StarFlight - In-depth Written Amiga Review With Pics/Gifs
StarFlight
Amiga, 1989 (Original DOS 1986)
Binary Systems/Electronic Arts/Micro Magic
$49.95
*Shown/played as designed, 60hz NTSC, 4:3 aspect ratio
*If pics show artifacting, zoom in/out (CRT effect)
I ponder, at times; If perhaps forty-seven years worth of personal gaming may have caused us to be pigeonholed into a narrow-minded view of genres. For the most part I actually find the various categories to be fairly straightforward. Running around, pointing and shooting? You're playing an action game. You might further split the fields into subcategories, if I said first person shooter you would know exactly what I'm referring to, yet any FPS would fit effortlessly into the action mold as well. Leaping over one obstacle to yet more while avoiding enemies or pits? That's a platformer. Should you find yourself tactically contemplating the big and the small, plotting the intricacies which "might" occur by thinking ahead, you'd obviously be talking strategy. Despite what the pretentiousness, elite gatekeepers might believe, you can successfully mix genres as well. There are "degrees" of simulations, for example. On one end you have the pure; the games so accurate to what they're simulating that you could use them to train yourself, or maintain real world skills. Should you not feel like reading a two-hundred page flight manual, plenty of games achieve a balance of realistic physics with a sprinkling (or more) of arcade elements thrown in as well. Dismissed by the purists of both classes, any objective look would find such games a balance of both, perhaps argumentatively the best.
There is however, one genre in which I would say the name is about as objectively-subjective as could possibly be. What is an adventure game? I know the definition and the qualities a game must possess to qualify as one, but it's the name itself which makes little sense. An adventure game isn't even the same across platforms, with console gamers believing it to be a sub-category of platformers or even RPGs. In the computer realm they were often used interchangeably with RPGs, but the real definition of an adventure are games with a heavy dependence on story, with puzzles and inventory management being the prime game mechanics. With no ill-intent intended I must confess, that I don't know how one gets "adventure" out of puzzles. Unlike most genres which feature fairly black and white definitions, what one person thinks of as an adventure may not align with another. I can only imagine that this insistence on calling these games adventures as opposed to interactive movies or puzzle games is solely due to tradition. Putting aside clones or ports of arcade games, the very first genre in personal gaming was the adventure. After forty-seven years I'd say it's long overdue that we reclassify the adventure, for it's games like StarFlight which I would contend deserve to be placed into this category instead. To put forth the reason as succinctly as possible, it's games like this which put you on the "adventure" of a lifetime!
StarFlight is not an adventure game, in-fact it checks every single qualifying box for RPG. You might choose to tack on "science fiction" to the front of role playing, steering it further away from the normal fantasies, but by all pure logic this is a role playing game. However, the quality's of many of its individual role playing elements are indeed so putrid, that I could only call StarFlight horrendous as a game within the genre it purports to be in! While it is, as I said, an awful RPG, I consider it at the same time to be among the best games ever made on both a personal and intellectual level. This dichotomy in thinking is why I would love to put StarFlight into its own category. Placed alongside the likes of Pirates, StarFlight is amongst the few which stand alone as the types of games I'd like to play when seeking to set forth on the grandest of adventures.
^Introduction text, creating the crew, beaming up
StarFlight remains an RPG, despite my desires to place it alone on a pedestal with few others. It's an RPG which is clearly and heavily influenced by the original television series Star Trek, along with the films which had come out prior to the game's original development. At times it's blatant enough to want to cry ripoff; "Your mission, to seek out new life forms...", to "...Boldy go where no game has gone before...", the use of such phrases arguably goes beyond admiration as well as parody, and into infringement. As opposed to being a ripoff, StarFlight is instead a love letter to Star Trek, with most similarities being confined to references. Tribbles are alluded to, though not mentioned by name. Bestowed a name which we choose, our ship is transfixed with the acronym ISS, the same as the parallel universe Enterprise featuring "evil" versions of the crew. Wandering space is a "Nomad" probe, and even the Enterprise herself can apparently be encountered.
