Starblade (Amiga) - A Playguide and Review - by LemonAmiga.com
113Starblade is a space action adventure, which was developed by Silmarils and published by Palace Software in 1990. This is one of those games were players feel instantly out of their depth, so lets take a look, and see how far we can get, armed with the walkthrough. (Expand for notes)
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Production Notes:
Captured: 11th October 2020
Narrated: 26th May 2021
Edited: 26th May 2021 - 15th June, and December 2021.
This is another request from my supporters. David Saphier backed the Lemon shows while we were off the air this year, and sponsored this review of a game I had never seen or heard about. I also found Star Blaze on the database after searching for this title, which is another undiscovered gem.
The game can be played on any number of levels, from trading to strategy, a bit of role playing and some combat. The Hints Sheet on the Lemon database is basically what appear in this video, in a very condensed form, and is what I followed during my play. I guess back in the day, players would have to explore each planet and make notes, but these hits really take away a lot of the pain of trial and error. I could only find the French scan of the manual on HOL, so this is what I had to translate into English to get beyond the intrusive password checks - of which there was probably another one before the end of the game. The bit with the hand grenade was a bit confusing, as it's possible to throw the grenade by pushing upwards , even then it is not in your hand. There is more than appears in the video. For one thing, according to the hints, an alien invasion can happen where they attack the ship. I'm sure there must be a way to check your funds, although I never saw it. The ship shield I found can be activated from the ship stats screen, which is in the review but I didnt mention it.
You might notice the volume of the narration (and video in general) is a bit low for this one, but at least I'm not shouting like in the Banzai review, and the whole volume balance seems to be smoother and more fun to listen to. I had a lot of issues with my amp this year, so some videos were balanced quieter than others. I actually prefer it like this, but I don't know what will happen next series. Fascination, Cautious Condor and Fish Head Buddha were also edited in this 'low' audio mode, which are still to come.
Danscore:
What could be better as an idea for a video game that to take command of your own star ship, which you can fix and upgrade, and take out to any planet - where you can land and fight enemies, and solve a few puzzles. The lush green planets can be like a maze. The hot and cold planets require a space suit. And the monsters look a bit like things from Star Wars. The end result is something which walks a bit slowly, feels a bit laggy, and plays just a bit clunky - almost like this was coded for NTSC hardware? Graphics are top for 1990, with a copper graded background and lots of incidental animations to make the planets for more alive. The ship graphics are pretty basic, and its very easy to get lost with the decks and rooms all looking alike. Action is limited to a few moves, and there is no way to jump or crawl. Music is almost non-existent apart from the intro and death music, and sound effects are either too quiet or too loud in the mix. Lastly, the bulk of the ship menus are basic text screens, relying on stats, or completely anonymous icons for what the chips are supposed to represent. You cant really blame these guys for trying to make the game of their dreams, but I think they reached a bit too far. Although there is a good heap of atmosphere and danger in the exploration parts, the vastness of the ship combined with cumbersome trading means the side elements are mostly ignored, leaving an action adventure. Even with the walkthrough, this still needs some strategy and memorisation skills to get through it. If graphics and presentation were matched with similarly awesome sound and playability, this would be a gem, but a lack of story driven context and clunky controls really hurts the lastability, and I'd give this 6.5 out of 10. There is some reply value thanks to modern savestates, and there is a feeling of being a bush-whacking pioneer in gaming history, when you realise that not that many people will have got very far with this, and only a select few of people in the world will have ever completed it.
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