The player can also pursue enemies into space, playing an arcade-style shooter mode, where players use the keyboard to maneuver and fire in an action sequence. The game also includes a 3D real-time strategy engine for planetary battles, where the player can take control of any unit to shift gameplay to that of a third-person shooter. Space travel is seen from a top-down viewpoint, with movement utilizing a turn-based system measured in solar days. The player begins by selecting an alien race and a profession, and is dropped into a dynamic open universe to explore. The game's multiple systems are compared to other multi-genre games such as Pirates! or Star Control II. The Dominators are much more powerful than the player at the start of the game, forcing the player to evade them, while pursuing smaller jobs to gain wealth, equipment, and experience.

The main goal of the game is to defeat the three command units of the titular Dominators, thought the game allows the player to ignore the main quest in favor of exploration, trade, and other sidequests. This leads to a universe with hundreds of planets, each with their own economy, government, and opinion of the player. Players explore a randomly generated galaxy, with each sector featuring multiple stars and planets. Space Rangers 2 is a hybrid game with multiple game types of gameplay. The player begins the game as a trainee member of the Space Rangers – a corps of pilots charged with defending the galaxy from the Dominators. There are three Dominator types, each at war with each other: the Blazeroids, the Kelleroids, and the Terronoids. Sentient combat robots known as Dominators are attacking the five civilizations of the Coalition: the humans, the Maloqs, the Pelengs, the Faeyans, and the Gaalians.

Space rangers 2 manual