The quotes and the references exude the reverence StarFlight's creators had for the franchise they were emulating, basking the player with the the vibes which make them want to explore these strange and unusual worlds. Official Trek games are historically a mixed bag, with some great or mid tier games mixed with the awful. Collectively they're rather diverse in terms of genres; arcade, simulation, adventures, but other than a pen and paper game there has never been a Star Trek RPG. Is it a missed opportunity, or protective copyright owners afraid to give the player the kind of power which might end up killing Captain Kirk or elevate themselves to the captain's char? Despite StarFlight's failings in many individual role playing elements, it nevertheless manages to be THE Star Trek role playing game. Pushing to the side the excellent atmosphere achieved via quotes or references, manning the bridge of your very own ship is what truly gives you the feeling of Star Trek, and along with the story these are the best roleplaying elements on offer.
Create your six character crew made up of your friends, yourself, or anyone else you happen to be in the mood to roleplay as. It's best to consult the manual during this process, as most crew assignments have a particular species which is not only best at a given position, but they'd border on uselessness should you choose anyone else. Among the reasons I call StarFlight a bad RPG is that other than changes to the names, your crew would be best assembled in the exact way as mine. Part of the fun of an RPG is digging around the manual to figure out the strengths and weakness of your party. I like the need to read in the first place here, but there's just not enough wiggle room to allow for argumentative preferences. It's not fun to feel forced into a precise formation.
^Exploring/mining planets in our home system, launching
A human scientist is the clear choice for science officer, as their training in that area maxes out at 250, allowing for a full analysis of a planet. One of the game's goals is to find suitable planets for colonization, successfully doing so gives a hefty boost to your finances. There's a bit of a "no-duh" feel to this process, in that you'd obviously prefer to see some greenery, water, and life, but where life manages to find a way can also be deceiving. Planets might have abundant oceans made up of ammonia instead of water, and the appropriate life for that environment, which could never include humans. Beyond oxygen and hydrogen, gravity and weather need to be between certain extremes, and just because you can't find life doesn't mean the planet is incapable of supporting it. Only a human can train to 250 in science, unlocking all of the information on planets and other starships.
Go down the list of crew assignments and it's much the same, you'll want the insect/fly species known as both the Velox and Veloxi as your navigator and engineer. Really, it doesn't actually matter in terms of the engineer, as that's one of the multiple assignments which serve no practical use inside of the game. The Veloxi are the only race which can train to the maximum of 250 in engineering, but their only function is to fix damage obtained to your ship while in space. Unfortunately you'll need a laundry list of minerals and an unknown as well as ungodly amount of those to actually repair any defacements. It's more practical to pay and have your ship repaired inside of the space station orbiting your home planet Arth, which makes the engineer rather pointless. Navigation, however, is essential to have maxed out, as any other species will get you lost on planets or in space. Planets have weather (depicted via text, not visually), and stormy conditions will cause all but a fully trained Veloxi to lose their position, putting your return trip at risk. Likewise while traveling through a wormhole, other races will pop out lost, a mere and lonely spec in a vast galaxy. Androids can also be selected for your crew, starting with higher default stats in many areas compared to other racees. Unfortunately, their starting stats aren't high enough to be of much use, and they can't be trained. Their use would prove quite futile.
The doctor is also relegated to pointlessness; The plant species Elowan are the only ones which can train to max, but it takes such an excruciatingly long time to heal that I'm guaranteeing you will just let the natural passing of time deal with the wound. Only one member of the crew can be healed at a time, and just like natural healing there is no immediate effect, it's yet another worthless character. A communications officer is needed, and is the only crew member where your choice could prove different than mine. Both the Elowan as well as the reptilian/dinosaur species Thrynn can max out their communication skills to 250. At lower skill levels you'll talk in "degrees" of gibberish to the various aliens. Low skill means only the occasional word can be understood, the better trained you are the more you'll understand, and only 250 can translate everything. By reading the manual you'll discover there's tension between the Thrynn and Elowan, and through the act of playing you might come to the conclusion that it's the complete and utter fault of the Thrynn, I certainly did. That aside, your choice of a Thrynn as any crew member will upset the Elowan, and vice-versa. If your crew consists of both those races, it could prove quite difficult getting information from either. I believe your captain would best be a human, as the manual notes their skill levels in all areas add to the collective skills of the ship, and humans have the best overall balance of skills.
^Some story, life on planets, jumping a wormhole
While there is a diverse selection of races featuring advantages and disadvantages, in practice there's not enough meaningful choice to provide a rich role playing experience, and you never want an RPG to feature any characters which objectively serve little to no purpose. There's more critiques to throw toward the various essential elements RPGs normally possess, and in where StarFlight does those wrong. I must confess that in the end I don't feel any of that matters, as this is still THE Star Trek RPG. Regardless of how useful a doctor happens to be in this game, just having one made me smile with thoughts of Dr. McCoy. It's the collective experience which makes up a game, and lovingly choosing who will make up your very own Enterprise (or the HMS Bounty as I wished to brand her) is critical to that experience. Assign your crew, read a bit of story, and use your meager starting funds to equip your ship (recommending a few cargo pods to start) before launching into space inside of your home star system.
Much of the gameplay involves either traveling through space, talking to aliens, or exploring planets. While inside of a solar system your ship consumes no fuel, and as you've unlikely procured much endurium (what the game calls fuel) to this point, it's best to stay within your starting confines until you've managed to upgrade your ship and crew a little more. Having no gas giants, I believe all of the planets here can be safely landed on and explored. The colors of the planets on the map screen can be somewhat indicative of what you're likely to find there. Red indicates a hot/molten environment which is unlikely to support life, while brown is rock/dirt which has a decent life bearing potential. Blue is covered primarily in water, and is generally the most likely environment to support life. White is a cold and icy world, signs of life would pop up from time to time at these locations. Purple are the gas giants, most of which will probably be skipped over as their crushing gravity prevents a safe landing.
As the game is non-linear I tended to land on and explore every planet I could, at least until later in the game when I became more excited to follow clues. There are no inventory puzzles here, figuring out the story is the puzzle, and it's what I loved most about StarFlight. Unlike most games which push you toward where they're wanting you to be, you're the one who's got to piece this thing together. There are clues which point you in multiple directions from the start, but there's no shortage of things which can be found on your own through the natural curiosity of exploration. Land on and mine every planet you can, and even if you don't come across a clue you'll still be making money. Mining is the grinding element of StarFlight, and I happened to enjoy it up to and through the mid-game. It eventually transitions into a tediousness, but by then you'll have upgraded your ship and racked up numerous clues which you'll be wanting to follow.
^Exploring the galaxy, communicating with aliens
When on the surface of a planet your crew is transferred to a rover, seen via a bird's eye view utilizing multiple zoom views. Zooming higher allows you to better spot clusters of minerals, though on the highest level you're not allowed to move. The lowest zoom provides the most detailed graphics, while the middle point is the compromise of both, and likely where you'll spend most of your time. Unless your navigator is fully trained it's best to stick to the cardinal directions, as weather can cause you to lose the bearings of your ship. Should you run short of fuel, regardless of if you're lost or not, you'll walk back to your ship in a spacesuit. Ridiculously, you end up losing your rover in this event, requiring a costly replacement back at the space station. If you can walk back to the ship, then I feel you should be able to walk back to the rover with fuel. These are punishments meant to limit your exploration, the designers likely not wanting you to know how small the planets actually are.
Besides the minerals, which are your primary source of money, planets may also contain various ruins or other lifeforms. All life found on the surfaces are considered non-sentient, and just as the minerals, can be collected in order to sell later. If showing hostility, you can stun the creatures to allow for easier capture. Their value is debatable compared to minerals, but on a handful of occasions I made a decent profit off them. A shipwreck indicates ruins from the Old Empire, which we learn through reading the manual is us, prior to the fall of Earth. Often times there's nothing at these ruins, but their mere presence indicates you should be on the lookout for more. This is what makes the exploration worth it in a non-linear game, as you can randomly come across notes which will point you toward the fixed location of an important item. I discovered multiple items (such as the cloaking device) through this process, and it's always fun to feel a step ahead of a game. Notes will also provide plot elements as well as clues, pointing you elsewhere in the galaxy. Pyramid structures indicate ruins of the Ancients, a mysterious race which we learn about throughout the game. You can often find fuel near these ruins, which is the game's most valuable resource.
The planets themselves are claimed to be procedurally generated, and while I would imagine that is true in terms of its original design, it's not in terms of a brand new playthrough. Any given planet is going to have the same map in my game as well as yours, despite false claims to the contrary from back then and today, so long as we're both playing the same version. It's as simple as starting a new game and going to the same planets to figure that one out, but apparently nobody has bothered to confirm this until now. There's also tricks employed so that you'll believe planets are of different sizes, when in fact every planet uses the same sized map. This is accomplished by starting closer or further away in your orbital view. I realized this during the landing sequences, where it was faster to land on a large planet (because the zoom was closer) than it was on a small one. In terms of your one playthrough the planets are generally varied, although there were certainly times dejavu struck as well. I'd say only a handful of planets had "distinct" enough features to be called memorable, Earth, Mars, and a nearly complete water world among them. But the fractal graphics of the planets do their job, and are extremely impressive for the time period. Exploring the planets in StarFlight is the equivalent of a fantasy RPG's dungeons, and I found them to be enjoyable.
^Combat
Upon filling your cargo hold it's back to the space station to sell off and profit from your goods. There's strategy to maximize their worth, as certain minerals are worth more than others. You could therefore dump the minerals you deem worthless in the field in order to hold more of value, but with the exception of fuel I'd say that's a waste of time. A few back and forths among the planets of your own solar system should provide enough money to fully train your crew. The training is another disappointing aspect in terms of an RPG, as in the span of an hour or two you should have fully accomplished this. Generally there are limits to training in an RPG, and only at the end of the game should you have achieved those ends. Not only that, but as alluded to before, your characters are almost useless until they are trained, necessitating you fulfill this feat as quickly as possible.
Besides training, the primary function of the game's economy is to upgrade your ship, and there are numerous tiers. There are five classes of engines, shields, armor, missiles, lasers, as well as sixteen cargo pods to add to your storage capacity. To fully upgrade my ship brought me through a nice chunk of the mid-game, so the economy does its job and I'd give it okay marks, but it's certainly nothing special. I think there's two items which can be purchased, the shield for your rover is the one which comes foremost to mind. Otherwise everything is found out there in the galaxy, and there's no shortage of items to discover. Anything you happen to find during your travels can be sold and bought back later, should you happen to find a need for its use. You could even sell items to use as a kind of loan to upgrade your ship, buying back things when your fortunes have improved. I believe there's a couple examples of alien races wanting to trade specific items, but generally there's no reason to buy minerals from the space station in order to sell them elsewhere.
Combat is probably the quickest way to get resources, as it's always easier to take from someone else than to earn it yourself. I feel combat is inevitable with every race except for the Elowan and Mechans, as they're the only ones who lack the kind of arrogance which begs for a good slapping. That said you can certainly minimize encounters by playing nice, groveling, or threatening at appropriate moments. Due to the aforementioned hubris combat cannot be completely avoided with most, as they will attack you at some point if only to cry ignorance. Combat is as simple as it could possibly be; Raise your shields and weapons and click "fire" over and over again, until you either succeed or die. As you cannot have an RPG without combat, and this is the worst fighting system I have ever seen, it's another point against StarFlight when speaking about its quality in terms of its genre.
^Nomad probe, one of the more unique looking planets
I do see "potential" in the combat; It's a bird's eye view of your ship and others, with multiple zooms so that all ships may remain in view. With that in mind, any number of changes could make the system decent, such as being turn based instead of real-time. The multiple upgrades to missiles and lasers you'd hope would matter, but I almost never saw missiles come from my own ship. It might be that you have to sell off your lasers in order to make use of missiles, which would be crazy to have spent time upgrading equipment that you can't even use. The enemy ships all use the same graphic model, although they can be "scanned" to show a unique blueprint of what they really should have just looked like in combat. When I said earlier that you can "apparently" encounter the Enterprise, it's because you'd never know it unless you scanned every ship you encountered, because they all look the same. You can maneuver your ship during combat, but that takes time away from firing since this is real-time. In practice all you're going to do is spam fire until you win or lose, and that can only be described as terrible combat. It should still be easy enough with an upgraded ship, and the salvage value of only a few enemies should equal the equivalent of numerous mining trips.
Before setting off to the stars, I'd recommend at least one if not more upgrades to your engines, as the burning of fuel is rather wasteful with the one's you start with. There are a couple nearby star systems, and those would actually be fine to travel to without the upgraded engines, should you feel an eagerness to get moving. I wouldn't personally call mining around our home grinding, as just naturally exploring the areas around Arth got me enough money to train. I baby-stepped out of the solar system, and exploring the stars nearby brought me the money to upgrade my engines a bit. It's not grinding unless you're aware of it, I was just exploring. You know where all the stars in the galaxy are for the most part (with the exception of any stars in a nebula, those you'll need to find yourself), shown via an in-game map as well as the physical feelie variety. I planned accordingly to hopefully have enough fuel for the return trip, and occasionally got thrown a curveball as well.
Heading due south (or downspin as the game calls it, to maintain an illusion of three dimensions) I happened to see a strange disturbance in space. It was only by having a decently trained navigator that I was even able to see this fluctuation, and traveling into it revealed that I'd found a wormhole. With an untrained navigator you'll have no idea where you've been spit out, but since I had that covered I was able to decide if I wanted to turn back and save it for later, or continue onward in my explorations. Note taking is essential to getting anywhere in StarFlight, and I had written an entire page just from reading the manual. In-game I collected another couple of pages, mainly made up of keywords and coordinates. I also made a copy of the map so that I could jot down where the wormholes were, what systems I had visited, which ones contained colonizable planets, and just to figure out where I wanted to explore next. Besides the clues which can point all over the place, we're never specifically told we should go anywhere, that's on us. On occasion we're even told to avoid a location, then we'll have to decide if that's advice we should follow. Sometimes the clues dried up altogether, necessitating our gut take control. We've got to figure out StarFlight for ourselves, and I adore this aspect of some of the old games. You don't know true gaming accomplishment until you've won something like this without looking anything up.
^A couple important locations I just happened to run into, landing on Earth
As a kid it was the Star Trek feel which made me love StarFlight, but upon coming back it's the story which had me falling in love all over. The moral ambiguity on display here is not often found in the Trek universe, where the good and the bad are clearly defined. At the start all we know is that there's a lot we don't know. We come from Earth, a part of a large galactic empire with multiple alien races, at war with others. Earth falls at some point, launching multiple colony ships prior to this. One of these ships settle on the planet we now call home, Arth, only to revert to a pre-industrial state. After a thousand years pass we're approaching where we once were, having discovered an underground colony with our old technology. Multiple starships were created to explore the unknown, one of which we're in command of, though none of the others seem to factor into gameplay.
Slowly more is revealed, that our home star seems to be slated for death, and we're to find suitable worlds which could support a new colonization effort. By talking to others we find out that it's not just us, the entire galaxy is on a timer. This translates to about a years worth of time in-game to set things "right", before our star flares and destroys all life on Arth. I used quotations there because it's revealed that the Ancients are alive, an intelligent lifeform that exists on a different level to us that we cannot fully perceive. It turns out the crystalline matter which is used as fuel and known as endurium in the game, ARE the ancients. We've been murdering them in order to fuel our space travels, and they perceive us as a virus that must be exterminated. They're the ones which have been causing stars to flare, and that's exactly what happened to Earth so many years ago.
It's an incredibly story, because it causes you to pause and think "are we really the good guys here?" In terms of the game we are, because it's told as if it's either them or us. We must take care of them in order to win, but it sticks with you as quite the difficult choice, making you consider questions such as "are we still using endurium for fuel in StarFlight 2?" If so, we probably deserved to have died in this game, but we haven't made it to the sequel yet. But that kind of moral dilemma wrestling with you as a gamer is not brought up often, especially back in the 80's. The story, told only in incremental paragraphs here and there is what makes StarFlight one of the best games of all time for me. Figuring it out was the challenge, following the clues, not all of which were relevant. I must have followed a "Harrison" to just about every corner of the galaxy, trying to figure out what he meant and why the old empire was hunting him down. I got an important item from his last known location, but I never did figure out what he was up to and why he was on the run. Not everything gets wrapped up in a neat bow, but that's life and I appreciate that these kinds of elements are here.
^Tracking down important items
A good chunk of the game's clues will come from communicating with the various aliens inhabiting the galaxy with us. As touched upon during my thoughts on combat, most of them are pricks who are utterly in love with themselves. I never once initiated combat with any race except for the squid-like Guzertoid's, and only then after they constantly attacked me first. But even the "friendly" ones attacked me on occasion, and if you're firing the first shots I'm going to be the one to end that situation. Acting friendly with the Veloxi, Thrnn, or Speeman will only get you into the topics concerning themselves, because that's all they care about. If you want to know more you've got to either grovel if you're weak or threaten them if you're strong. Only the Mechans and Elowan are inherently friendly unless you do something to change that, while the Guzertoid and Uhlek are continually hostile, and the rest you'll have to manipulate to get the information you need.
You ask lots of questions and sift through what's treasure and what's trash, writing down what sounds important. The Veloxi mention having a sacred number which happens to be six, a wonderful clue to understand upon discovering satellites continually spewing digits at you. Stuff you've discovered while exploring can also help you deal with others, an abandoned Captain's Log speaking of code reds, code blues, Heaven, important information when dealing with the Mechans. Information from one race can help you deal with others, but keep in mind their prejudices because they might be manipulating you, too. The Tyrnn are happy to point you toward a Black Egg, which is a planet killer bomb, but they want you to use it on a an Elowan world, claiming it to be the home planet of the Uhlek. While somewhat one dimensional, I felt the communication elements of StarFlight added to the gameplay beautifully.
Graphically I enjoyed the representation of the aliens. Rather than the normal humanoid aliens seen in Star Trek, they're instead various creatures of Earth which are further on the evolutionary timetable than their counterparts we're familiar with on our own planet. The Guzertoid's are intelligent squids, the Veloxi are depicted as both flies as well as mantises, the Elowan are plants, Thrynn are shown as both lizards and dinosaurs, the Speeman are a little less obvious, perhaps intelligent slime, while the Uhlek are never seen. They all look amazing on the Amiga, with separate colorful palettes for each of them. In terms of the rest of the game, the graphics are perfect for what they are trying to accomplish, but not particularly impressive. Planets are made up of fractal graphics, each with their own 16 color pallets, so there's bound to be over a hundred individual colors used throughout the game. The landing sequences are slow, starting from orbit until landing on the surface, a good minute or more of slow framerates. But whenever I came across a unique planet I'd sit through the sequence anyway, it looks pretty good.
^Other versions; DOS top 2, Genesis middle 2, C64 bottom 2On every level this Amiga incarnation towers above the DOS original, even using a higher graphics resolution of 320x200 compared to the 140x196 on offer from DOS. Sound here is nothing fantastic, but it certainly beats any PC speaker bloops, and there are multiple short tunes which play throughout the game on Amiga. There's an Atari ST version which is identical for the most part, which can only mean that as good as it is on the Amiga, it could have been better. The Macintosh versions are also similar, having both a black and white and color version there. On the Commodore 64 it's rather impressive for the 8-bit giant, a kind of cross of the DOS, Amiga, and later Genesis version. A bit slow, but everything that matters is there with some argumentative improvements. The Genesis differs the most, with some minor mechanical changes designed to make things more action orientated for the console gamers. An example is the combat, somehow made more tedious than the computer versions. Some of the graphics are much better, others like the portraits not so much, but it's all there as well, and any of these versions are well worth playing for a fan of the game. I'd point to the Amiga above them all, but would also recognize the Genesis as better for those wanting a bit more action, but at some point I'd like to return to them all.
StarFlight was originally released for the IBM-PC in the fall of 1986, designed over the course of multiple years by Binary Systems, and published by Electronic Arts. The critical acclaim received throughout the years is really focused on what it meant for its original platform. There was nothing approaching this kind of depth for the PC back then, the most noteworthy title prior to this probably being King's Quest, a game which was clearly based on Apple II technology and could have been put on anything at the time. The PC was a joke when it came to gaming, and would largely remain so throughout the 80's. People still bought them though, and thus they slowly started to get more attention, to the point they'd be designed on first over far more capable machines. StarFlight was probably the first DOS game which could make the users of other machines jealous. Not because DOS was doing anything special that the other's couldn't, but because that's where it came out first.
And it would stay there for a frustratingly long amount of time, with the first port being to the Amiga in late 1989, three years after its DOS release and ported by Micro-Magic. Announced for the Amiga as early as 1986, and continually announced throughout the ensuing years, why did it take so long? It would be pure speculation, but much like EA had been paid off by Commodore to keep FA/18 an exclusive Amiga title, I'm thinking they were playing all sides, happily accepting money from IBM to keep this on DOS. If not that, perhaps the designers didn't know how to port, or were too ambitious in wanting to improve the port, but it really shouldn't have taken as long as it did. I wouldn't say it had anything to do with perceived lack of sales, as during my video review I found evidence to suggest it was quite the seller on the Amiga and others, selling 250,000 units after the ports, when sales were previously claimed to have been 150,000 on DOS, and would reach as a high as a million once it came out on the Genesis. In the end I'm glad it came here late, as it probably would have been more of a straight port if released too quickly, and I'm happy with the improvements on offer.
