Starquest/Encounter

Computer: Sinclair ZX81
Price: £3.95 (Cassette)
Publisher: Pixel Productions
Reviewers: Max Phillips, Mel Pullen
Rating: 3/5

Both these games, on a single cassette, deal with man's first steps away from this planet.

The first, Starquest, sends you on a space adventure. You and your interstellar exploration ship 'Starquest' must search for new worlds to colonise.

The second, described as an IQ Game, casts you as an Earthling kidnapped by aliens wishing to probe your intelligence and cultural development.

These games are written by Pixel and marketed by Quicksilva, and come in versions for the Vic, Spectrum and ZX81. I tried the ZX81 version.

Objectives

In Starquest, you wander around the universe investigating stars. You are on the lookout for Earth-like planets ripe for colonisation, though your goal is also to chart and claim any planets suitable for mining.

There are hazards to be faced including meteor showers, unidentified missiles, supernovas, and black holes - and the latter two can wipe you out. The game ends if you lose your ship or manage to find a habitable planet orbiting a star.

There is no winning or losing; at the end, you are simply given a score screen that lists stars visited, planets claimed for Earth, and shuttle ships lost.

First Impressions

Apart from a brief scene-setting blurb on the back of the cassette label, no instructions are given. But as the game is a simple cycle or finding a star, looking at planets, and claiming them if they are of any value, none are needed. You get a brief LOADING test before the program itself, so you can set your tape volume correctly.

In Play

You have very little to do in this game, and I found that disappointing. You get to press the odd key when you're told to at various points, buy you can't modify the action at all.

At the start you see a black screen with a handful of stars, and hit a key to select a star to visit. You are told that your spacecraft is going into hyperdrive, then your arrival is announced seconds later.

"This is Procyon", you may be told, along with details of the star jump you just made and the star's vital statistics. You scan the star system for habitable or mineral-rich planets, and you may orbit any of interest.

But most of the time all you do is sit there and admire the screen. And, as the program is written in Basic, everything is rather slow.

The second game on the tape, Encounter, really carries on where you finished with Starquest. It is, says Pixel, "A simulation of primary contact with extra-terrestrial life."

That sounds promising, but Pixel warns you that the experience may be rather one-sided. "It is a much greater intellect that brings these travellers to our insignificant orb," trumpet the game instructions. "Is man yet ready for membership of the galactic union?"

If you can answer the questions the alien sets you... well, why not try it and see?

Verdict

Starquest's format is so repetitive that I don't think anyone will play it for long. I found it downright boring after the first half hour, since you are only required to do anything once every few minutes.

Encounter did have a couple of surprises in store, but all in all, despite a fairly low price tag, I think there are much more interesting games available.

Rating

Lasting Appeal 1/5
Playability 3/5
Use Of Machine 4/5
Overall Value 3/5