StarTrash Longplay (C64) [50 FPS]
41Developed by Olli and Jörg and published by Rainbow Arts in 1989.
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Title Screen: 0:00
Main Menu: 8:18
Main Game: 10:57
Startrash is an interesting, if obscure title published by Rainbow Arts that bears similarities to Atari Games' Marble Madness.
Apparently, all documents in the universe have been teleported to Startrash VII and it's your mission to recover them in time for some kind of intergalactic census takes place. Viewed from an isometric perspective, the objective is to move your bouncing ball around eight different levels, locate and collect a stack of documents and head for the exit (spinning diamond-esque structure).
The first thing to realise is that nothing in this game makes any sense. Simply play the game for what it is and don't try to understand the setting, characters or context.
Throughout each level various enemies try to block your progress and will actively chase after the ball if it goes anywhere near them. The designs are off-the-wall, ranging from seahorses to strange, cloaked humanoid beings.
In addition to the stack of documents, there are two different types of collectible to be found, each adding points to your score. One of these is a strange dot that changes colour from red to green (landing on it whilst green earns more points), while the other is a floating fish. Both of these will attempt to evade you, forcing you to chase after them if you want the points.
Once the documents have been collected, you will need to collect a key before the exit portal will let you progress to the next level. Collecting a key causes your ball to change colour from green to blue, but coming into contact with one of the fishy bonus things will cause you to change back and lose the key in the process, forcing you to locate another. Whether this is by design or a just a bug is never made clear, but at least it is consistent.
The level is divided into a number of tiles and your ball can bounce between them by pushing the joystick in the desired direction. Actually moving around the level is the biggest challenge you will face since the ball only moves at set intervals during it's bouncing animation, so there is usually a delay between pushing the joystick in the direction you want to go and the ball actually moving. This delay means that you tend to push the joystick for too long, which often results in you travelling one tile more than you really wanted to, resulting in your ball sailing over the edge of a cliff or down a gap in the scenery.
It would be fair to say that the movement mechanics are inconsistent at best and, at worst, completely broken. Attempting to drop down from one platform to a lower tile looks as though it should work, but often kills you and deducts points in the process. I also found that the game often incorrectly calculates your position as having dropped off a platform and kills you, despite you blatantly being on a large, spacious platform at the time. You're never quite sure whether the game is about to kill you for making a wrong move and is a serious flaw with the game.
While it might seem that there's little to recommend the game, the design is quirky (despite being broken) and features some cool music from Chris Hülsbeck and Ramiro Vaca.
Startrash is an interesting concept in design and could be quite fun, if it wasn't quite so buggy and wasn't so strange!
#retrogaming
#c64
#commodore64