Star Raiders II
Pelit was a Finnish-language (bi)annual book series published from 1987 to 1991 containing gaming-related articles, tips and most importantly game reviews. Here you can find all the reviews from the books. The reviews were originally written in Finnish; the English versions are translations of the Finnish originals.
1987
1988
1989 Kevät
1989 Syksy
1990 Kevät
1990 Syksy
1991 Kevät
1991 SyksyStar Raiders II
1987Kun minä kiroilen taivaan enkelitkin itkevät. Ja suuri on hyrske viime päivinä ollut. Sopimattoman ja epäsivistyneen kielenkäytön syy on Star Raiders II.
Miksi näin? Lukeehan pakkauksessa, että SR II on parasta sitten Judge Dreddin, näyttiväthän ST-kuvat erinomaisilta, kehuihan Computer & Video Games -lehti pikku-Atari-version taivaisiin. Ennakko-odotukset olivat korkeat, mutta kiihtyivät kympistä nelkkuun alle puolen minuutin. Kolmiulotteinen shoot'em-down, ihanaa! Siis hyppäsin Liberty Starin ohjaimiin, katsoinpa kartalta kohteen ja tuhosinpa hävittäjiä. Sittenpä tuhosin risteilijöitä. Jos olisin niistä selvinnyt olisin päässyt ampumaan emoaluksia, mutta onneksi kuolin leikisti laseriin ennenkuin aito ikävystymiskuolema ehti iskeä.
Grafiikassa kummittelevat menneisyyden haamut. Spritet ovat enimmäkseen yksivärisiä ja karkeita. Illuusiota avaruusaluksen ohjaamossa olemisesta ei hetkeksikään synny joystickin tuntuessa vaikuttavan vain vihollisten liikkeisiin.
Koko homman kaataa lopullisesti uskomaton epäpelattavuus. Imua ei ole. Aseistus on onnetonta, strategia on jäänyt matkan varrelle ja koko homman punainen lanka on poikki. Star Raidersin aineksista syntyy cocktail, jonka nimi on Monotonic. Electric Dreamsin kannattaa alkaa miettiä nimen muuttamista Electric Nightmareksi tai parantaa laatua.
1987When I curse, even the angels in heaven weep. And mighty has been the storm these last few days. The reason for my improper and uncivilised language is Star Raiders II.
Why so? The box says, after all, that SR II is the best thing since Judge Dredd, the ST pictures looked excellent, and Computer & Video Games magazine praised the 8-bit Atari version to the skies. Expectations were high, but they accelerated from top marks to a fail in under half a minute. A three-dimensional shoot'em-down, wonderful! So I jumped at the controls of the Liberty Star, went and looked up a target on the map and went and destroyed some fighters. Then I went and destroyed some cruisers. If I'd survived those I'd have got to shoot motherships, but luckily I died a make-believe death by laser before a genuine death by boredom had time to strike.
The ghosts of the past haunt the graphics. The sprites are mostly single-coloured and crude. Not for one moment do you get the illusion of being in the cockpit of a spaceship, as the joystick seems to affect only the enemies' movements.
The whole thing is finally sunk by its incredible unplayability. There's no pull. The weaponry is miserable, the strategy got left somewhere along the way, and the thread holding the whole thing together has snapped. The ingredients of Star Raiders make a cocktail called Monotonic. Electric Dreams ought to start thinking about changing its name to Electric Nightmare, or else improve its quality.
