Producer: Realtime
Retail Price: £7.95
Author: Graeme Baird, Ian Onions and Ian Oliver

Nearly eighteen months after the fast 3D graphics in Starstrike stunned the Spectrum gamesplaying world, Realtime have release the sequel under the unassuming title of Starstrike II. The original game contained three screens of wire-frame animation and owed a fair debt to the Star Wars arcade game in terms of gameplay. Now Realtime have produced a game with filled-in 3D graphics and have come up with a totally different gameplay to go with them...

The scenario continues from the story told in Starstrike: after the Outsiders' first attack was repelled by the Starstrike star fleet, the aliens regrouped back to their homeworlds to plot and hatch plans anew against the Federation. Understandably narked by the constant alien threat, the Federation decides that something has to be done. A new all-purpose fighter is designed, the Starstrike II series, and is sent off to the Outsiders' homeworlds to neutralise each planet's defences.

The Outsiders realise the Federation is out to get them, and their worlds are heavily defended. Your task as pilot of a Starstrike II ship is not trivial - there are twenty two planets on the neutralisation list, and these can be categorised into three different groups: Agricultural, Industrial and Military. Each type of planet has a different control system that is in charge of all the work droids on that world. Destroy the controller, and the planet becomes totally harmless.

The Outsider planets are spread across five star systems, and the first thing to do when play commences is to choose the star system on which to begin work. Your ship is not capable of hyperspace travel between star systems, and has a support module that carries fuel supplies. Once a star system has been selected, the support modules makes the hyperspace jump and your ship's own hyperdrive jump can then be used to hop between planets in that system.

Your craft is equipped with the latest in shield, laser and computer technology and all you have to do is master the controls! Three meters on the control console are well worth keeping an eye on: fuel, shields and heat. Naturally, the fuel gauge reveals the level in the ship's tanks. The shield display shows the strength level of the complex defence fields set up around your craft. The enemy ships are quite impressively equipped as well, and with no shields a direct enemy hit entails instant death - yours. The heat meter is directly linked to the laser cannon and automatically cuts the laser out if they get too hot. Not having much idea about space battle, the thermostat is more than likely to stop power to the guns when they're needed most. The whole game is seen through the front window of your ship with the dashboard neatly laid out along the lower part of the display. Four laser cannon are grouped around the screen, firing onto a central sight, which is also used to steer your craft.

A variety of defence systems have to be overcome. The Space Wheel is only present on military and a few industrial worlds, and is a giant pentagonal structure protected by defence pods. The five pods on the perimeter of a Wheel have to be blasted off as the Wheel spins in space, advancing towards you. If all five pods are shot off, a door opens in the centre of the structure which gives access to a hangar. Matching the rotation of your craft with that of the wheel allows you to enter the hangar, where points can be collected for destroying the Outsider ship that lurks therein. To escape from the hangar and proceed to the next section of the game the three controllers that operate the irising exit door have to be shot away - careful timing is needed here, as the door remains in the position it reaches at the instant when the third door controller is destroyed.

All the Outsider planets are protected by Defence fields which consist of a number of gridded force barriers in space. Small openings in the force fields exist to allow Outsider craft to cross, but these entrances are obscured by spinning energy squares and are defended by missile systems. The more important the planet that you are attacking, the more Defence fields you have to penetrate - and they get progressively harder...

After crossing a planet's Defence fields your craft goes into orbit and enters battle with the Outsider fleet defending the planet. A handy head up scanner system tracks the enemy, using two windows. The right hand window displays the relative vertical position of an object or ship in the vicinity, while the left hand window gives a plan view of the surrounding chunk of space. When an enemy craft comes within laser range, the scanner windows automatically flip off and combat begins.

Some Outsider ships release a fuel pod when they are destroyed and the pods can be collected to boost fuel supplies. You have to be quick to get these since Outsider fuel scoops zoom in and try to whip them away. Once the orbital fighters have been vanquished, it's down to the planet and into the Ground Attack sequence, where a cross imposed over the planet's surface targets the laser system. Points are awarded for destroying alien artefacts.

The Ventilation Duct is the next stage of the game, which is an upgraded version of the original trench sequence in Starstrike. Inside the duct the lasers are inoperative, and survival depends on your ability to dodge the trench constructions as collisions rapidly deplete shield energy. The usual left/right, up/down controls apply, with the fire button used in conjunction with up and down to accelerate and decelerate. Some careful driving is called for, as it's impossible to manoeuvre while changing speed. Mobile beams cross your path, spinning fans hinder you and irising doors have to be negotiated before the exit to the trench appears and the last phase of the attack on a planet begins.

