Star Control is not a title that will impress your eyes and ears however, that the game can overcome such audio/visual shortcomings and be held in such high regard should be viewed as a sign of the strength of its gameplay and depth. The rotating star map looks neat, but it’s nothing which could not be done in Q-BASIC. Given how few detailed sprites there are in the game (14 ships and pilots, a single asteroid sprite, and a handful of planets), you’d expect the game to look fluid and amazing backed by the 7-megabits or so devoted solely to so few objects. The animation of the ships and pilots are mediocre at best.
While the asteroids do revolve as they drift through space, the planets and ships themselves look incredibly flat in comparison. Space is horrendously repetitive, the only thing distinguishing one star battle from the next is the occasional change of the sole static planet or moon sprite. It’s a travesty to see such a well designed game have to put up with subpar sound and graphics, especially in light of all the excess memory. While Star Control graphically does borrow from existing concepts, the design and presentation is so impeccably done that it stands well on its own.
That’s not to say that the game lacks original touches - the Syreen Penetrator’s siren song which lures an opponent’s crew to eject themselves from their ship and the Androsynth Guardian’s Blazer form which allows its bubble producing ship to turn into a destructive comet are certainly unique. The Ilwrath Avenger is a dead ringer for a Klingon Bird-of-Prey right down to the Optical Cloaking Device, while the changing wing formation of the Mmrnmhrm Transformer recalls Star Wars‘ own X-Wing Fighter. Star Control is heavily inspired by Star Trek and other science fiction media in design as well. Otherwise, lasers, shields, and other sound effects sound as though they could have been pulled from an episode of Star Trek. and the Ur-Quan Dreadnought’s fearsome “Launch Fighters!” command. The sound effects are clear and decent but nothing to write home about, the only ones of note being the authentic whimper of a shot Chenjesu Broodhome D.O.G.I. Beyond the title and ending themes, the music consists of just 14 short clips, one for each alien race and lasting only a few seconds, played when you defeat the enemy or view an alien race’s profile. Unfortunately, you really have to wonder where all that memory went as the game is as silent as they come.
Star Control flaunts its 12-megabit cartridge right on the package, stating that it devotes a whole 5-megabits to music and sound effects alone. The connection was then made that the bigger the game, the better it was - a bigger game meant more data for graphics, levels, music, and so forth - and Strider did a tremendous job in driving that point home. Of the initial line-up, Star Control was unique, as it would be the first 12-megabit video game cartridge.īy and large consumers paid no attention to cartridges sizes, but the Sega Genesis changed all that beginning with Strider, the first 8-megabit cartridge. Ballistic titles were to provide only the best gaming has to offer, and the company was so certain of this that it sought the services of Boris Vallejo to paint the covers for all Ballistic releases.
#Star control 2 androsynth Pc#
The Genesis port of the PC classic came at the perfect time for Accolade, which had just gone about creating its Ballistic label for high quality games. Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford’s masterpiece of science fiction game design won countless awards and praise from the press. Genre: Action/Strategy Developer: Fred Ford/Paul Reiche III Publisher: Accolade Players: 1-2 Released: 1991
0 kommentar(er)
