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The Zzap! review
The
64 Elite is due in the shops in mid April,
the same time as this magazine. The version of
the game reviewed was not quite finished, although
Firebird assured us there would be no more significant
changes.
We
were shown the game exclusively by Firebird's
game-testing whizz kid Colin Fuidge who made a
weekend trip to Yeovil guarding the precious pre-production
disk. (Unfortunately two of the Zzap! team were
away, but Chris Anderson and Bob Wade were able
to give the game a thorough test, Bob continuing
with the game late into the night.).
One
change you will notice on the finished version
involves the text appearing on screen - the character
set will be different. Firebird had not yet finished
the new version which will feature computer style
letters.
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Welcome
to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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Elite
1985 Firebird
Programmed
by David Braben & Ian Bell
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Package
blurb:
Most
text of the present article comes from the review
published in the first issue of the British C64
magazine ZZAP!64 (May 1985). Typed by Alex Slater
for his own site "Brigadoon", it is
used here by permission. (I had to correct some
minor errors caused by the OCR software, though).
Elite
is here
Hailed perhaps as the greatest ever
computer game when it appeared on the Beeb last
autumn, the great 3D space game now hits the 64.
Our three-page review is the only one you'll see
this month.
(
ZZAP!64 contents page May'85)
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Command
your Cobra space ship in a fantastic voyage of
discovery and adventure, a supreme test of your
combat, navigational and entrepreneurial skills.
Trade
between countless planets, using the proceeds
to equip your ship with heat-seeking missiles,
beam lasers and other weapons - corporate states
can be approached without risk, but unruly anarchies
may be swarming with space pirates.
Black market trading can be lucrative but could
result in skirmishes with local police and a price
on your head!
However you make your money, by fair means or
foul, you must blast onwards through space annihilating
pirate ships and hostile aliens as you strive
to earn your reputation as one of the Elite!
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Elite
is one of my favourite games of all time. It certainly
is the game I (Dimitris) spend most time on than any
other. I'll never forget the effort of accumulating
money, credit by credit, just to buy the next piece
of equipment, or the panic when hyperspacing into an
Anarchy (before buying the Military laser ;), the thrill
of seeing the 'Right On Commander' message whenever
I passed to the next rating, or the surprise of turning
on my newly purchased Docking Computer for the first
time and hearing Strauss' Blue Danube in the emptiness
of space! Sadly, I never became Elite, as by the time
I had finished the 8th Galaxy I was only Deadly and
ceased playing it shortly afterwards...
Now,
let's get into the time machine and go back to 1985!
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ELITE
Firebird,
£14.95 cass, £17.95 disk, joystick with keys or keys.
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May
1985
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O The amazing space mega-game hits the 64
O Real-time 3D shoot-em-up plus deep strategy
O 2000 planets plus 'trumbles' and extra missions
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I
broke into a sweat as Elite loaded into the 64.
Would it live up to expectations? Could I survive in
the murderous space lanes? As I settled down in my executive
class comfy swivel chair I knew I was about to experience
the game of a lifetime.
Elite
is already a classic game on the BBC but its arrival
on the 64 is a much more important event. Despite problems
of conversion, the game has been improved and is still
the same brilliant mixture of 3D space laser combat
and trading.
At
its most basic the game is a challenge to trade in certain
basic goods so as to make enough money to buy sophisticated
weaponry. Once you've got yourself that armament you
can take on the universe in ship to ship combat so as
to improve your rating from Harmless
to the much sought after Elite.
You
begin your quest on the planet Lave in your Cobra Mk
III spacecraft. You have one hundred credits with which
to buy fuel and a cargo, but that won't buy much (you
need to build up your finances very carefully on your
early trips). Once your cargo is complete you're ready
to find yourself a suitable destination and get into
space where you can get familiarised with your ship
and practise flying.
Galactic
Chart - total of 250 planets per galaxy.
If
you cut to the galactic chart screen you'll find yourself
in the bottom left of galaxy one. There are eight galaxies
in all and 250 planets in each one, so running out of
planets is pretty hard to do. You can look at your position
more closely on the local chart screen which shows the
planets within about seven light years. This is the
maximum range of your ship so many journeys will be
needed to cross a galaxy.
You
can obtain data on any of the planets indicated on the
local chart and target them for a hyperspace jump.
Short
range chart shows planets you can reach in one hyperspace
jump.
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Launching
your ship takes you out into a whole new world of planets,
ships, space stations and asteroids. Ahead of you will be
a planet (Lave) and if you use your rear viewer, you'll see
the station behind. Left and right scans are also available
so you can see everywhere but directly above and below you.
