Planet Bob

Ever tried the Escape Velocity series from Ambrosia Software? It looks a lot like this. The latest and greatest iteration, Escape Velocity: Nova, is excellent. You play as a tiny ship trying to scape up enough cash to survive while some large intragalactic wars are going on around you. Eventually you can power up enough to take entire planets under your control. It's a lot of fun, and has multiple storylines to play along.

 

I wonder if something like this could be pulled off on the 2600? One nice thing about space is that it's a black background, which makes the graphics pretty simple : )

Ever tried the Escape Velocity series from Ambrosia Software? It looks a lot like this. The latest and greatest iteration, Escape Velocity: Nova, is excellent. You play as a tiny ship trying to scape up enough cash to survive while some large intragalactic wars are going on around you. Eventually you can power up enough to take entire planets under your control. It's a lot of fun, and has multiple storylines to play along.

 

Sounds interesting, thanks!

 

I wonder if something like this could be pulled off on the 2600? One nice thing about space is that it's a black background, which makes the graphics pretty simple : )

 

I think it might be doable, yes. The graphics are very simple and iconized. It has tons of text to display though, there's an amazing amount of interaction with alien species.

 

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Unfortunately todays progress in the game was a major catastrophy, leading me as far as I can tell into a total dead end

 

What I did was stealing the "Crystal Orb" from the Veloxi race, which was a good idea actually, since I learned it is needed to finish the game. Unfortunatly when running into a couple of Veloxi ships they discovered the theft with their scanners. They where threatening to start a war if I wouldn't give it back, so I did. When I was trying to steal it again, I had to notice it was not returned to it's place, which after a lot of research seems to be a bug in the Genesis version. At least I was consulting tons of walkthroughs and Starflight message boards, but nowhere did I find an information regarding this other than going back and trying again...

 

I'm not sure now, if I want to start this game all over again or just declare this "Playing..." chapter done now. Maybe I'll still try the C64 version.

So, starting from the beginning today, using all experience so far, I almost made it back to where I was already. I have a feeling that there is more bugs in the Genesis version. After making very good contact to the Mechan Androids again, for no reason at all they suddenly started shooting at me.

 

Anyway here's an updated list of clues I have not solved/used so far:

- Avoid the area of Space Coordinates 135,84
 (Lost contact with two other ships there!)
- Ancient ruin in Nebula near Spemin home planet
 (82,148) (innermost planet)
- Secret way into Ulek territory: 106,139 64,186 35,186
- Phytagoras constellation 216,87
- 149,133 Interesting life forms and minerals
- Great Egg at 192, 152
- Phlegmark base at 35S 99E on 2nd planet of Axe
- Underground station on earth at 12N 104W
- Institute on Akteron 6 75S 66E
- Old Empire ruins on 34N 28E ice planet,
 downspin system of staff constelation
- Fluxes:
12, 87	  => 173,88
148, 166	=> 170, 93

Will continue this tomorrow, after a day off

 

I'm planning on consulting a walkthrough so I can hopefully finish it within the 5 days limit I set for this articles series

 

I must say, Starflight is one incredibly absorbing game, I can see why it became a "cult" game. The story is incredibly tight and it's very cool how it evolves from bits and pieces you gather from artifacts and interaction/conversations with the alien races.

 

What I'm not sure of, is wether the Genesis version is the right one to play though. From what I'm hearing, I think the Amiga version might provide the best Starflight experience.

 

On the Genesis there's a few things getting very tiresome, like the endless mineral collecting/harvesting breaks. There's also no Endurium (=Fuel) found on planets, so you have to buy it at very expensive rates. According to my informations, in the PC/Amiga versions you can just collect it there on a couple of planets, just like normal minerals.

;)

 

Guess what, part of the endsequence shows your ship flying away from an exploding planet...

 

;)

 

Well, at least I also got a nice medal:

 

So... ok, this game is pretty good. Has some great moments, has some boring moments. Do I need it for my Genesis collection? No, I don't think it is an essential must. My recommendation? Try the Amiga version in emulation, chances are good that you're loving it

 

Some future day the "Playing..." series may see its sequel "Starflight 2", but first it will continue with another movie licensed game.