Elite (Second Review)

Title		Elite (Second Review)
Game Type	3D Combat Sim
Players		1
Company		Firebird
Compatibility	All
HD Installable	Yes (With WHDLoad Patch)
Submission	Richard Gladwin

Review
Many moons ago, back in the days of vector graphics and RAM pack wobble, a
genius game was devised to set many a young explorer's heart alight.
Fighting, trading, running off to many a far flung galaxy - now was the
time to become a Han Solo for real - and not have to worry about Jabba the
Hutt...yes, Elite was born.

Initially a small, compact game written for the BBC Micro (all 32K of it!),
the game developed onto the more popular machines of the early/mid 1980s,
notably the Spectrum and C64.

In my humble opinion though, the true talents of the game were not
unleashed until the Amiga entered into town. Now, we had proper rapid
laser fire instead of funny "beams"; we had colour, filled in ships which
could be easily identified; we had solid asteroids which moved in their
proper 3D vector way, looking like they actually floated; and we had the
Blue Danube! Okay, the Blue Danube was also in the C64 version.

Yes, the Amiga brought an astounding game to life. Never before, and not
since, has a game seemed so real, never mind being so enthralling. A game
where you start with a pathetically equipped ship, a tank of gas, 100
credits, several planets to go to and no idea how to fight anyone else.
Yet, the marvel of the game was to make flying your ship (the wonderfully
named Cobra Mk3) very easy - actually easier on a keyboard than with a
joystick, strange as it may seem. All of a sudden, flying around the
heavens was a lot easier than anticipated. Battle after battle becomes
enjoyable, you create maneouvres the Red Arrows would be proud of, all in
the name of increasing your rating within the game; closer to the fabled
rating of Elite.

While doing all this, you are able to trade many commodities, from food to
luxuries, through to narcotics and slaves if you fancied a brush with the
law and many a mercanary on route. Couple this with the unbelievably
difficult docking procedure and you have a game to die for.

Clever, spellbinding, yet astoundingly simple - this was the game to set
the standard for anything that followed that dare to mention strategy
anywhere in its make up! Many an hour has been wasted in front of a TV
listening to the Blue Danube as I float serenely into another Coriolis
Space Station (everything has such great names)... try it, shout as you
crash into another space station - do not miss a chance to relive a game
that has never been improved upon.

And I dare you to come back and say it was crap - I just won't believe you!

Alphabetical list.