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I
played this game for six hours at my first sitting and
was only dragged away from it then by fatigue and wanting
to tell everyone out there about it. It is a brilliant
game of blasting and trading and is certainly the best
game I've seen this year. The controls are terrific
and aren't too responsive as on the BBC. The action
is always absorbing and as for the size of the game,
what can you say but that this is truly a mega-game.
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Fighting the Elite
Once
you do get involved in a fight there are several things
to remember and numerous ways of killing and being killed.
To start with you are equipped with a pulse laser and
four missiles.
Additional
weapons you can buy are beam lasers, military lasers,
energy bombs and mining lasers. You can also buy extra
defensive equipment - an ECM system, fuel scoops, escape
capsule, extra energy unit, docking computers and galactic
hyperdrive.
All
of these can be bought at planets with the appropriate
tech level. The most handy are military lasers which
will blast virtually any ship with a couple of hits,
an energy bomb which destroys every ship in your immediate
vicinity and an ECM system which destroys incoming missiles.
Lasers
can be mounted on all four sides of the ship but you'll
mostly use the front firing ones.
All
of these are very expensive though and will take a while
to get, but once acquired they can be devastating. Even
with such power the same basic combat rules apply, either
kill your enemy by getting on his tail fast as possible
before others arrive. Or if the odds look too great,
try and run by making a hyperspace jump.
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Guide
to Ships
Your
Cobra is not the only ship blasting the space waves.
Many other models exist but all are named after snakes
and are dangerous. Anacondas, Boas and Pythons are
all large cargo carrying vessels and if destroyed
will leave an awful lot of space debris and hopefully
some cargo canisters to scoop up (if you've got a
scoop).
Pirates,
bounty hunters and mercenaries will use a wide range
of ships including Asps, Cobras, Fer-de-Lances, Geckos,
Kraits and Mambas. Most of these are flown by experienced
pilots, have nearly as much speed as you and are heavily
armed - so watch out.
Most
dangerous of all are Police Vipers and Thargoid invasion
ships. Vipers are faster than you and will be encountered
in large numbers if you have erred in any way, while
Thargoids may appear with you out of hyperspace and
swarm all over you, both resulting in rapid deaths
unless you really are Elite.
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As
you travel 'space dust' moves by you - well, it's called
space dust for the sake of realism, but the effect is
of stars shooting past. Other craft may also appear
and depending on their make, they may or may not be
hostile. In general, unless you are near a space station,
it's a case of shoot first and ask questions of the
floating mass of space debris
later.
While
you're near a space station take the time to get the
feel of your ship and to understand the instrument display.
Your controls are left and right roll, which spin you
on your axis, and climb and dive which do just that.
Zzzzap!
Got him. Enemy ship hit by your twin lasers.
The
roll controls are tough at first but once mastered provide
excellent movement - to actually bank left, you must
first roll left and then pull joystick back to climb
(or roll right and dive). You can use either a joystick
or the keys. For flying though most 64 owners will feel
more at home with the joystick.
The
instruments at the bottom of the screen indicate your
forward and rear shield strength, fuel, cabin and laser
temperature, altitude above a planet, number of missiles,
speed, orientation and energy. The shields and energy
are affected by hits on your ship and if you fire your
own laser too much it will overheat and fire less rapidly.
The
most complicated instrument is the flight grid scanner
which indicates where objects are around you and is
vital in the middle of dogfights with other ships. It
indicates whether a craft is above or below you and
in front or behind you and whether it should be in view
of your forward scanner.
Trumble
trouble. Thousands of cuddly creatures have taken over
your craft and have started cluttering up your view.
And the noise they make!
Now
you know your way around you can try a practice docking
back at Lave. All you have to do is flip your ship over
and head for the slit in the station side. This always
faces towards the planer but you need to centre up carefully
and slow down or you'll crash into the station or scrape
your way down the docking entrance walls.
When
you feel ready, you can hyperspace to your chosen planet
where you may have to fight pirates, bounty hunters
or mercenaries all out to get your cargo or blast you
for the sheer fun of it. You may be able to make a quick
jump to the planet. If not there are other ships around
and you had better be ready for a fight.
Instruction
screen for one of the special missions.
Making
it to the space station will bring a new set of market
prices and hopefully a profit, that is if you've picked
your planet and cargo properly.
The
game comes in an excellent package along with a very
thorough and humorous instruction book, a quick reference
guide to controls and ships, and a marvellous scene
setting story called the Dark Wheel by Robert Holdstock.
