The copy of Stardust I ordered from Aggression turned up the other day,
and it certainly makes good use of the graphics, but for those of you 
who haven't seen Stardust on the Amiga (of which I was one), it is
essentially Asteroids with much improved sound and graphics, as well
as more nasties and some extra weaponry.  You also have shields, and
energy which can sustain a couple of hits, and you can pick up smart-bombs
which will obliterate everything on the screen with a very nice
graphics-effect.

Basically, the plot involves the usual bad-guy trying to take over the
universe, but this one uses ships "disguised" as meteors which when
shot break up into smaller pieces, which can be shot again, which break
up into yet smaller pieces, which when shot disappear, (explode), sometimes
leaving behind a useful(?) bonus such as extra energy etc.  The
explosions are VERY well done, I wouldn't like to think how many frames
are in the explosion, or how many there are in the rotation of the
meteors, which give a good 3D impression.  There are numerous extra-nasty
bad-guys, such as huge rotating 3D balls (ever seen the "boink" demo?),
and huge things resembling thorns which take up almost half the screen.

There are also end-of-level bosses which get progressively harder (it
took me 3 of my 5 lives to kill the 2nd one, although I'm getting better
gradually :), this is _not_ an easy game!

As well as the asteroids-like stages, there are the mid-level tunnel
stages (as seen in the SDTUNNEL.LHA demo), and special-missions which
are similar to the game "grav" or "thrust" in which you have to fly
around a cavern, trying not to run out of fuel, and picking up some
extra lives along the way.

The whole game shows a lot of work put into the sound and graphics,
and the gameplay is flawless, with collision detection being superb,
not _once_ have I said "Yeah, right that was anywhere near me" (ever
seen the game "Shadow Warriors"?  The bad-guys hit you if their punch/kick
is about an inch on the screen away from you!  Good ole' Ocean!).  The
spot effects could be clearer (The robotic voice saying "Powerups
re-routed to three-way" took me a while to work out.)  but they fit
the atmosphere, and the explosions etc. are better than any other
such thing I've seen before on the ST.

All in all, a pretty good game, but under all the fancy extras, it's
basically Asteroids, (A damned GOOD asteroids, but...)  lets hope
Aggression puts out an original game of a similar calibre! (Utopos was
pretty good, but none too stable, but I haven't got the latest version
that comes with Stardust yet (coming in a seperate package), so I'll
save judgement a bit longer on that :)

Not bad for $20, and a lot better than some of the rip-off prices
that Shareware authors charge for their nowhere-near as good attempts.
(This game game with a commercial-quality _corrugated_ cardboard box
(none of this wussy 1mm thick cardboard), looking just like what you'd
buy in a shop, as well as a rougly A2 sized poster, and instruction
manual (which is a bit sparse, but enough).  

Oh yeah, and I've yet to find any bugs in it other than a couple of
minor spelling mistakes!  I'm well known for my ability to find problems
with programs, something my coder friends get quite sick of, and
Stardust has so far passed the test! ;-)


WELLS_S@IX.WCC.GOVT.NZ      I am in no way affiliated with the Government
Steve Wells.                or City Council.