84 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
84 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
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STARFLIGHT II: TRADE ROUTES OF THE CLOUD NEBULA
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I've been waiting to get my hands on this for several years now. I had a lot of
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fun with the original STARFLIGHT I, and the storyline of STARFLIGHT II is
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equally entertaining. That's the good news. Unfortunately, there is also bad
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news: This is one of the most frustrating games I have ever endured. (This
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review is based on the IBM-PC version.)
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For its off-disk copy protection, STARFLIGHT II uses a combination of a
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trademap (a map of the universe you're playing in) and what they call a
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navigation calibrator. That's a contraption you place over the map on its x-y
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coordinates and look through the opening. The computer then asks for a piece of
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coded information. Seems pretty simple, right? Wrong! I completely wasted the
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first ten hours trying to play this game, in which I answered the code question
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correctly only once (and I'm really not that stupid).
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Every time you leave your Starport, you're asked for a code. When you answer
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the code question, it never tells you if you're right or wrong; it just asks if
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you're sure. You find out if you are wrong anywhere from one half-hour to
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several hours later, when the Interstel Police pull you over. Then you get _one_
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more chance: Blow it, and the game is history. Perhaps there were problems in
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printing some (if not all) of the maps; some dark blue stars look purple, some
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orange stars look red, and if you happen to be slightly colorblind, forget it!
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Electronic Arts says it will provide a replacement map for colorblind players,
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but I don't think anyone should have to go through that hassle in the first
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place. Different lighting conditions can also affect how the colors are
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perceived. This is probably the first time I've ever been convinced that an
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off-disk protection scheme really stinks.
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Some things about STARFLIGHT II are good; it's just hard to find them when you
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have so much trouble getting started. There are many more alien races to
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interact with (30 in all); planetside trading with different races (some of
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these guys like to bargin hard); time travel; somewhat better resolution in some
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places; a good story line; and interaction with some old and some new
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space-faring aliens. The universe you play in doesn't seem as dense (there
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aren't as many systems and planets) as the origional, but with 150 star systems
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and 500 planets to explore, there's plenty to do. A few of the speciality items
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are neat: Jump pods allows you to cross great distances, although you don't
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always end up exactly where you expected; blasto pods are a good weapons system;
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and there are an assortment of other items that might prove useful.
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Although I played the IBM-PC version on a 386-16 (0 wait states) clone,
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STARFLIGHT II is the _only_ game or simulation I've encountered that runs slow
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in many places: It's barely playable. I shudder to think what it's like on a
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PC/XT/AT-class machine. When you're tooling your terrain vehicle around on a
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planet's surface, it can actually take a second or two to go from one option on
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the control panel to another. The speed of moving between commands is also a
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problem in other parts of the game. And if you're not careful, several stacked
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commands might be processed while the computer is waiting a second or two; those
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commands are saved in the type-ahead buffer and executed when the computer
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catches up to you. In some sections of the game, this can get you killed (i.e.,
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the game is blown) with just one wrong answer. Make sure, therefore, to enter
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your commands _very_ slowly. Your computer may be fast, but this game is not.
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The graphics of STARFLIGHT II are somewhat improved over the original game
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(STARFLIGHT I). In EGA/VGA mode, the opening screen is quite nice. When you
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encounter other races, their images are well-illustrated, but that's about as
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far as it goes. The interface (command menus), ship's graphics, etc., are
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basically the same as the original. You get more colors and it looks a bit more
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detailed, but the ultimate effect is the same.
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With a game as big and complicated as STARFLIGHT II, a save-game feature is a
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_must_. But in this game, the procedure just doesn't work as stated in the
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manual, which means that after hours of play, you can find yourself up the creek
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(or downspin) without a paddle. A lot of Gamers' Forum members on CompuServe
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have come up with various fixes; some seem to work on some systems, and some
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don't. The one thing that apparently worked for me was saving the game and
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exiting; saving and continuing worked only intermittently. One of explanations
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offered by Electronic Arts is that it might be a DOS problem. However, the
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manual says the program supports DOS 2.11 through DOS 3.3; I used 3.3 and still
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had problems.
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Bottom line: If you have played and loved the original STARFLIGHT I, and you
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can't live without trying STARFLIGHT II, I hope you have a lot of time and
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patience. Otherwise, I'm sorry to say, I must recommend that you avoid this
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game.
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STARFLIGHT II is published by Binary Systems and distributed by Electronic
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Arts.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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