Starflight is simply one of the best games ever made. Go back to a time when only 1 in 20 households had a computer, and the top of the line model you could get was the IBM XT complete with two floppy disk drives (yes, the big ones) and a Meg or so of hard drive space. Up until Starflight was released, you were lucky to get a game that took a whole 10 minutes to master. Up until Starflight was released, you were lucky to get a game that actually had graphics (I’m not kidding here).
OK, so what’s the big deal on this one?
Let’s start with open play. You have a stripped down spaceship that can barely venture out of your own solar system. You have no crew, and the people you can get are about as useful as solar powered flashlights. You need to use your small bankroll to balance crew and ship costs so you can go out and earn the money to build a spaceship worthy of traveling the galaxy and solving the fuel shortage problem. A good 80% of the fun with this game is building up your ship, getting better weapons, engines, cargo pods, etc. Collecting minerals (which you eventually turn in for a payday) is surprisingly fun. Pay attention to your science guy,
you want minerals that are worth the time, effort and fuel it takes to land, collect, and return to base.
The game is filled with interesting aliens (particularly the Spemin), challenging puzzles (the binary crew gives you an actual message, you can solve it, at one point in time you could even use the answer to get a hold of the developers), and one of the first surprise endings on a computer game. OK, it’s not quite Knights of the Old Republic, but this was 16 years ago.
Find a good balance with crew members, steer clear of plasma bolts, and have fun with one of the most original games ever. Save a backup of your game file so you don’t have to start over if you get killed – the concept of multiple game saves was not popular back then.
This was truly one of the first games that ventured out of arcade mode (push button – kill guy) and got into the world of virtual experiences. I know I’m going to sound like an old-timer here, but they just don’t make games like this anymore.
***Spoiler Warning*** This game was released before you could get walkthroughs, and if you don’t pay attention to what is going on you can easily find yourself burning through countless hours not knowing what you are looking for. Go talk to the Elowans. If you really get stuck, you need to check the one of the four solar systems in the nearby (to Arth) nebula.
