zinger wrote:I just cleared the Mega Drive version of this. Must have been impressive for its time (the original computer version was released in 1988): an all-polygon first person shooter with an epic sci-fi setting, an elaborate plot and a huge world spanning across four solar systems and dozens of planets. Generally, you can move between planets freely (as long as you have a landing beacon for them), at which point the game turns into a flight simulator, where you can cruise (or warp) around in space as you like and fight multiple enemies at a time.
The frame-rate is generally too low for the action to really feel satisfying, and the FPS sections are extremely simplistic and just not a lot of fun. The game feels a bit too drawn out as well, with countless of "dungeons" that you have trudge your way through (they are all ugly mazes with the same music). You also have to spend a lot of time doing side-quests (like just walking around looking for certain people) that don't add much to the plot and mostly feel like a waste of time (graphics and music are reused a lot). Still, I was extremely impressed by the huge scope of the game, its technical achievements and how it manages to combine different genres into one game. The soundtrack is also one of my absolute favourites. Eventually I will take a closer look at the computer versions of the game (once I have the appropriate hardware), but more than anything now I'm interested in what similar games might have been availiable at the same time, especially outside of Japan. Star Cruiser is considered a masterpiece in Japan, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Western flight simulators (preferably with a strong emphasis on space exploration) compare.
Any recommendations?
Recap recommended me the Amiga game Starglider 2 (Argonaut Software, 1988) for 3D shooting and space exploration.
