Stargoose Warrior

aka: Star Goose!
Moby ID: 836
Amiga Specs
Included in

Description

Star Goose a top-down space shooter in which you move through a semi-3D environment shooting rounds and missiles at your enemies. Occasionally, the player can enter a tunnel and collect upgrades (ammo, shield or fuel) by climbing the walls of the tunnel to run into powerups.

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Amiga version)

4 People

Composer
Programmer
Graphics
Cover Artwork by
Documentation by

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 62% (based on 11 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 19 ratings with 4 reviews)

Don't really like this one.

The Good
Well, it's well rounded and I have to appreciate the fact that it was very popular, at least where I live; the graphics are reasonably good and the controls are decent. The semi-3D design is nice too.

The Bad
Bad level design and lame sound effects and music make this one a true bore; a ridiculously low amount of enemies (some of which simply have a tendency to kill you without you being able to respond) does not add much.

The Bottom Line
A pretty mediocre game which simply does not interest me.

DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4539) · 2000

Feels more like a tech demo than a real game

The Good
Star Goose! is a space shooter. A weird one. That's good cause weird usually means interesting. First of all you're a goose and you pilot a craft that's not floating in space but one that's gliding along the the metal surface of, what I presume is, some huge space ship or space station. Instead of traditionally fighting your way through the level to catch up with some end-boss, you need to collect 6 colored crystals in each level. Have you missed a gem during your first run through the level? No problem. Since every level loops around infinitely you can get them on your second run. Once you've got all crystals you can enter a warp point to the next level. Often it is actually better to take out all the missile launchers first and get those gems later.

Power ups are not collected during regular play but during weird bonus runs through tunnels. These tunnels are reproduced with vector graphics. Inside you swing your ship from left to right to collect blue eyes. Those eyes replenish either your fuel, ammo or shield depending on the color of the tunnel. Why?... it's all a mystery to me.

Most space shooters, like R-Type are very frantic. However Star Goose! is rather sedate. The game lets you determine the pace by whitch you advance through the levels. By pressing the up-key you increase your speed and the down-key is your brake. When you keep the down-key pressed down your ship crawls along. In this game your chances of survival are the largest if you take it slow. Furthermore, the relative scarcity of enemies and the fact that the most dangerous enemies are stationary enemies means you're never under pressure. Another reason why the game is relatively easy is that when you die (and don't exit the program) you start your next game at the beginning of the level in which you died. The result is a game you finish in a weekend. If you're an experienced gamer with fast reflexes you'll probably find Star Goose! boring. Other people may enjoy it because they actually have a chance of finishing it.

The opening tune is nice and the great pseudo 3D graphics are by far the best aspect of the game (go ahead and read Trixter's review cause he explains it better than I can).

The Bad

  • Very repetitive scenery & gameplay. Sure at first the 3D graphics look great, but why does every level have to look the same? The same colors are used in every level. The levels themselves are also very repetitive. There's nothing that sets one level apart from another.

  • Dead ends. The game doesn't allow you to turn around and fly in the opposite direction (or put it in reverse), and the overhead view means you won't notice you took a wrong path until you're about to die.
  • Cheap deaths. There are some sections where, at first, death is unavoidable. In level 1 for instance you will instinctively enter a tunnel to replenish your shield. The moment you leave the tunnel you're killed by a missile. There's no way you can escape this.... rather cheap. Only then you learn you first need to go past the tunnel, disable the missile launcher behind it and then you can enter the tunnel if you need a second run to complete the level.
  • No decent ending, no bosses. After you've completed level 8 you're sent straight back to either level 2 or 3 (not sure) and the whole thing starts all over again.
  • Like I mentioned before, some people may find it way too easy & boring.


**The Bottom Line**
A space shooter with cool pseudo 3D graphics that introduces some cool ideas but fails to fulfill its potential. With some extra variety it could have been so much better.

DOS · by Roedie (5239) · 2003

A bit of a bore, this

The Good
Star Goose! is one of the final shoot-em-up games from Logotron, a company who changed its name to Millennium in the early Nineties. You control a ship called “Scouser-Gitt”, which has given the task of skimming an alien planet in search of six jewels; and collecting these is made difficult by enemy installations that are on the lookout for any intruders. Contact with these will result in either your shield being depleted, or a loss in life. There are eight “wrap-around” levels; and each level doesn't end until you get all six jewels.

The game opens with a beautiful introduction showing a spacecraft appearing and the Goose beaming down onto the surface. There are two things unique to this game: 1) you don't have to press the fire button to start, it's straight into the game; and 2) the landscape you are about to see has hills. This means that some of the enemies are not on the same level, and you need to get close to them for your weapons to be effective against them.

The Goose has two weapons at its disposal: the standard lasers, as well as heat-seeking missiles. When you launch a missile, it will wipe out anything that is in its path. More missiles can be collected by going through a set of gates. You can skim the landscape at full speed or just take it easy. If you choose to go full speed not only will you deplete your fuel supply immediately, but you also increase your chases at getting shot by enemies. There are gaps in the landscape that you also need to avoid falling through.

There are three tunnels that you come across, and each individual one allows you to replenish your fuel, ammo, and shields. The tunnels are viewed in 3D, and there are eyes coming toward you. If you go fast enough in the tunnel, you can actually perform a loop-de-loop one or more times, possibly getting most of the eyes. The tunnels eventually complete their run; but if the Goose leaves them upside-down, it will just crash and a life is lost.

The game is best remembered for its music. It shares a similar soundtrack to the ones used in those space-themed comedy movies that I used to watch as a kid.

The Bad
As I said, there are eight wrap-around levels, and each one of them feature the same repetitive landscape, but with the gaps located somewhere else.

You encounter the same three enemies, including the mine and gun, and these enemies look unimpressive. Besides the missiles, there are no power-ups that will upgrade your ship.

There is no level number in the status bar, so I had no idea whether I just entered another level or are repeating the same level again; and even if you complete all eight levels, there is no true ending – the game just restarts at level one.

Finally, even though the music is well composed, you listen to the same one through the game. No new tunes are introduced.

The Bottom Line
In conclusion, Star Goose has a number of features that weren't present in other shooter at its time, including 3-D views and hilly landscape. Unfortunately, besides the superb introduction sequence most of the game is repetitive. If you are looking for a good shoot-em-up, especially one with power-ups, forget this game.

Amiga · by Katakis | ă‚«ă‚żă‚­ă‚ą (43092) · 2011

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Legal status leilei (343) Feb 21, 2013

Trivia

Character

The character you control is called Officer 'Scouser-Gitt', who is drunk when the game's events begin. A 'Scouser' is a colloquial term for a person from Liverpool, a city whose inhabitants have often been stereotyped as lazy, thieving and heavy drinking.

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  • MobyGames ID: 836
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Tomer Gabel.

Amiga, Atari ST added by seymour butz.

Additional contributors: Corn Popper, Martin Smith.

Game added February 7, 2000. Last modified January 23, 2024.