Starlancer

by Crave Entertainment

Product Details

• ASIN: B00004UFM2
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,910 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk

Starlancer takes the gamer on an electrifying journey through the cosmos. The universe as we know it has changed and is now dominated by the Eastern Coalition and the Western Alliance. After a surprise attack by the Eastern Coalition that leads to carnage, it is the gamer's duty to uphold the Western Alliance's defense as part of the 45th Volunteers squadron.

Starlancer gamers are quickly introduced to the excitement of cosmic dogfights. The 3-D graphics are slightly hard on the eye at first, but once gamers inure themselves to this, the graphics become a fitting background to the combat. Gamers are given a number of missions that range from escorting marine boarding ships to freeing POWs.

The main thrust of the game, however, is destruction. A stunning array of laser weapons will satisfy even the most trigger-happy gamers. This is shoot-'em-up in its purest form and great fun. --Paul Munford

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Starlancer, December 11, 2000

By 

travis (Cedar Rapids, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starlancer (Video Game)

When I first heard that Starlancer was being ported to the Dreamcast I didn't think it could work. The game has the perfect style for a console game and the Dreamcast is more than capable of handling the visuals of the game but I suspected that the control scheme would be condensed far too much for the game to be enjoyable. After all, the controls were one of the major strengths of the original PC version. It turns out that my fears were totally unfounded. Crave and Warthog have found a perfect way to adapt the complicated keyboard/joystick interface to the Dreamcast controller. But before we get the control issue, perhaps I ought to say a little about the game in general. Starlancer is a space action game originally developed by the Roberts brothers at Digital Anvil. You old-timers will remember them as the team behind Wing Commander, one of the most respected games in the genre. Starlancer puts you in the role of a pilot in the 45th Volunteers right in the middle of a 22nd century Cold War. As you progress through each of the game's missions, you'll get access to better ships and better weapons. On the whole, you'll have too much responsibility in the missions and soon you'll begin to wonder what the ... your wingmen are doing throughout the fights. The missions are fairly linear with a few surprises hidden in each one. Each begins with a short animated briefing and a trip to the loadout computer. Once you've been briefed and selected your ship, the mission begins. From here, it's unlikely that the mission will unfold according to the briefing you got at the start. Most of the missions diverge from the plan right at the start and you'll be forced to improvise. Luckily there are plenty of in-game cues that steer you in the right direction. But while the targeting computer will point you to your objectives, the targeting system falls short when you have to intercept torpedoes. In almost every other mission, you'll be called on to shoot down torpedoes before they can take out your capital ships. Unfortunately the game doesn't focus your attention on the torpedoes quickly enough. You'll wind up replaying a lot of missions just because you were searching through the target lists while the torpedoes were busy blowing up your carrier. But like I said the control scheme is fantastic and relies on some pretty intuitive button combinations. For instance the two triggers work in combination to control your speed. One speeds you up, the other slows you down. Pulling both triggers at once matches speed with your enemy while double tapping the accelerator trigger kicks in the afterburners. Two buttons, four functions. Easy enough, right? And the X and Y buttons each open up menus that you can navigate with the D-pad. It all sounds complicated at first, but soon enough you'll be extremely comfortable with it. Apart from the missions, there is an instant action option. Overall it's a little too limited as you can only rack up kills until time runs out. You can't select enemies or arenas, but it is a nice quick fix. The game also offers some great online options, making it one of the hot new things to try on SegaNet. There are quite a few mutliplayer game types that mix up the standard deathmatch formula. We were a bit bummed by the omission of online multiplayer co-operative play, however, which was a big boost for the PC version, but the 6-player support goes a long way towards making up for that loss.. Finally, Starlancer is a bit too dark for my tastes. A brighter version may have turned off some gamers, but for me, Starlancer should have been a bit brighter. But that won't stop you from appreciating the fantastic graphics in the game. The ship models are beautifully rendered and the weapon effects and explosions are plenty exciting. There's a definitely decrease in the texture quality from the PC version, but since everything runs at a much faster and smoother framerate, you won't even mind. Ultimately, Starlancer is just a port but it's a ... fine port. The title offers a pretty engaging story, some thrilling gameplay and dresses it all up with some very attractive graphics. For my money, that makes it a title to definitely consider if you're at all into the genre. And since it's a genre that's in short supply on the Dreamcast, it's that much more attractive.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This game rocks, January 1, 2002

By 

chris (Ann Arbor, MI/Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starlancer (Video Game)

I rented this game once and was really let down at first. I thought that I had rented a multiplier flying game. But once I started to play I realized this was the best flying game I'd ever played, and I still think it is the best. It gives control over targets, weaponry, and other ships like never before. Rogue Leader for game cube was supposed to be the ultimate in control, but Starlancer really gives you the feeling of really being in the action. This game is a must buy!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, like Wing Commander, but no tutorials, February 24, 2004

By 

Anthony Boyd (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starlancer (Video Game)

I've been getting bored of RPG games lately, and remembered that a long time ago, I enjoyed playing a game called Wing Commander. I began asking around for a game like that, and Star Lancer was recommended to me a few times. I bought it (used) recently, fired up the old Dreamcast system, and played it for hours. While I haven't finished the game, I'm enjoying it a lot so far.

The game puts you as an amateur/volunteer pilot in space, helping the Alliance (I think) fight back against an uprising. Your side had almost brokered a peace settlement before the bad guys started blowing up everything. It is a bit odd to see the game take a very Western versus Eastern point-of-view in light of 9/11, but this came out before 9/11 so it's just odd coincidence. The alliance includes France, Italy, the USA, and a few others.

My first time in the game, I immediately began looking for the training module or flight simulator game (like in Wing Commander) to learn about how to fly. The closest this game offers is something called "immediate" play (or maybe "instant" play, something like that). This gives you a few minutes of flight time, but it's cold turkey, with no training, no voiceover hints, or even a "lull" to just fly around and test things out. Instead, it's immediate dog fighting. I found this to be the only annoying part of the game -- trial by fire -- and so I dropped one star from my rating.

However, once I learned the controls and understood the HUD, I really grew to love the game. You are part of the 45th, a squad/team of fighter pilots, and there is a lot of good chatter as you fly -- the characters act/react normally, compliment/criticize your flying, fly in for assistance if asked, and so on. Although they do leave a lot to you, which is fine. The controls are OK, although targeting with the X button and then scrolling through the list of targets is still a little hard for me -- I sometimes in a rush select the wrong target (including, one time, my allies).

Overall, the controls are decent, the ships fly well, the characters on your team make you feel like you're really on a team, and the battles are good old-fashioned Wing-Commander-type shootouts. If this game had been fleshed out more (for example, the briefing room has no characters in it, even when a presentation is being given and a voice is speaking), and if a training level had been created, I would give this 5 stars. As it is, I give it a very good 4 stars.