BW
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Two rich programmers
Here
are the mega-brains behind the mega-game. Ian Bell (left)
and David Braben, both in their early twenties,
must be two of the wealthiest guys around. They've been
paid a fortune by Firebird for world-wide rights to
the game - those in the know reckon it's a six-figure
sum!
That's
in addition to the money paid them for the original
BBC version by Acornsoft, who incidentally must be kicking
themselves for not picking up worldwide rights at the
same time.
Ian
and David have done the conversion to the 64 at the
same time as studying for final exams at Jesus College,
Cambridge where they both won scholarships. (Prince
Edward is a fellow student there - wonder what his combat
rating is?).
It
was David who first began programming Elite - and the
machine he used? None other than the BBC's prehistoric
ancestor, the Acorn Atom!
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Make a Killing without
getting Killed
Trading
is your key to success since it enables you to make
enough cash to buy highly advanced weaponry. There are
17 goods in which you can trade although some bring
better profits than others and three are officially
illegal.
List
of local market prices.
Your
cargo bay only holds twenty tons, although for 400 credits
you can buy a 35 ton bay. The most profitable forms
of cargo are slaves, narcotics and firearms, but these
are all illegal and trading in them will get you a rating
of fugitive and bring the police onto your trail. You
can remove this rating by trading in legal goods for
a while but be warned, police Viper ships are lethal.
Items
don't always provide a good profit margin and you need
to study the data on a planet before you travel there
to determine the price you are likely to get for certain
goods. Rich developed worlds will pay well for foodstuffs
to support their high populations whereas undeveloped
agricultural worlds will pay a king's ransom for technology.
A
deadly Police Viper fires acroos your bows.
The
nature of a planet's government should also determine
how wise it is to go there since anarchies are likely
to harbour a very nasty reception committee but democracies
are easier places to stay alive.
If
you just remember to buy low and sell high you won't
go far wrong, although bear in mind a pirate can smell
a valuable cargo from light years away and you might
have company very fast.
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64 version v BBC version
The
first thing to be said is that the game runs quite a
bit more slowly on the 64 - this is caused by a combination
of the fact that the central processor in the BBC runs
at a higher speed, and that vector graphics are harder
to program on the 64.
However
we don't think this detracts significantly from the
game. In actual play the 64 graphics do not seem slow
at all - you only notice the difference by running the
two versions side by side. However if you've played
the BBC version extensively, you'll probably find the
64 game has a different feel.
There
are more than enough improvements to compensate. For
a start, all known bugs in the BBC game (and there are
plenty) have been eliminated.
Secondly,
thanks to the 64's larger memory, the entire game is
present in memory all the time, a considerable improvement
on the BBC cassette version which had certain features
trimmed.
More
important still, the 64 version contains some new features:
there are extra 'special missions' that can occur if
you prove yourself in battle. These are highly secret
but we know that one of them is to track down a stolen
ship which can only be destroyed with a military laser
with repeated hits. The others you'll have to discover
for yourself.
Then,
unique to the 64, there are the Trumbles. These cute
little furry guys will reproduce on your ship to fill
the cargo bay and also your ears with a cacophony of
breeding squeaks. They could eventually stop you earning
cargo and even start appearing on screen where the cute
little bug-eyed bundles of fun may get in your way during
a heavy battle or difficult docking. How you acquire
them, and how you eventually get rid of them remain
two of the universe's closely guarded secrets. Ones
which only 64 owners can hope to uncover.
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PRESENTATION |
ORIGINALITY
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94% |
Marvellous
booklets: informative, funny and convenient. |
87%
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3D
shoot-em-up and trader game, but what a brilliant
combination.
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GRAPHICS |
HOOKABILITY
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91% |
Wonderful
vector graphics showing great 3D action. |
95%
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From
your first space flight you know this is a winner.
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SOUND |
LASTABILITY
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52% |
Laser
blasts, crashing noises, hyperspace and docking
sounds. |
98%
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8
galaxies, 2000 planets, endless trading possibilities
and tireless action.
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VALUE
FOR MONEY |
95% |
Even
at £14.95 it's a must. |
Note:
Ullrich von
Bassewitz's Elite128 is the closest thing
there is to Elite II. An Elite fan's dream come true,
it features so many enhancements that you won't believe
it could be done without changing the game's single-load
nature. I advise you to play the original before trying
this, however, since this way you'll understand and
appreciate Ullrich's work better -- and don't be fooled
by the 'Elite128' title, the game is played on the C64.
The reason for the '128' in the title is that, if played
in the C64 mode of a C128, it can use the C128's 2MHZ
processor to speed things up. You can read details about
this fine work of programming expertise here!
Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (28 January 2001)
Other
"Games of the Week!"
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