There was a game, years ago, on Sega Genesis. It was pretty much like star trek...there was a race of robots...lizards...jelly aliens, and one more I think..and you had to 'interact' with them differently in order to get clues from them... Meanwhile you have to keep upgrading your ship by mining for gold and other minerals which you turned in for cash to buy upgraded stuff..you're also trying to solve this mystery and trying to find earth... It was very fun for its time...does anyone remember this 'star trek' type of game and if its available on line anywhere??? Rob Scorpio
No, however..that game does look cool too. The game I am trying to remember is a little more basic. I remember it mainly because I hated the stupid "android" race because I could never figure out what to say to them..and if you say the wrong thing, they attack you.. One of the races were these balls of goo which were pushovers..and there were worm holes you had to find to circumvent the galaxy in faster ways... Rob Scorpio
Is this it? I used to have it many moons ago... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270308709526
Starflight was the name of this game. I had this for the PC. Excellent game. A little slow starting out as you mined planets for ores to upgrade your ship and crew. However, once you got into the story, it was very engrossing. I spent many hours on this game. They came out with Starflight 2, but I couldn't really get into it.
You can run the Genesis version on a PC these days, but it's not nearly as enjoyable as the PC version. Amiga version can also run in an Amiga emulator, and it has some advantages, but still the PC version in 16 colors is the one. I played it back in the day on a Tandy 1000. It's the best game of its type, ever. All those star systems somehow stored in a fractal generator on (2) 360k floppies! There is an effort at a Starflight 3, but it seems to have been stymied for some time. Starflight 2 was good also, but the original's plot was better. Very slow in the beginning, but the grind is always varied. Unlike so many games today, where they will just use the exact same missions over and over with different backdrops. Every planet in Starflight is unique. I think it was the best game of its age.
I had the Genesis version before I got the pc version but I liked the Genesis game better. It had better graphics but I think the gameplay was the same. I really love this game. Does anyone know of any similar pc games?
If you mean "similar" in the sense of having a large universe to explore more or less at your own whims: * Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos (especially if you add the Torn Stars mod). There's a big focus on trade. * The Battlecruiser series (Battlecruiser 3000AD, BC Millennium, Universal Combat, etc.) That series gets a bad rap for being buggy and having a total douchebag being in charge of it, though. * Freelancer, I think? I didn't play it much, but I recall it was a bit similar. * Terminus, supposedly, but I never even played it. Terrible reviews. * Noctis. No story whatsoever, just space exploration. Enormous universe. Very interesting little program. Really, they don't make a whole lot of games in that vein, sadly. They require a ton of work, especially if you want modern graphics and a believable universe.
The PC version's ship control in-system is much different, and better IMO. Genesis did have 32 colors, I think, but the 16-color PC version is fine. Freelancer is utterly vacant. The "freelance" missions are cookie-cutter, otherwise there is no freedom. It's worth a play for the campaign, tasty visuals, some fun and intense ship combat. Another modern one that seems promising is X3: The Reunion. I have it, but haven't gotten into it because it requires a sound card to run without audio glitches. No biggie, but haven't gotten around to installing one. It has even tastier graphics than Freelancer (awesome metallic ship textures) and will tax your PC like Oblivion, which is a good thing. But nothing I've found has the kind of truly open-ended gameplay, and stunning plot, like Starflight. Well, it's a classic for a reason.
There are some for sale on Ebay http://video-games.shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38.l1313&_nkw=genesis+starflight&_sacat=1249 Thanks. I'll have to check some of those out. I think that I did try Freelancer a while ago.
Too true. Even in the list I compiled, none of them quite stack up to what Starflight achieved. The Battlecruiser games come closest as far as letting you do what you want, but they're so buggy and there just isn't the level of interaction you got from the Starflight games.
I've always thought the Battlecruiser games had a fantastic premise, but were so poorly designed they were almost impossible to play. The level of micromanaging took pretty much all the fun out of it.
Too true. If the Battlecruiser games required roughly the amount of micromanagement as, say, Bridge Commander, and had a more interesting (that is, dynamic and truly interactive) universe to play in, they might have been better. A bunch of randomly generated ships and bases does not make a universe feel "alive," especially when none of them will ever talk to you!