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STARRAY (AMI)
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a.k.a. Revenge of Defender
Publisher: Logotron. Developer: Hidden Treasures. Released: 1988. Genre: Horizontal-scrolling shoot 'em up. Other versions: AST. Posted 10th May 2022. By Tom Clare © 2022 |
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That StarRay owes a debt of gratitude to Defender is abundantly clear from the first few seconds of gameplay. Fans of the early eighties arcade game will find themselves in nostalgia heaven with what is, to all intents and purposes, a 16-bit reskin of Midway’s classic. StarRay certainly wasn’t cutting-edge by the standards of 1988, eschewing the technical leaps put forth by shoot ‘em ups such as R-Type in favour of a simpler, more familiar experience. This isn’t a criticism, mind you. Whilst the game never threatened to reinvent the wheel, it was sturdily programmed and from a technical point of view, represented an impressive outing for the Amiga hardware.
The premise is a familiar one: pilot your ship along a looped, horizontal plane, blasting all manner of alien lifeforms whilst protecting installations that line the surface. Enemies spawn in waves and the player is free to choose which direction to move in and which order to tackle said foes, with a stage concluding upon the last one being vanquished. A radar helps identify foes’ movements, as well as the appearance of special ships (often carrying power-ups) and other objects of note.
Whilst the core gameplay remains largely unchanged as you progress, each world offers a marked change of scenery and the introduction of a few new, nifty touches on the periphery. Its opening level is classic Defender territory, taking place on a barren asteroid, with space as the backdrop. The second world couldn’t be more different: verdant green forests and a range of biological lifeforms helped drag the formula firmly into 16-bit territory. The third level, set amongst snow and ice, introduces a neat tech twist: a sequence of transmitters which, should the player be careless enough to shoot one, mangles the radar readout for a crucial few seconds.
The gameplay feels a little dated but it holds up okay, thanks to some responsive controls, robust challenge and enough mini-innovations to keep the formula chugging along. This being the Amiga, there’s no music, but booming and satisfyingly full-blooded combat sounds help make up for this, whilst the power-up jingles similarly have a spring to them.
The gameplay feels a little dated but it holds up okay, thanks to some responsive controls, robust challenge and enough mini-innovations to keep the formula chugging along. This being the Amiga, there’s no music, but booming and satisfyingly full-blooded combat sounds help make up for this, whilst the power-up jingles similarly have a spring to them.
FOCAL POINT: AMERICA'S DEFENDER?
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Whilst Defender’s true sequel Stargate (occasionally known as Defender II for later ports) would endure a limited and broadly unsuccessful arcade release in 1981, this didn’t deter publishers Epyx, who felt the series name was in good enough shape when licensing StarRay for the North American market, boldly rebranding it Revenge of Defender. The games are the same, save for the latter enjoying slightly fancier box art and attract screens.
StarRay’s graphics prove the high point. Released in 1988, the game exhibits one of the earliest examples of parallax scrolling on the home computer, with several layers of foreground shifting independently of the background. Whilst the design of these elements individually is fairly plain, they serve to create a sense of motion and do so with aplomb. Considering the Amiga was never renowned for multi-layered scrolling, this has to count as an impressive effort.
With seven worlds spread over several dozen waves, you won’t be finishing this one in a hurry. Whilst there’s no single enemy or scenario you can point to as being grossly unfair, the player faces an uphill struggle in trying to best StarRay. Setting high-scores is fun in the short term, but with no continues and just one life to survive on, the game becomes an exercise in attrition. Care must be taken in avoiding accruing damage, with health replenishments infrequent and unpredictable in their placement. This in turn lends the game a slightly cautious, slower edge that doesn’t play to its strengths.
With seven worlds spread over several dozen waves, you won’t be finishing this one in a hurry. Whilst there’s no single enemy or scenario you can point to as being grossly unfair, the player faces an uphill struggle in trying to best StarRay. Setting high-scores is fun in the short term, but with no continues and just one life to survive on, the game becomes an exercise in attrition. Care must be taken in avoiding accruing damage, with health replenishments infrequent and unpredictable in their placement. This in turn lends the game a slightly cautious, slower edge that doesn’t play to its strengths.
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Going in gung-ho, unless you’re blessed with the reflexes of a ninja, will get you nowhere. However, it might have given things a little more energy and impetus. There are countless occasions where your ship gets snagged or swamped by large numbers of spawning enemies and luck plays a part in deciding the spot waves of enemies enter relative to the player. The laser blaster that serves as your weapon requires some skill and is satisfying for the first couple of levels, but quickly starts to feel puny and over-matched. There’s the option to vaporise all enemies in close proximity with bombs, which is good fun and can get the player out of some tight scrapes.
As is, it’s not a world-beater, but StarRay can be considered a nice ode to Defender. Its gameplay lacked the excitement and ingenuity of the new breed of horizontal-scrolling shoot ‘em ups that were emerging at the time. However, behind a fairly retrograde experience, there’s some impressive visuals and a solid bit of immersion for fans of space shooters.
As is, it’s not a world-beater, but StarRay can be considered a nice ode to Defender. Its gameplay lacked the excitement and ingenuity of the new breed of horizontal-scrolling shoot ‘em ups that were emerging at the time. However, behind a fairly retrograde experience, there’s some impressive visuals and a solid bit of immersion for fans of space shooters.
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VERDICT
"it’s not a world-beater, but StarRay can be considered a nice ode to Defender. Impressive visuals and immersive use of parallax scrolling prove the highlight in a playable but dated outing." OVERALL: 6/10 |