Star Cruiser
From Sega Retro
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| Star Cruiser | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System(s): Sega Mega Drive | |||||
| Publisher: Masaya | |||||
| Developer: Arsys Software | |||||
| Genre: Adventure | |||||
| Number of players: 1 | |||||
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Star Cruiser (スタークルーザー) is a 1990 adventure game for the Sega Mega Drive by Arsys Software, published by NCS. It is a port of Star Cruiser, which was previously released on various Japanese home computers, including NEC's PC-88 and PC-98 in 1988 and the Sharp X68000 in 1989.
No version has been released outside Japan. An English version, retitled Star Quest, was set to be released in North America by Namco in 1994 (being previewed at Winter CES 1993 and Sumer CES 1993), but was cancelled for unknown reasons. A sequel, Star Cruiser II, was released for Japanese home computers in 1992.
Overview
Ahead of its time, it featured fully 3D polygonal graphics, true FPS gameplay (including strafing), RPG elements, open-ended space exploration, and an epic sci-fi space opera plot.
The game's innovations included fully polygonal 3D graphics (including nearly all objects, enemies, and backgrounds, with the exception of distant horizons that were pre-rendered), true first-person shooter gameplay (anticipating Wolfenstein 3D and Doom), gameplay mechanics such as strafing, fusion of first-person shooter and RPG mechanics (anticipating System Shock and Deus Ex), 3D open-ended sandbox exploration across a large game universe (spanning several star systems) with six degrees of freedom, 3D space flight simulator gameplay for exploring (and fighting enemy spacecraft in) outer space, a crosshair to target enemies (both on ground and in space), and a portable computer built into the player character's power suit that has various uses (such as displaying an automap and radar). The game had a large open-ended game universe, allowing the player to explore over 30 planets across four star systems.
The game also emphasized storytelling, with an epic sci-fi space opera storyline set in the 27th century, various plot twists, extensive character dialogues with NPCs (who have their own background stories), anime-style dialogue portraits for characters, visual novel style POV cutscenes, and animated cutscenes rendered using the game's 3D engine. It also had a chiptune FM synthesis soundtrack composed by Toshiya Yamanaka (later released as a seperate original soundtrack CD).
History
Star Cruiser runs on a 3D polygon engine previously used by the 1986 Arsys Software role-playing shooter Wibarm. While Wibarm only used the 3D engine for exploring indoor environments and presented it in a third-person view, Star Cruiser used the 3D polygon engine for the entire game and presented the view entirely in a first-person view.
Upon its original 1988 release for the PC-88 and PC-98, Star Cruiser was an ambitious and innovative game years ahead of its time. The game's innovations included fully 3D polygon graphics (including nearly all objects, enemies, and backgrounds, with the exception of distant horizons that were pre-rendered), true first-person shooter gameplay (anticipating the likes of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom), gameplay mechanics such as strafing, fusion of the first-person shooter and RPG genres (anticipating the likes of System Shock and Deus Ex), real-time 3D first-person movement (unlike earlier first-person games which were pre-computed), 3D open-world exploration across a large game universe (spanning several star systems), 3D space flight simulator segments for exploring outer space with six degrees of movement (and fighting enemy spacecraft), a crosshair to target enemies (both on ground and in space), and a portable computer built into the player character's power suit that has various uses (such as displaying an automap and radar). The game had a large open-world game universe, allowing the player to explore over 30 planets across four star systems, making it the earliest example of a fully 3D polygon open-world game.
The game also emphasized storytelling, with an epic sci-fi space opera storyline set in the 27th century, plot twists, character dialogues with NPCs (who have their own background stories), anime style dialogue portraits for characters, visual novel style first-preson cutscenes, animated cutscenes rendered using the game's 3D engine, and a chiptune soundtrack composed by Toshiya Yamanaka using FM synthesis (later released as a seperate original soundtrack CD).
Reception
The original home computer releases were critically acclaimed, particularly the Sharp X68000 version, winning a number of awards from Japanese publications. However, the Mega Drive port had a mixed reception, with Japanese reviewers not considering it to be as good as the original computer versions. European import reviews were more critical, considering the heavy Japanese text to be a major obstacle to enjoying the game. However, Electronic Gaming Monthly's reception of the unreleased English version, Star Quest, was positive.[1][2]
Magazine articles
- Main article: Star Cruiser/Magazine articles.
Physical scans
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53 |
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| Based on 6 reviews | |
| Mega Drive, JP |
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 Cover
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  Cart  Manual |
References
 NEC Retro has more information related to Star Cruiser
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 File:EGM US 051.pdf, page 108
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 File:EGM US 059.pdf, page 190
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 File:Joystick FR 014.pdf, page 134 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:Joystick FR 014.pdf_p134" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ File:SegaPower UK 46.pdf, page 98
- ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "January 1991" (JP; 1990-12-08), page 35
- ↑ Famitsu, "" (JP; 199x-xx-xx), page 1
- ↑ Hippon Super, "January 1991" (JP; 1990-12-04), page 40
- ↑ Mega Drive Fan, "March 1991" (JP; 1991-02-08), page 99
- ↑ Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 54
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