When things do happen, they're usually cataclysmic - a single failed space or ground battle can, in 30 seconds, end a four-hour game of agonizing building and economic fine-tuning.
Mostly, though, the balance of the game is spent waiting for things to happen (I think that's why they felt the need for the FMV clips). Imperium Galactica does not do this for two basic reasons: 1) by placing so much emphasis on lengthy and laborious colony building and micromanagement, it necessitates a margin for player error and survivability that simply is not there and 2) rather than allowing for a free-flowing player-directed game, Imperium Galactica insists on breaking in every 5 minutes to give you a new directive - save this colony, rescue that ship, etc., so there is never a real feeling of being in control - it's really more like a deep-space civil servant sim at times. I say that Imperium Galactica fails because I have played the likes of the original Master of Orion and Star Control 2, and I know that to follow in those footsteps and succeed would require something to match the awesome depth of those titles while at the same time retaining their simplicity of play. But in the process, it deserves some accolades and perhaps the attention of the true diehards in the take-over-the-known-universe crowd. No wonder Imperium Galactica ultimately fails. Then consider how many games in just one of those genres come up short. Consider the undertaking, though: a real-time strategy game coupled with a Civilization-style mission and scope.
Alas, it takes a good deal more to really make a game in this genre. If that alone were enough, then I'd say run out and buy Imperium Galactica. At last! A distant-future strategy game with a halfway believable premise.
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