Hughes@ils.nwu.edu (Lucian Hughes) (03/02/90)
Anyone have any comments on Starflight (I just saw it
out for the Mac)? Even short comments like "GREAT!"
or "TERRIBLE!" would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Lucian Hughesmikel@Apple.COM (Mikel Evins) (03/03/90)
StarFlight is a very good game, although the Mac version is not that good an implementation. I want to make the distinction clear, because I think that the Mac version of StarFlight is definitely worth buying, despite the clumsiness of the porting job. The Game The idea is that you start at a starport with a ship and a budget. You can hire any of several species into the six crew positions, and you have certain latitude in spending your money on equipment and training for the crew. (Start out by buying cargo pods, and training your Science Officer, Navigator, and Communications officer.) You can do any of several different things in the StarFlight universe, including mineral exploration, encountering alien life-forms (some familiar, some not), and engaging in warfare or piracy. You'll find out for yourself how well these various activities pay off. The universe has several intriguing mysteries in it, and some rather broad practical jokes. All in all, it's a lot of fun. My mother bought it for her PC Clone about three or four years ago, and I loved it then. I played it for weeks, and she played it for months. It can be extremely absorbing. She has recently bought the PC version of StarFlight II and loves it. I bought the Maqc version as soon as I could get my hands on it, and have enjoyed it, even though it's the same old species and the same old mysteries. I recommend it, though not without reservations. And that brings us to... The Mac Version When I played the game on the PC Clone with a CGA card for graphics, I was impressed with what the game's designers had done graphically with a limited system. I cannot say the same for the Mac version. The black and white version of the game is adequate, but relatively primitive. The color version has pretty colors, but the resolution of the images is ridiculous considering the machine that the game must be running on in order to be displaying color at all. More annoying than the crude low-res graphics is the interface. The implementors have chosen to place an idiosyuncratic and clunky interface inside a more-or-less standard Mac window. There are various crudely represented buttons and arbitrary modes, all of which could have been done more easily using standard Mac interface components, and doing so would have resulted in a smoother, more responsive, and more beautiful interface. In their favor, the folks who ported the game chose to make it compatible with MultiFinder, so you can run StarFlight in one window and have other applications going in others. I do this so that I can use MicroSoft Word to keep notes about the game that is in progress. Another major annoyance in the port, though, is the game-saving strategy. You can only save a finite number of games (six, I think), and each one is saved by number (game 1, game 2, and so on). You have no ability to name a saved game, and you must load saved games by number. I can't imagine why they chose to implement the game in this way. Conclusion Despite the problems I have with the interface and the quality of the game's graphics, I still think that StarFlight is an excellent game, and well worth buying. It's good for hours of fun exploring, mining, and fighting appropriately weird BEMs. The Mac version actually has several improved features relative to its PC Clone ancestor, including more convenient maneuvering on planets, better speed, and cruise control for long voyages. I bought it, and if I had it to do over again, I'd buy it again. I only hope that Electronic Arts decides to port its successor, and chooses to do the implementation right this time. --me