The last stage varies for the different types of planet, but the general idea is similar. Depending on the type of planet, a reactor system, battle computer or agricultural control centre has to be knocked out as you fly along a computer controlled course. A successful strike opens a door at the far end of the course, and the game returns to the planet selection screen with one more planet deactivated.

The balance between fuel and shield levels is critical, and at the end of the stage in the attack on a planet fuel can be transferred to the shields. There's only one life in the game, and the mission ends if fuel or shields reach zero - and the galaxy will forever more be plagued by the Outsiders. Now that's not something you want to happen is it?

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, O/P left/right, B, N, M, SYM SHIFT, SPACE fire, X accelerate, H head up displays on, J automatic head up displays, D dock
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2, Cursor
Keyboard play: responsive as ever
Use of colour: monochromatic, mainly, with shading to create 3D effect
Graphics: fast and cool - guaranteed to stun anyone who sees them
Sound: neat
Skill levels: one
Screens: eight

When Starstrike was released well over a year ago I was really impressed with the smooth moving vector graphics. Now Realtime have finally got round to doing the follow up. Starstrike II utilises filled in 3D graphics which move quite quickly. The game itself is an improvement over the original bringing the slightly worn shoot em up back up to date. The various stages can keep you amused for hours. I am amazed that the programmers could fit so much into the game while still keeping it graphically excellent. As with most shoot em ups Starstrike II is playable from the word go, but it's hard enough to keep you coming back for more and more. Few programs have impressed me this much and I'm glad to see the return of a software house that can truly program games. Buy Starstrike II now. It's guaranteed to provide you with hours and hours of fun.

Starstrike II came as a real surprise. After seeing such releases as Elite and I, of the Mask it looked like three dimensional graphics had gone as far as was Spectrumly possible. Happily it looks like everyone was wrong, proven by Starstrike II's appearance. Images this realistic, generated as fast as this just haven't yet been seen on the Spectrum. Technolust aside, the game is great and holds your interest not just because of the way the graphics tend to get everyone oggling around the screen. There's plenty of challenge to be had, however good you seem to get. And for a mere £7.95 you just can't go wrong. Any Spectrum owner passing this by is likely to be mentally deficient!

Starstrike II is a brilliant follow up to Starstrike and at £7.95 presents amazing value for money. Speed, as with all shoot em ups, is very important, and Realtime Software have not sacrificed speed at all in the cause of filled 3D graphics - I couldn't find any bit where the game slowed down because the screen was too full. Just because there's lots of amazing graphics doesn't mean that the game is small: it consists of lots of stages, and every stage is as good as the last. My personal favourite was the trench stage, which contains some superb filled-in graphics and looks better than the arcade Star Wars game! Starstrike II has loads of good features, like the 'on screen' scanners disappearing when you encounter the enemy. There's a host of different ships which are very detailed and neatly animated. Starstrike II is a game that every Spectrum owner should have on the shelf, and it represents fantastic value for money.

Real Time Software
£7.95

There are precious little surprises left in the computer world these days. Many a jobbing reviewer like me gets to see so many games that are just ho-hum that when you finally do see something that seems amazing, you start looking for flaws in a immediately.

Starstrike II was described as an Elite type game, with "slightly improved" graphics. Well, as you can see from the screen shots on this page, it's a bit more than that.

The solid modelled spaceships in this game are literally the best I've ever seen on the Speccy and quite honestly wouldn't shame any machines capabilities. The gameplay is complex and absorbing, and consists of neutralising planets in any one of five planetary systems. Just when I thought my memory for superlatives had atrophied and dropped off, I discover words like "stupendous", "breathtaking", "mesmerising", and "Michael Fish" tripping lightly into my head. This could be the closest thing yet to flying in a real fighter spacecraft, winging and blasting your way through the Outsider's orbital space stations and defensive webs, doing battle with their fighters in orbit, and skimming the surface of the planet on your way to the central computer. You destroy the computer and escape through an iris hatch to reach escape velocity and freedom. After docking with your support pad and refuelling you're off into the system again, after another planet, until all the Outsider planets have been neutralised.

The cockpit view is impressive, with a scrolling and rolling starfield and the control panel of your ship. You can activate a heads up radar display protected onto your canopy window, that assists you in zeroing in on the enemy ships in orbital combat mode.

The sound effects are good too. It's nice that they left space in their code for a couple of satisfying blasty noises. Sometimes, when a game is biased towards sophisticated graphics, there's no room for much in the way of sound effects. All good news if you're a big kid like me, and hate to be caught making the noises with your mouth!

