Star Raiders 2

"Star Raiders II" is a game released in 1986 for the Atari 8-bit home computers and game consoles. As a sequel to "Star Raiders" it contains many similar elements, namely, the enemies are the Zylons, the ship can travel through hyperspace and it refuels at starbases. Unlike "Star Raiders", there is a scoring system and the action takes place both around planets and in open space. The game at one point was intended to be based on the The Last Starfighter film.

Gameplay

The game starts with the player's ship orbiting their homeworld as it falls under attack by Zylon fighters. Also featured are diamond-shaped Destroyers and Flagships. After the player defeats the fighters the space around the planet is free of hostile ships. After any other encounter with fighters, the player may fight associated star destroyers. Star Destroyers are more durable and have more powerful weapons.

The player may move between stars, planets, starbases, enemy fleets, and another star systems using hyperspace. Travelling to a star automatically refuels the player's ship, but spending more than a few seconds in orbit will destroy it. Enemy fleets originate at the alternate star system and move slowly across the warp targeting screen to planets or starbases. When they arrive at planets, they no longer have flagships and when they arrive at a starbase only fighters remain.

The player must defend his own planets by intercepting enemy fleets in space. If they are allowed to reach a planet, they will attack it and destroy cities until the planet is barren. Should they reach a starbase, the player will no longer be able to refuel. The player can jump through a wormhole to the Zylon home system and attack their home worlds. Victory is achieved by destroying all the cities upon the surface of the Zylon worlds, while preserving those on your own.

Commands are issued via the joystick and keyboard. Around a planet there are three weapons available, lasers and an ion cannon provide ship-to-ship fire while bombs can be used to destroy cities. In space only the ion cannon and lasers are available.

Other versions

Conversions for the ZX Spectrum, [WoS game|id=0004828] Amstrad CPC [ [http://www.cpczone.net/game/1961 Star Raiders 2] at CPC Zone] and Commodore 64 [ [http://www.lemon64.com/?game_id=3725 Star Raiders 2] at Lemon64] were published under license by Electric Dreams Software in 1987.

The ZX Spectrum version received mixed reviews; "Your Sinclair" awarded 8 out of 10, [cite journal |last=Lee |first=Tony |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1987 |month=June |title=Star Raiders 2 review |journal=Your Sinclair |volume= |issue=18 |pages= |id= |url=http://www.ysrnry.co.uk/articles/starraidersii.htm |accessdate= 2007-11-09 |quote=It's a good game, all in all, but limited - there's not a lot of variety, so anyone other than shoot 'em up freaks may get bored. ] "Sinclair User" awarded 5 out of 5 stars, [cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Graham |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1987 |month=May |title=Star Raiders 2 review |journal=Sinclair User |volume= |issue=62 |pages= |id= |quote=One of the more entertaining space games. Despite its rather simple graphics, it's incredibly entertaining. ] but "CRASH" only awarded 52%, feeling it did not compare favourably with the similar "Codename MAT". [cite journal |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1987 |month=May |title=Star Raiders 2 review |journal=CRASH |volume= |issue=40 |pages= |id= |url= |quote=A dated arcade conversion of the 'left, right and fire' variety. ]

References