Infocom released and developed Starcross, a wonderful text adventure game, in the early eighties. It found its way onto almost every imaginable platform of the time, ranging from the Commodore 64 to the personal computer running DOS. It is a work of interactive fiction and offers a great science fiction theme.
The setting of the tale is the year 2186 and humans have pushed their influence into the farthest reaches of space. With colonies on the moon, Mars, and a number of larger asteroids within the galaxy, humans have proven to be an inventive and resilient race of beings.
Such a blooming population and with so much travel between colonies, the humans require a previously unknown amount of energy to sustain their way of life. The gamer will play the part of a solo surveyor who travels the galaxy seeking black holes that can be mined for quantum energy. One good find could set you for life, but making that find requires time and resources. Your survey ship, the M.C.S. Starcross has the best gear you can afford when you start, but it will need help from time to time in the form of repairs and upgrades. As you set your course for a likely area, you will relinquish control of the Starcross to the ship’s computer
and find amusement in the vast library. Soon, however, you drift off to sleep, and when you waken, you know something has gone terribly wrong. You are about to meet up with a huge alien ship, and you will spend the remainder of the game solving puzzles and learning alien gadgetry in order to find your way home.
Starcross is considered an expert text adventure and Infocom made few that are as challenging. The puzzles, while certainly difficult, are not illogical or unfair. There is not a lot of random activity or trial and error puzzles. Many of the puzzles are actually based on scientific principles and physics, making it somewhat educational and all the more realistic. The game’s parser is archaic, and some people used to more modern games will find the limited vocabulary frustrating, but it is not an insurmountable challenge, and it just sharpens your text adventuring skills! This is a really fun game, even though it is quite old. It is challenging and complex and will certainly provide many hours of entertainment to the adventure gamer, science fiction buff, and even the scientist with a sense of humor…the sassy computer is hilarious.
