Starflight 2: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula

aka: Starflight II
Moby ID: 85
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

Following the events of the first Starflight, the galaxy is at relative peace. The balance of power is disrupted when the Spemin, usually a minor nuisance, suddenly gain technological superiority and begin a campaign of expansionism. Through investigation, Interstel determines that the Spemin technology is not their own and that they have obtained it from somewhere on the other side of a flux (wormhole). Interstel commissions a force to visit this area, called the Cloud Nebula, and find a way to nullify the Spemin technology.

Starflight 2 is a space exploration game that contains much of the interface from its predecessor. This includes crew management, ship improvement, resource collection, planet landings, alien diplomacy and exploration of a new galaxy. Much of the gameplay takes place via a standard interface that allows access to ship stations. Landing on a planet however will shift to an overhead view and the player manually controls his rover while searching for objects of interest.

New to Starflight 2 is trading, alien races will now buy and sell unique items at different prices, it is no longer necessary to return to the Interstel starport to sell resources. As mentioned, the galaxy itself and the alien races that inhabit it are also new. New technologies exist for the player such as Blasto Pods (torpedoes); a devastating weapon, and Jump Pods; which will transport anywhere on the starmap.

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Credits (DOS version)

22 People (16 developers, 6 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 77% (based on 11 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 46 ratings with 6 reviews)

EA, knowingly, sticks with the formula that works.

The Good
Starflight I successfully combined elements of adventure, light role-playing, diplomacy, and resource management to create an entire open-ended universe that teemed with secrets.

Starflight II doesn't change this foruma. But that's not bad thing. In addition, Starflight II sports better graphics, more alien races, and cooler technologies.

Like Starflight I, there's also a fascinting and intriguing plot that slowly builds to an edge-of-your-seat climax.

I particularly liked that the aliens seemed to have more character depth than they did in SF1. I also thought the humor in SF2 is a lot less subtle than in SF1 but (thank goodness) it's actually really funny.

Binary Systems has also developed the alien personalities with a lot more depth than they did in SF1. Whereas SF1's universe had a huge, dark, empty feeling (and rightly so) - SF2 is full of life, color, and excitement.

The Bad
There's really nothing to dislike about SF2. The only negative point I can think of is that those who've never played SF1 may be somewhat confused near the end.

The Bottom Line
Starflight II is a cross-genre game that does nothing more than build upon the plot developed by Starflight I and give the universe a VGA palette of colors. But this works, and unlike most sequels, Starflight II succesfully carries the banner of being one of the best computer games of all time.

DOS · by John Beeler (2) · 1999

A Great Sequel

The Good
This game took the premise of Starflight and added to it. I liked the fact that your ship could become more powerful, especially after you acquire technology from the past! The new alien species were nice and an explanation of the "terminally-grumpy" race (who's name eludes me at present) from Starflight was very interesting. As before, the story for Starflight II was engrossing and that made gameplay all that much better. The graphics (for its time) were awesome but since I didn't have a sound card, I don't know how the sound was.

Another welcome addition were populated planets. Now you could hook up with aliens on planet surfaces to learn information as well as to establish much needed trade routes.

The Bad
I really don't recall anything I didn't like about the game. I'm sure if I still had a 5 1/4" drive, I'd play again.

The Bottom Line
Bottom line: EA and Binary Systems took an excellent game and improved it. Now if we could only get a Starflight III...grin

DOS · by AstroNerdBoy (35) · 2001

An excellent sequel to a ground-breaking game

The Good
An awesome game. Trading with the various races was a lot of fun! You couldn't help having a sense of irony about the two very religious races of the Tandelou. If they learned that you had traded with the other group, they wouldn't even talk to you, let alone trade with you! I wonder where they got that idea from? :)

One race (can't recall the name right at the moment), I never did get to talk to me...

So, eventually in this game, if you don't get killed first... you get to time-travel! when you first start out, most of the starmap is covered by the cloud nebula. After you time-travel, you go back in time before the cloud nebula formed, and can see where the stars are at. Very nice touch!

The Bad
Unlike the first game, I wasn't able to put the clues together, solve the puzzles and finish the game. Got lost after going back in time.

The Bottom Line
A fun and refreshing twist on the original. Again, very open game-play, where you can move as slow or fast as you please, and in any direction you want to go.

DOS · by ex_navynuke! (42) · 2005

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

Development

Starflight and Starflight 2 were written in a mixture of Forth (!!) and assembly.

Graphics

While Starflight 2 supports additional video modes, it loses a video mode of the original: 16-color CGA composite mode.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • September 1990 (Issue #74) – Role-Playing Game of the Year
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #6 Least Rewarding Ending of All Time

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  • MobyGames ID: 85
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Trixter.

Macintosh, Amiga added by Terok Nor. Windows added by eWarrior.

Additional contributors: MAT, Shoddyan, Patrick Bregger.

Game added March 8, 1999. Last modified January 19, 2024.