Rescue at Rigel

Infobox VG| title = Rescue at Rigel


caption="Rescue at Rigel" on the Atari 8-bit
developer = Epyx
publisher = Epyx
designer = Jon Freeman
engine =
released = 1980
genre = Sci-Fi CRPG
modes = Single player
ratings = N/A
platforms = Apple II, DOS, TRS-80, VIC-20, Atari 8-bit.
media = Various, usually one 5¼" disk
requirements = No special requirements
input = Keyboard

"Rescue at Rigel" is a 1980 science fiction computer role-playing game written and published by Automated Simulations (later known as Epyx), and later branded as part of the "Starquest" series. The game was released for the Apple II, DOS, as a PC Booter, TRS-80, VIC-20, and Atari 8-bit. "Rescue at Rigel" was soon followed by "Star Warrior" in the Starquest series, although "Star Warrior" used a more heavily modified game engine.

Players take on the role of adventurer Sudden Smith. Smith must try to rescue captives from the interior of an asteroid orbiting the star Rigel. Players have 60 minutes to rescue 10 human captives from the alien moon base. They must first find the captives before delivering them to the rescue ship (via a transport beam). Players must defeat or avoid the enemies wandering the base: the alien Tollahs, two types of armed robots, a six-legged "cerbanth", and a huge amoebic slug. As players forge deeper into the alien stronghold, they have the opportunity to acquire better weapons.

The playfield is presented as a top-down view of the current location of the hero. In gameplay and presentation, "Rescue at Rigel" is very similar to "Temple of Apshai", a popular dungeon crawl by Epyx. Though simplistic by today's standards, this game was a pioneering game in the early home computer era. "Rescue at Rigel" added a timer to the basic game engine, but was otherwise very similar to their earlier games. The game was turn-based, with the player given a certain number of "points" to spend on various actions, completing their turn when the points ran out.

Although nominally a science fiction setting, the plot of rescuing hostages was perhaps derived from the Iran Hostage Crisis, which was headline news when the game was written. Additionally, one type of enemy which the player must defeat is the High Tollah, a name that resembles the title of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian religious leader whose supporters took the American hostages.

ee also

* "2400 A.D."

External links

*moby game|id=/starquest-rescue-at-rigel|name="Rescue at Rigel"