Star Wars

The Good
I used to play this game back in my younger days, when I'd boot this up at DOS's launch (ah, the DOS booter days...a lot of people missed out on an era). And it was pretty good fun. Not a patch on the X-Wing series, of course, but it was a simpler version of Rebel Assault.

Game controls are pretty reasonable. It's best with a joystick or mouse, but still possible with a keyboard. Most of the game play revolves around dodging/shooting enemy fireballs shot out of TIE Fighters (?) and Darth Vader's TIE Advanced (??), lest they sap away your shields and kill you. And there aren't any continues (at least, not that I can remember), so staying alive is nice if you want to rack up a good high score. If you survive the approach to and the surface of the Death Star (though you don't have to worry about the second sequence on easier difficulty levels), you've got the trench run, with is probably the most difficult section of the whole game - it usually doesn't get too insane until the higher difficulty levels though.

Actually, the game is pretty reasonable on the difficulty scale. It's a reflex based game, but if they are up to snuff then you really shouldn't be having any problems until level 7 or 9.

Also the graphics are pretty decent, using a very fast wireframe vector system. The colors are CGA-only, but you have enough to work with so that everything is legible. The designs on the models are simple, but nice.

The Bad
The sound on this game isn't anything to write home about. It's PC Speaker, but not quite ear-grating as some soundtracks of that type can be. It would have been nice to have some Adlib support, though, which would have been possible around this time. FM modulation would have been a nice bonus.

But it's a minor point, it doesn't really detract from the game too much.

The Bottom Line
It was a fun game, and I'd still play it if I had a 5.25" floppy drive laying around. Still, if you have a copy floating around on your hard drive and a copy of DOSBox, give it a spin.

The Good
I played it after the DOS versions and loved the sound - the intro music, laser shots sounds and off-screen voices of Luke, Han, Obi-Wan and Wedge. This is exactly what was missing from the PC version and killed the atmosphere there. The gameplay, like in other versions, consists of three stages - space fight against TIE-Fighters and occasionally appearing Vader's TIE-Interceptor, shooting towers while avoiding battery missiles flying over the Death Star's surface and finally the race through the exhaust shaft that gets more and more crowded with obstacles as you progress to the next level (called 'wave'); you get extra points here if you don't fire a single shot during the whole level (called 'using the force'). After firing at the exhaust port at the end of the corridor the battle station explodes and you move on to the next, tougher sequence of levels.

The Bad
It's MUCH more difficult than it should be. The enemy fighters stay on the screen for a relatively short time and fire almost immediately they appear; the Vader's vessel doesn't depart when shot (as in the DOS versions) but lingers on the screen as long as it pleases while constantly attacking you; the missiles and obstacles are far too hard to avoid and seem to hit you too early. All this would be bearable if not for the screwed up targeting system. The cross-hair movement appears to have less frames than in the PC version and so aiming can be a chore. Playing the DOS port I managed to shoot all the laser towers on the Death Star's surface every time - something I've never yet pulled off on the Amiga version. Not being able to shoot what you feel you are targeting properly is very frustrating. Consequently the game is not as much fun as labor to play.

The Bottom Line
I have mixed feelings about this one. It can only be recommended to expert arcade players. Other should choose the PC version which - although devoid of sound candy - provides more fun and less frustration.

The Good

• Nonstop arcade action.
• Easy to play.
• Nice vector graphics, you can easily recognize the TIE Fighter and the TIE Interceptor.
• "Use the Force" bonus, survive the Trench without firing your lasers, and you'll be awarded this extra bonus.
• It's Star Wars, which makes the game just that little bit better (for me at least).

**The Bad**

• Audio is almost non-existent. I know it is an old game, but the developers could have used the PC speaker to at least produce something which resembles the Star wars theme.
• You play the same three stages over and over again. It seems a bit illogical to destroy seven Death Stars and it also gives me that "been there done that" feeling.

**The Bottom Line**
Star Wars is an arcade shooter that's so action-packed, you don't have the time to think about how dated the graphics are. But due to it's repetitive nature you probably won't play it for a very long time.

The Good
The game is fast and furious, but also very forgiving compared to other platforms' versions. The collision detection system gives you enough time to shoot / evade enemy missiles and obstacles. I put it on the plus side, because I strongly believe that modern gamer's reflexes are not on par with the arcade junkies' from the 80s. Back then it was all about HI-Score, so games had to be difficult; today the developers aim more for complexity, and thus our reflexes are not trained enough for the old games. The DOS version of SW manages to provide just enough challenge to make the game compelling but not forbidding to the casual gamer. The other advantages are the same as in all the other ports of this arcade - simple yet crisp graphics, three different stages per each wave (shoot TIE-Fighters / shoot towers on the surface of the Death Star / navigate along the exhaust shaft avoiding barriers and missiles to finally blow up the station), and sheer addictiveness.

The Bad
The sound department is virtually non-existent. The PC Speaker bleeps don't resemble the laser shots from the movies, there is no music and no voices like in most other versions. Together with simple gfx, it amounts to the loss of feeling that you are Luke Skywalker on the run to save the Rebellion. You feel exactly like what you can see on the screen - a four wire-frame cannons firing at various wire-frame objects. The keyboard control is totally awkward - instead of cursor arrows you are forced to use Q & A for up and down, and O & P for left and right. Fortunately you can choose mouse by pressing F1 AFTER the game begins (not on the start screen, which is a tad confusing). Apart from that the game has no other faults, not accounting for the inevitable repetitiveness.

The Bottom Line
A little cool game to come back to every now and again. Best played under DOSBox at 1,500 CPU.