay to focus on story and dialog, as seen in other adventure games.

Star Control II is an action-adventure science fiction game, set in an open universe. The Captain's ship enters the Sol System at the beginning of the game. A sequel, Star Control 3, was released in 1996.

The 3DO code was ported to PC as The Ur-Quan Masters. The source code of the 3DO port was licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later in 2002, the game content under CC-BY-NC-SA-2.5. The game was ported to the 3DO by Crystal Dynamics in 1994 with an enhanced multimedia presentation, allowed by the CD technology. Released to critical acclaim, Star Control II is widely viewed today as one of the greatest PC games ever made, and has appeared on numerous publications lists of the greatest video games of all time. This game features exoplanet-abundant star systems, hyperspace travel, extraterrestrial life, and interstellar diplomacy, with the game featuring 25 different alien races that can be communicated with.

It was developed by Toys for Bob ( Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III) and originally published by Accolade in 1992 for MS-DOS. Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters is a 1992 video game, the sequel to Star Control.