It's my considered opinion that you could be looking at the hit of the year, particularly in the shoot 'em up stakes. It's the sort of game I've been waiting for for a long time.

Publisher: Realtime
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston, cursor

There are some games where you combine lightning reactions with cunning strategy. There are some games where you spend hours pondering your next step. And there are some games where you just blast everything that moves. After I totally failed to understand the subtleties of the several stages of this game I resorted to the latter approach and a jolly good time I had too.

Starstrike II is, hardly surprisingly, a sequel to Starstrike I - though, to confuse things, that was called Starstrike 3D.

This time around the 3D graphics are shaded and though it slows them down rather and creates one or two jerky patches, it's still a highly addictive shoot 'em up. The main addition is an overlay of Elite type lore.

The basics are simple enough. The Outsiders are on their way in - to Earth, that is - unless you can neutralise their 22 planets. Your ship isn't equipped for hyperspace jumps so you'll need to return to the mothership for transport between the five star systems and also for taking on reserve fuel and repairs. Choose your system and you'll see stars as you warp in.

Once there you choose a star and as some are as heavily defended as a wet paper bag full of jelly beans while others are more like Fort Knox it's wise to take note of the information on the inlay. Hint - you'd expect an agricultural planet to be less well defended then a military or industrial one, wouldn't you?

So you're on your way to Beta III which means you miss out on the joy of knocking the pods off a space wheel then docking with it - a wholesale lift of everybody's least favourite activity in Elite. Once inside the wheel you'll need to get out again by blasting the three control units that surround its constantly opening and closing iris valve.

On Beta III it's straight to the Defence Fields which have small openings in them. These are incredibly well defended, with circling shapes and spinning shutters and cannons to blast stars at you.

This stage is straight space dogfighting, and when the enemy isn't in view - which is most of the time if your reactions are as slow as mine and the enemy's fighter is of a particularly nippy type - there are two displays to indicate relative position. This is very fast but can become almost infuriating if your opposing ace is so agile that you can hardly ever target him. Once you zap one of them there will be a fuel pod for you to scoop up and replenish supplies, which may later be traded in for stronger shields, but Outsider scoop ships will claim it if you're not quick.

Finally Ground Attack and The Ventilation Duct and now your cross hairs run along the ground as you lay waste to everything in sight in a style that would make Ronnie smile.

There are lots of defences to dodge here too. Once you're in the control centre of the relevant type for the planet, you have a brief period to blast the Reactor System/Battle Computer/Agricultural Control Centre (distinguishable because of the mud on its wellies) then exit through the rear wall and it's on to the next planet.

Just before writing this review I loaded the game for a brief final look... and when I finally dragged myself away it was over an hour later which tells its own story.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
SUPPLIER: Realtime
PRICE: £7.95

At last! The sequel to the amazing Spectrum Star Wars clone Starstrike which took the games world by surprise many months ago. Starstrike II takes the story a bit further. But it sacrifices speed for frills - which may upset arcade addicts.

The basic theme of the game goes like this. The Outsiders have been driven from Federation space by the original Starstrike squadrons. Now Federation Command is launching a major offensive against the Outsiders' home planets with the next generation of Starstrike ships.

To enable the Starstrike II ships to move around the Outsiders' planetary systems they have now been equipped with a support module which carries an interstellar hyperdrive unit and extra fuel supplies. This transports the Starstrike fighter around the Outsider systems, and enables refuelling and repair to shield systems.

The Outsiders' planets are grouped around five stars. There are 22 planets in all - and they must all be neutralised by knocking out the central control reactor which runs each planet's systems. The planets range in status from agricultural through industrial to military and all have varying defences to contend with.

A basic Starstrike II mission goes like this. You are in the support module and have to choose which star system you wish to attack from an illustrated menu. This ranges from the Alpha system through to the Epsilon system. Once done, you then see a star chart of that system and you have to select which planet you wish to attack.

It's best to start with the agricultural planets which are relatively poorly defended. Hit the fire button and it's off into space where you have to fly through special openings in Outsider force fields which surround each planet. Timing is vital to avoid collisions which weaken your shields. Once through a series of grid like force fields, it's out into clear space where Outsider fighters wait in a second line of defence.

Two Elite-style scanners appear on your view screen to enable you to track the enemy ships and disappear when you've got him in your sights.

Starstrike II features some nice ideas and pretty graphics. It will certainly take some time before you finally pacify all the Outsider planet systems.

