Star Control 3
While Star Control 3 retained the adventure/combat combination of the second game, there was less diversity; it was limited to the combat and exploration. Although some believe the third game is good enough in its own right, many players found Star Control 3 a disappointment after Star Control II. In particular, the illusion of freedom found in the second game was missing.

SC3 had fewer ship types, a confusing "2½-D" interface, and graphics and music many regarded as poor. The adventure game was also criticized as having a plot far less complex which failed to maintain continuity with the second game; furthermore, significant portions of dialogue text were directly copied from Star Control II, and some quests repeated those in Star Control II exactly. The majority of these problems likely stem from Star Control's original designers—Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III—not being involved in any stage of the project. Despite some recurring ship designs, the majority of new ships showed lack of imagination displayed in those found in the previous games, with some even closely resembling those from SCII. The computer AI for the mêlée section was unpredictable, sometimes employing tactics that would make the battle unwinnable (by flying away from the player in a faster ship, for example). The redesigned mêlée engine was difficult to use (especially when in pseudo-3D) and compares poorly to that of SCII in terms of strategic play.

In a feat of krypto-revisionism, many fans of the two earlier games have decided to simply ignore SC3, retconning it into never happening.

Star Control 3 was developed by Legend Entertainment and released for MS-DOS and the Macintosh in 1996.