Buzz Aldrin's Race Intro Space Official Trailer (1994, Interplay)
9Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space, frequently abbreviated BARIS, is a 1993 space simulation strategy game for MS-DOS. The player takes the role of Administrator of NASA or head of the Soviet space program with the ultimate goal of being the first side to conduct a successful manned moon landing. It was developed by Strategic Visions and published by Interplay Entertainment as a computer version of LIFTOFF!, a 1989 board game developed by Fritz Bronner. BARIS was re-released in 1994 on CD-ROM, incorporating the earlier updates to the floppy disk version, a few new updates, improved video of the mission launches, and new multiplayer modes.
The developers worked to maintain historical accuracy, including all the actual major space hardware and several alternative proposals that were considered at the time, but did make some compromises and simplifications in the name of game balance and avoiding complexity. They also consulted Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who gave permission for his name to be used for the game.
Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space has two sides, the United States and the Soviet Union, unlike LIFTOFF! which supported up to four (the other two sides in Liftoff! were Europe and Asia). Each player controls a space center, which doubles as a navigational menu, and directs funding toward purchasing hardware, research and development, recruiting and training astronauts, and conducting launches.
While the ultimate goal of the game is to conduct a successful manned Moon landing, it is necessary to complete several milestone achievements to ensure success. Historical milestones in the game range from launching a satellite, like Sputnik 1, to conducting a lunar orbital mission, like Apollo 8. Skipping a milestone results in a safety penalty to any mission depending on it. For example, skipping a manned lunar orbital mission would cause a safety penalty to all mission steps in lunar orbit during a moon landing mission.
Play begins in spring of 1957 and proceeds with turns lasting six months each for up to 20 years to the end of 1977,[4] or until the first player successfully conducts a manned Moon landing, or until one player is dismissed from his/her program (this happens rarely, and only to a human player who is essentially doing nothing). At the start of each turn, the game randomly chooses an "event card" to give the player, usually with a piece of historical information, and sometimes with positive or negative effects on the game.[6] For example, the player may be informed that Operation Paperclip has increased the effect of research and development for that turn.
On the way to the Moon landing, the two space programs compete for prestige in order to secure funding. Players gain prestige points through space exploration "firsts", which include historical milestone missions that improve lunar mission safety, but also ancillary achievements, such as the first Mars flyby (historically Mariner 4) or first woman in space (historically Valentina Tereshkova). The player to make the second successful mission of a certain type will typically gain some prestige points, whereas subsequent missions may earn very few or no points. Prestige points are lost through mission failures, especially those involving astronaut/cosmonaut fatalities.
The heart of the game is the space missions, which come down to dice rolls. At each step of a mission, the safety factor of the relevant component is checked against a random number, adjusted by relevant astronaut skill bonuses (if the mission is manned), safety penalties and other factors. If the check fails, an error occurs. Such an error may range from catastrophic mission failure down to no effect (e.g. "The first imprint in the lunar surface is in fact made by a helmet visor. Crewman okay."). Placing a satellite in orbit has three steps, while a moon landing can have well over twenty. Missions are generally non-interactive; occasionally during an incident, the player may be given the option of aborting or proceeding.
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