The first thing to mention in this Starquake review is the title screen. It looks like a game cover picked from any of the Ultimate play the Game titles like Staff of Karnath.
My first sensation of the game is that they have miscalculated the number of enemies and the revival of them after shooting them, I believe that the game would have been much more playable if been more calculating in how the enemies appear.
The game itself consists of collecting gadgets in several different rooms and by this filling up energy,ammunition and lives. You have some many rooms to visit and a transporter is the best way to do this. You can also find teleport stations and but you need to have the correct code to use it.
I managed about five percent of the game and that is where I lost it, this game is to desoriented for me and also the thing with the enemies makes me off on this game. Many people I have spoken to says that the more you play it the more you enjoy it, so it must be that I’ve played it to little.
But good spectrum styled graphics, quite smooth controls – so the potential is really there.
Nick Strange and Stephen Crow
In the Magazines
After cleaning up with Starquake on the Spectrum, Stephen “Wizards Lair” Crow brings the hit home to the 64. Message has just reached earth of an unstable planet emerging from a black hole at the back of the galaxy. If the core of this planet is not rebuilt it will implode causing the whole universe to go “KA.BOOMF”. That’s a Starquake. You, as B.L.O.B. (a bio-logically operated being) are chosen for this mission, but have you got what it takes to complete this five hundred and twelve screen arcade adventure? You start the game on the top of the planet next to your ship. It’s a long way to the planet’s core so you will need some transport. A “Space Hopper” would be ideal if you could find one.
This enables you to fly, as well as give you super-powered bullets which are essential against the nestles you encounter. It is boosted when you bump into one of the many ‘re-equip’ packs of the planet core, as you can’t pick these up when you’re on the space hopper. Extra lives can be won by finding the joysticks around the maze. Teleports enable you to get around ‘space locks’ — for those you will need a key. (Easy isn’t it!!!). ‘Smash traps’ are designed to block your path, but with a few platforms and a bit of height, you’re through. The planet itself holds its own hazards such as spikey plants which are deadly to the touch. Critics may say this is just another arcade adventure but once you get hooked on it you’ll begin to I appreciate it’s depth.
Calling Starquake just another arcade adventure is like calling Uridium just another shoot-em-up, or the Pawn just another adventure. Although the graphics are pretty Spectrumesque they are well drawn and have lots of variety, from scattered around the maze. When your energy runs out you will lose one of your five lives. Energy is shown on your flight board computer and is diminished by nasties. Next to that are two other bars showing how much ammo and platforms you have left. Platforms are your only means of travelling upwards when you are without a Space Hopper. These are very handy when it comes to picking up pieces quicker but you will need the passwords to travel from one location to another, (one of the teleports is right next to the planet core! But can you find it?).
There are also “Flexible-Thingydoos”, which look like Access cards and let you through security doors and into Cheops Pyramids. Once in here you can trade pieces of the planet’s core. However the Thingys will not let you through bunches of grapes stuck to the ceiling to dead astronauts lying on the deck. Sound is only average but it has many different tunes and good effects.
From Commodore User Magazine Issue 33 by Ferdy Hamilton
What the cover brings
From the cover – our telefax in print.
MESSAGE HAS JUST REACHED EARTH OF AN UNSTABLE PLANET EMERGING FROM A BLACK HOLE SOMEWHERE AT THE EDGE OF THE GALAXY. IF THE CORE OF THIS PLANET IS NOT REBUILT IT WILL IMPLODE CAUSING THE WHOLE UNIVERSE TO GO KA BOOMF!' -STREWTH A STARQUAKE... THE BIO-LOGICALLY OPERATED BEING IS CHOSEN FOR THIS ULTRA-DANGEROUS MISSION - BUT WHY BLOB?CAUSE OF HIS MIND BLOWING HYBRID CAPABILITIES? OR THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLECT OF HIS ANTI-BRAIN? NOPE-`CAUSE ALL THE OTHER GUY’S HAVE PRANGED THEIR SPACESHIPS. SO BLOB SETS OFF FOR OUTER-SPACE IN HIS TRUSTY SHIP WITH JUST A FLIGHTBOARD COMPUTER AND A GALAXY A-Z FOR COMPANY – GULP, IS HE GONNA SUCCEED? – WILL HE EVEN GET THERE?, – OR WILL THE UNIVERSE AND BLOB GO BLIP?… GOSHAROOTIES WHO KNOWS? BUT ALL THESE AND MANY MORE ANSWERS MUST BE QUESTIONED BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!!!
The instructions are as follows,
CONTROLLING BLOB KEYBOARD
Z KEY – LEFT
X KEY – RIGHT
FUNCTION F7 – DOWN OR LAY BRIDGING PLATFORM
FUNCTION F5 – UP OR PICK UP AN OBJECT KEY ‘SHIFT’
FIRE JOYSTICK SHOULD BE IN PORT 2.
PAUSE GAME WITH F3 KEY
ANY KEY OR JOYSTICK ACTION TO RESTART.
ABORT BY PRESSING KEY Fl.
Starquake review with advert
This full page advert is taken from Atari User – Starquake was released on several machines like Atari, Spectrum, BBC/Electron etc.
