Starquake

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Description

As BLOB, the Bio-Logically Operated Being, you are sent into an unstable planet and charged with the task of preventing it from exploding. This involves collecting various items (the exact combination is different every time you load the game) and taking them to the planet's core.

The game is an arcade adventure viewed from the side, with 512 screens arranged in a 16x32 pattern. A teleport system exists, so once you find the codes you can get quick access to different parts of the game.

The creatures to avoid are intelligent, getting tougher to predict as you get closer to the centre, but you are armed with a gun and can also try to avoid them. BLOB has a set of platforms which can be used to allow limited vertical movement, but these disappear after a few seconds each use.

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Critic Reviews

Computer and Video Games (CVG)	Commodore 64	Jun, 1986	10 out of 10	100
Eurogamer.net (UK)	ZX Spectrum	Oct 19, 2007	10 out of 10	100
Crash!	ZX Spectrum	Nov, 1985	96 out of 100	96
Crash!	ZX Spectrum	Sep, 1988	91 out of 100	91
Computer and Video Games (CVG)	BBC Micro	Jul, 1987	8 out of 10	80
Atari ST User	Atari ST	Oct, 1988	8 out of 10	80
Computer Gamer	Amstrad CPC	Jul, 1986	15 out of 20	75
The Games Machine (UK)	DOS	Jun, 1988	75 out of 100	75
The Games Machine (UK)	Atari ST	Jun, 1988	73 out of 100	73
Your Spectrum	ZX Spectrum	Dec, 1985	57 out of 100	57

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Trivia

PC disk

The PC release was actually a "flippy" disk: The PC version was on the front side, and the Commodore 64 version was on the reverse side.

References to the game

An advertising poster for the game can be seen in the background in the sitcom The IT Crowd, which is set in the IT department of a big business.

Starquake II

Original developer Stephen Crow worked for a short time on a sequel, but never finished it. As in 2014 Mark R. Jones sorted his disk archive, he rediscovered some of his work for Ocean, including the work on Starquake II for the Atari ST. These early game versions dated in 1992, with code by Paul Hughes and the graphics by Mark R. Jones. Three different versions were found, with title screen, intro, some partly playable, but the game itself was never brought into a finished product. The preserved versions can be found on Atarimania.

Information also contributed by Martin Smith

Related Web Sites

• Bloody Arrgh's Starquake Page (An amazingly comprehensive website dedicated to Starquake. Covers every version released (except the PC version, oddly enough).)
• Game Map (A screenshot map of the game)
• Starquake Conversion (Phil Emerson is working on a conversion of Starquake.)