However the speed of the game leaves a lot to be desired. It's relatively slow and this takes away some of the edge and urgency essential in a good arcade shoot-'em-up.

There're now lots of "filled in" 3D graphics which look nice. But do they add much to playability?

Having said that, there's lots to do and explore. And now there's an added element of strategy to work with.

Between each action section you're allowed to transfer fuel energy to your shields so you can boost your defences - but have you got enough fuel to complete your mission? The decision is yours.

Overall Starstrike is a nice looking, well presented and thought out game - but it needs to be faster.

Spectrum
Real Time
Shoot-'em-up
£7.95

Real Time is one of the "sleepers" of this industry. It does not do much but when it does, it is explosive. Star Strike II takes up from where Star Strike left off. Now not only do you have to fly down a trench, you have to fly through some cleverly-constructed defences.

You must "neutralise" 22 enemy planets. After you have dealt with one planet, you have a chance to replenish your stores of fuel and shields. There is a limit, however, so completing the game requires very careful husbanding of resources.

After you have selected the planet and system you want to attack, you have six layers of defences to get through, which seem to plagarise almost every theme is space battles.

First you have to dock with a space station, Elite style, often knocking-out its defences. After that you must go through a series of defence fields, which appear as a grid hanging in space, with one hole, defended by the usual deadly array of missiles and fighters. Then it is on to do battle with the orbiting fighters. For that section you have a head-up display like Starion.

Great graphics and a simple, violent theme, with an element of overall strategy makes this a sure-fire winner with the space zap fraternity.

REALTIME HAVE DISCOVERED 'SHADED GRAPHICS' ON SOME FARAWAY PLANET AND BROUGHT THEM BACK FOR STARSTRIKE II.

Realtime Games
£7.95

Space - the final frontier. These are the voyages of the star ship Starstrike. Its ongoing mission; to seek out as many space ships as you can find and blast them all into tiny little bits.

Starstrike II, the sequel, believe it or not, to Starstrike, is another of the 3D space shoot 'em ups following in the wake of Elite. What you think of this particular game probably depends very much on how you like your shoot 'em ups. If you like them to be a straightforward series of showdowns between yourself and endless enemy spacecraft then you're probably going to like this. If, on the other hand, you liked the added non-violent elements that Elite contained in the interplanetary wheeling and dealing aspects then you might find Strike II a bit monotonous.

As the pilot of the Starstrike II vessel it is your task to lead the forces of the Federation into the planetary systems occupied by your enemies, The Outsiders. Their 22 home planets are grouped around five stars in The Lesser Magellanic Cloud, and fall into three categories: Agricultural, Industrial, and Military.

All of these planets have their layers of defences in the form of ground defenders, orbital fighters and planetary defence fields, whilst some of the industrial and all of the military planets have space stations that you must get past. As in Elite there is a docking sequence involving these space stations, but once successfully docked you can go straight into the next phase of the planetary defences - there is no trading element involved.

In order to successfully neutralise each planet you must get past its defences and locate either a battle computer, reactor or control computer before moving on to the next planet or star system.

Your own craft is armed with a laser which is aimed by using a set of crosswires. Other controls are fairly simple: there are three on-screen displays showing the status of your laser, fuel and force field, and when in space there are two displays, again similar to those in Elite, which help you to locate enemy craft and fuel supplies. Navigation controls are Up, Down, Left, Right and Accelerate/Decelerate, and while joystick control was perfectly okay I found that the choice of keyboard controls was rather awkward and it would have been nice if these could have been redefined.

In some ways Starstrike II is an improvement upon Elite and some of its clones because the programmers at Realtime have managed to take the graphics a step further than in any other games of this sort. Instead of drawing all the spacecraft in simple outlines, Starstrike II uses solid, shaded graphics which enhance the 3D effect and give a greater appearance of depth to many of the scenes in the game. But the improvement in graphics has clearly taken its toll on the power of the Spectrum and other elements of the game suffer as a result. Sound is totally lacking throughout the game, and though many people find the Spectrum's beep irritating I found the silence a bit boring.

The increased complexity of the graphics give the Spectrum a lot more work to do, and the speed of movement of both your own and the enemy craft is a bit slower than in most similar games. This didn't really affect the enemy craft, which still moved to fast for me to catch most of them, but it does seem to affect the responsiveness of your own craft a bit. Even so I prefer this to most of the recent space combat games, and though I still think that Elite sets the standard it should be mentioned that Starstrike II costs some £7 less than that game and is therefore likely to be within the price range of a lot more people.

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