Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!njin!fdurt1!wisdom!tronsbox!dfrancis
From: dfrancis@tronsbox.xei.com (Dennis Francis Heffernan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: Star Control
Keywords: cool game
Message-ID: <27582a2e-339comp.sys.amiga.games@tronsbox.xei.com>
Date: 2 Dec 90 16:36:44 GMT
Lines: 52


	If anyone out there is considering Accolade's Star Control, GO FOR IT!

	The only bad parts are that a) it doesn't use the mouse or menus- it's
all keyboard or joystick control, your choice which and b) I'm not sure if it
will multitask- it takes up 800K to run and I've only got a meg, so I have to
boot off its disk to play.

	The GOOD parts are a) halfbrite graphics (very nicely done), b) NO
on-disk copy protection (code wheel ONCE when you start the game), c) supports
ALL Amigas from 1000 to 3000 and d) hard drive installable (though I don't have
a HD yet...sob.)

	Except for the fact that they left the IBM user interface intact, it's
a very good port.  I figure we spend enough time bitching about the bad ones
that we should mention the good ones when they come along.  ;-)

	The game itself is sort of like Archon in space; each of two sides has
a variety of starships with various strengths and weaknesses, and each also has
a special power- one ship can teleport, another has a cloaking device, another
launches autonomous fighter craft, et cetera.  You can play with one player or
two in three modes: Practice (ship to ship combat), Melee (each side gets a 
fleet of ships and you square off) or Full Game (you battle each other on a
star map, with strategic concerns like colonization, mining and ship 
production).  Nine scenarios are provided for Full Game, with a scenario editor
included so you can modify the provided ones or make entirely new ones.  A
keyboard editor lets you change the keyboard controls if you don't like the 
defaults.

	The heart of the game, starship combat, is like Asteroids/Space War.
Newtonian movement (except for the Ariloulaleelay Skiff, which is a "UFO" with
inertialess drive) with a planet in the center of the screen providing gravity
effects.  Each ship's weapons behave differently, from exploding crystal shards
to homing plasma torpedoes to good old fashioned heat-seeking nuclear missiles
(the Earth Cruiser uses MX-Surplus missiles, with SDI-surplus point-defense
lasers...)  Little asteroids float across the screen, just to get in the way and screw you up.

	It's a lot of fun, and well worth the thirty-someodd dollars I paid for
it.


dfrancis@tronsbox.xei.com   ...uunet!tronsbox!dfrancis     GEnie: D.HEFFERNAN1
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