Rebelstar
Encyclopedia
--
Rebestar Raiders was originally released for the 48k ZX Spectrum in 1984 by Red Shift Ltd, a war games publisher who had also released Gollop's space strategy game, Nebula. It was written in BASIC
.
Raiders does not feature a computer-controlled opponent, so is strictly a two-player game. It includes three different scenarios, the maps for which are loaded in as a screen datum; thus the playing area is limited to the size of the screen. In each scenario, each player's units are deployed manually before play commences.
Combat can either be melee or ranged, which takes into account limited ammunition and line-of-sight. Damage is taken from a unit's endurance statistic. If this is reduced below one fifth of its initial value, the unit is seriously wounded. If reduced to zero, the unit is destroyed. Units also have skill and armour values.
One player controls a squad of 24 raiders, who are led by "the first of the Capricorn clones", Joe Capricorn. The Raiders' squad also includes Captain Krenon, a character who features in the two later Rebelstar games.
The moonbase, which is disguised as a mining station, is defended by sentry robots, mining robots and auto-guns in pre-set locations, and deployable technicians and security guards.
The Raiders win if one unit can get to the control room and destroy the sensitive equipment there.
In the second scenario, Starlingale, Joe Capricorn, Captain Krenon and a few other survivors have returned to their eponymous escape vessel. The ship is still undergoing hull repairs, and must be defended for twelve turns. The Red Shift player, controlling various robot operatives, must destroy the two Navcomps on the bridge to prevent takeoff.
The Raider's units include the pre-deployed Starlingale pilots and "plod-bots", 14 deployable raiders, with 8 raiders arriving later as reinforcements.
The Red Shift Operatives include "Zorbotrons" (armed with gas bombs), "fly-bots" (armed with zeekers), "Slavers" (with las-whips), a mining robot and two security guards.
The third and final scenario, The Final Assault, has the Starlingale join the Freedream on the surface of Pi. The Raiders must destroy eight parts of the Main-Comp in an underground shelter.
Rebelstar was originally published in 1986 by Telecomsoft's budget label, Firebird. Unlike its predecessor it was written in machine code, and featured a larger, scrolling playfield. The game supported single player and two player variants, and had overhauled game mechanic
s. Only one map was available.
Morale, stamina and encumbrance are new statistics for units, and ranged fire has the option of fast snapshots or more action-point consuming aimed shots. In addition, an "opportunity fire" system allows a player to interrupt their opponents turn with pre-targeted shots.
Objects are more interactive than in Raiders, with units able to drop or collect weapons, ammunition, dead bodies, and other items. Some types of terrain may provide cover and slow units down. Wreckage of droids and dead bodies also cause partial obstructions.
The objective for the Raiders in Rebelstar is to destroy ISAAC, the computer responsible for breaking the Raiders' secret codes. The game can be won either by destroying ISAAC's central core, or by eliminating all enemy forces in the base. The player can gain reinforcements by destroying three Laser Defence Computers located around the base; this allows reinforcements to arrive a few turns later.
In the single player version, the difficulty level can be set from one to eight, each level increasing the number and power of the droid forces. The game has a built-in time limit, and the Raiders automatically lose if they fail to achieve either of their objectives within the time limit.
magazine awarded Rebelstar 93%, making it a Crash Smash. The reviewer was impressed with the fast pace, challenging difficulty level, and clear graphics. The character graphics and individual morale and skills were felt to contribute towards the game's atmosphere. The reviewer pointed out some similarities with Snapshot, a module for the 1977 Game Designers' Workshop
role playing game Traveller
.
Rebelstar was also ranked as the second greatest Spectrum game of all time by Your Sinclair: Stuart Campbell held Rebelstar as an example of how the wargaming genre could be "an experience unrivalled for thrills by all but the most adrenalin-pumping blaster". Both Your Sinclair and Crash praised the decision to release the game at the budget price of £1.99.
The scenario takes place on the planet of Thray 6, on which an alien race is threatening Rebelstar. The Raiders' objective is to kill aliens, kill the alien queen, and capture alien eggs. The Raiders have a set escape window, with their shuttle landing on turn 15 and taking off on 26. At that point, the game ends and victory points compared.
The left half of the map is an outdoor environment, with bushes, trees, rivers and marshes. The Alien's fortress lies to the right; the aliens are predominantly armed with bows and arrows (in the two-player version) or "terminator" guns (in the one-player version). The alien queen herself can fire a short-ranged but deadly acidic spit.
Similarities with the film Aliens
were pointed out, with the visual appearance of the antagonists, the storyline, and the names of some of the Raiders: "This is a game to appeal not only to strategists, but also fans of the Alien movies and in fact anyone who enjoys a really good - and very tense - game."
. This compilation also included Chaos
and Nebula.