^Winning the game
Magazines covering the DOS original were overwhelmingly positive, some even to the point of cringe, making you wonder if perhaps money was exchanging hands. Then again, it's not as if there were seasoned critics reviewing PC games at that time, some might have just been overtly gushing to express their joy of being able to play any kind of entertainment software on their machine. I'd say Popular Computing in Britain best described the sentiments, saying it was "... one of the most engrossing and impressive games on any computer.", "...best argument for buying an IBM emulator for machines like the Atari ST or Amiga.", "StarFlight puts an entire galaxy into your PC...", giving the game 5 out 5 diamonds. Stephen King (not that one) writing for Quest Busters was on the questionably overenthusiastic side, "If you're beginning to get the idea that StarFlight is literally studded with all the details that make games interesting and exceptionally playable, you're right!", "...offers all the complexity of most fantasy role-playing games and then some". Writing for Computer Gaming World, Mark Bausman cringely turned what should have been a review into a five page fantasy novel and walktrhough, the only sentence of relevance being "In short StarFlight has to be the best science fiction game available on computer." Winning CGW's adventure game of the year award in 1987, inducted into their hall of fame in 1988, and ranking as the 55th best game of all time in 1996.
Info covered the Amiga version multiple times, first through Mark Brown; "Though the blocky graphics badly betray this game's 8-bit origins, StarFlight is a highly playable game with lots of play detail.", giving the game 4 out of 5 stars. Shay Adams reviewed the Amiga version three different times for three different magazines. For Info he did a combined review with the 64, "Having seen StarFlight on 4 systems now, I can objectively call the Amiga version the best and recommend it to anyone with a taste for space. But it's only recommended for C64 gamers with lots of patience." For Compute's Amiga Resource he said "...a number of enhancements make the Amiga version of this classic space game far more fun than the MS-DOS original.", "It's too bad Binary Systems didn't design StarFlight on the Amiga to begin with..." In a kind of rebuke of King's review of the DOS version, Adam's re-reviewed it in Quest Busters, "Had I only waited for the Amiga and Mac versions, I might have actually finished the mission...", "Combat is too simple to satisfy.", but it's still "...highly recommended."
The only negative review I found in America was from Amazing Computing via R. Bradley Andrews, "The graphics in the game are simply OK...", "Cute sound sequences...", "Control is rather clumsy...", "...has missed its potential." Europe, on the other hand was far more mixed in its opinions. Amiga Action let three people give their short takes on it, "...it's got that addictive quality that all strategy games do possess.", "...missed the boat. It promised so much but delivered so little.", "StarFlight is a very good game...", and despite two out of three liking it, a score of 64% was given. 86% from Amiga Computing, and 67% from Amiga User International even though the gameplay was said to be "...excellent. Overall a good story and a good challenge to the space adventurer." 78% from ST Action, and the Australian Commodore and Amiga Review said it was "...probably the best interactive adventure game I've seen."
I feel StarFlight is one of the best games of all-time, both personally as well as intellectually. Any failures as an RPG are easily dismissed, certainly when pondering the overall experience. Clueless in space, we've got to piece this one together through note taking, ingenuity, and a little luck. While the destination is wonderful through its twists and moral implications, the journey was even better, and those are the kind of adventures I'm looking to have. I loved StarFlight as a kid, as it put me into the captain's chair, but I've grown to love it even more now through its compelling story. I hope you'll check out my video review, where any magazines mentioned here will be read from and opined on, comparisons will be shown, and some of the excellent manual shall also be read. Special thanks to my crew; Songstryss, Stygian Phoenix, Intric8, EsperDreams, and PacBilly. It's the people I love to watch which keep me inspired, and I love them. Readers of this article may also enjoy my looks at Pirates (Amiga), Ultima (C64), or The Faery Tale Adventure (Amiga).
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