jmdavis@ihuxy.UUCP (Davis) (11/27/86)
Since the buying season is upon us I thought I would write of my
opinions on a few computer games. Below is a review of ELITE.
Elite from FireBird software in England is a space adventure game
of the highest quality. Saying that it is an adventure game is
perhaps a bit misleading but it has much of the feel of an adventure
game. You start as a lowly space merchant with a poorly equiped (sp?)
ship 100 credits to spend on either upgrading your ship or buying
tradable goods. You then select a destination star system (after
having started out at a starbase in the current system) and hyperspace
to the vicinity of the starbase. You have to fly the ship the rest
of the way in. This is where the fun starts.
The flight controls are very well done, joystick left and right roll
you appropriately, and up and down climb and dive. There is 3-D radar
display giving positions of enemy ships and asteroids (and jettisoned
cargo) relative to your current position. There is also a "compass"
which aids in navigating to the starbase. The out the cockpit view
is incredible, the objects (enemy ships, asteroids, cargo cannisters,
and starbase) are just line drawings but with hidden lines removed.
The dog fight action en-route to the base is just incredible. But
once near the starbase your piloting is not over yet. Docking is
next. Ever try to dock with a rotating starbase?
The detail of the game is unbelievable. There are about 20 goods
to trade in (any or all carriable at once) ranging from food and
narcotics to computers and furs. The best finiancial (sp?) rewards
are reaped by trading between agricultural and industrial worlds.
There are about 20 tyoes of enemy ships.
There are about 6 types of local governments (which determine how
many pirates will be in the neighborhood of the planet waiting to
steal your cargo and how much the locals will be willing to pay for
goods). There are about 100 stars per galaxy to visit and 8 galaxies
in the game (all this loads in from the disk at one time!!!).
If you get tired of trading you can become a pirate yourself and
shoot down others and atempt to take their cargo, or mine asteroids.
The rule book perpetuates the adventure game concept since it is
written as a owner's manual to the starship (with some hints on
how to trade effectively).
The game is great, hours of fun, WEEKS of fun, I give it a 10
despite the fact that I have a few negatives to say about it.
1. it is a bit dull being super rich, would be nice to buy
a different type of ship. (However extra suprises await the
super rich)
2. there is not enough variation between the galaxies, (perhaps this
is a bit hasty I have only been to three of them.)
3. the manual suggests asteroid mining or piracy as alternatives
to trading, but I find that trading (being a bit dull after
intensive play) is MUCH more profitable than the other methods.
DON'T GET ME WRONG, I love this game anyway and highly recommend it
if you like space type stuff.
Mike Davis
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