Many of the features and ideas in this series would go on to be used by Gollop in the Laser Squad
and X-COM
series of games. Rebelstar: Tactical Command
, a Game Boy Advance
game released in 2005, was developed by the team behind X-COM. It shares the Rebelstar name as well as many gameplay similarities, but is neither a remake of nor a sequel to the original. Two other related games made by the same developer and sharing the same mechanics but in a fantasy setting are Chaos
and Lords of Chaos
.
Rebestar Raiders was originally released for the 48k ZX Spectrum in 1984 by Red Shift Ltd, a war games publisher who had also released Gollop's space strategy game, Nebula. It was written in BASIC
BASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
.
Raiders does not feature a computer-controlled opponent, so is strictly a two-player game. It includes three different scenarios, the maps for which are loaded in as a screen datum; thus the playing area is limited to the size of the screen. In each scenario, each player's units are deployed manually before play commences.
Combat can either be melee or ranged, which takes into account limited ammunition and line-of-sight. Damage is taken from a unit's endurance statistic. If this is reduced below one fifth of its initial value, the unit is seriously wounded. If reduced to zero, the unit is destroyed. Units also have skill and armour values.
Scenarios
The first scenario, Moonbase, is the beginning of a storyline that runs through the whole series. The Raiders are attempting to destroy a vast organisation based on a planet called Pi. Before any of the Raiders ships can land on Pi, the planetary defenses on the moon, Spyder, must be destroyed.One player controls a squad of 24 raiders, who are led by "the first of the Capricorn clones", Joe Capricorn. The Raiders' squad also includes Captain Krenon, a character who features in the two later Rebelstar games.
The moonbase, which is disguised as a mining station, is defended by sentry robots, mining robots and auto-guns in pre-set locations, and deployable technicians and security guards.
The Raiders win if one unit can get to the control room and destroy the sensitive equipment there.
In the second scenario, Starlingale, Joe Capricorn, Captain Krenon and a few other survivors have returned to their eponymous escape vessel. The ship is still undergoing hull repairs, and must be defended for twelve turns. The Red Shift player, controlling various robot operatives, must destroy the two Navcomps on the bridge to prevent takeoff.
The Raider's units include the pre-deployed Starlingale pilots and "plod-bots", 14 deployable raiders, with 8 raiders arriving later as reinforcements.
The Red Shift Operatives include "Zorbotrons" (armed with gas bombs), "fly-bots" (armed with zeekers), "Slavers" (with las-whips), a mining robot and two security guards.
The third and final scenario, The Final Assault, has the Starlingale join the Freedream on the surface of Pi. The Raiders must destroy eight parts of the Main-Comp in an underground shelter.
Critical reaction
CRASH magazine noted the detailed blueprint-style maps and their flexible layout and the strategic mix of different weapon types and unit deployment. However, the sound effects were deemed irritating, and the packaging amateurish.Rebelstar
Game mechanic
Game mechanics are constructs of rules intended to produce an enjoyable game or gameplay. All games use mechanics; however, theories and styles differ as to their ultimate importance to the game...
s. Only one map was available.
Morale, stamina and encumbrance are new statistics for units, and ranged fire has the option of fast snapshots or more action-point consuming aimed shots. In addition, an "opportunity fire" system allows a player to interrupt their opponents turn with pre-targeted shots.
Objects are more interactive than in Raiders, with units able to drop or collect weapons, ammunition, dead bodies, and other items. Some types of terrain may provide cover and slow units down. Wreckage of droids and dead bodies also cause partial obstructions.
The objective for the Raiders in Rebelstar is to destroy ISAAC, the computer responsible for breaking the Raiders' secret codes. The game can be won either by destroying ISAAC's central core, or by eliminating all enemy forces in the base. The player can gain reinforcements by destroying three Laser Defence Computers located around the base; this allows reinforcements to arrive a few turns later.
In the single player version, the difficulty level can be set from one to eight, each level increasing the number and power of the droid forces. The game has a built-in time limit, and the Raiders automatically lose if they fail to achieve either of their objectives within the time limit.
Critical response
CRASHCRASH (magazine)
Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...
magazine awarded Rebelstar 93%, making it a Crash Smash. The reviewer was impressed with the fast pace, challenging difficulty level, and clear graphics. The character graphics and individual morale and skills were felt to contribute towards the game's atmosphere. The reviewer pointed out some similarities with Snapshot, a module for the 1977 Game Designers' Workshop
Game Designers' Workshop
Game Designers' Workshop was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers.-History:Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973...
role playing game Traveller
Traveller (role-playing game)
Traveller is a series of related science fiction role-playing games, the first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop and subsequent editions by various companies remaining in print to this day. The game was inspired from such classic science fiction stories as the Dumarest saga series by...
.
Rebelstar was also ranked as the second greatest Spectrum game of all time by Your Sinclair: Stuart Campbell held Rebelstar as an example of how the wargaming genre could be "an experience unrivalled for thrills by all but the most adrenalin-pumping blaster". Both Your Sinclair and Crash praised the decision to release the game at the budget price of £1.99.
Rebelstar II
Rebelstar II was published in 1988 on Telecomsoft's Silverbird label (their rebranded budget range). