Starglider 2

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Starglider

Developer(s)	Argonaut Software
Designer(s)	Jez San, Richard Clucas
Platform(s)	Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, PC, Apple Macintosh
Release date	1988
Genre(s)	Space simulation
Mode(s)	Single player
Input methods	Mouse, Joystick, Keyboard

Screenshot of Starglider 2 for the Amiga

Starglider 2 was an early 3D space simulator/flight simulator video game released in 1988 by Argonaut Games and was the sequel to Starglider. It was released for the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, PC, ZX Spectrum and Apple Macintosh home computers. The Atari ST version was one of the few action games to run on that machine's mono display. The Atari ST and Commodore Amiga versions used Argonaut's "Argonaut Dual Loading System", a system whereby the discs were supposed to be interchangeable; the Atari ST disc could be used to load the game onto a Commodore Amiga and vice-versa.^[1] This was supposed to save money, by allowing publishers to produce a single boxed version of the game for both formats. In practice, the system was unreliable, and after Starglider 2 it was abandoned.

The game used solid shaded 3D polygonal graphics (only on 16 bit versions), and featured open, continuous gameplay without levels or loading screens after the game had started, despite taking place across an entire planetary system. The player could fly through space, enter a planet's atmosphere, explore the surface, and penetrate subterranean tunnels in one seamless movement.

The goal of Starglider 2 was to destroy an enemy space station with a neutron bomb, and the majority of the gameplay consisted of collecting parts for the bomb, or fulfilling other prerequisites (e.g. finding the nuclear professor capable of constructing the bomb, or trade goods for the bombs necessary to destroy the shield generators protecting the space station), while fighting off enemy spacecraft, and delivering collected items to depots inside planetary tunnel systems. The various objects needed to complete the game were distributed across the many planets of the solar system, as well as in the intervening space (e.g. asteroids and space pirates), or even in the atmosphere of the gas giant planet.

Screenshot of Starglider 2 for the Amiga

The flight model was arcade-style as opposed to realistic, as the game featured no inertia; the spacecraft banked like an aircraft to turn, in air, outer space, and underground; and it was possible to hover. In addition, the game featured many graphic display options, including the ability to eliminate roll, or view the game from outside the cockpit from a non-chase-camera, making it difficult to fly but allowing the player to view the polygonal model of the spacecraft.

The construction of the shield generators and the space station itself progressed continuously over the course of the game, and failure to destroy the space station before construction was complete would result in loss of the game (the space station would be used to destroy the player's home planet). Successfully destroying the space station would not end the game, despite treating the player to a spectacular explosion and congratulatory text; instead, it would simply reset the construction of the space station, and the player could again begin attempting to gain possession of another neutron bomb with which to destroy the station.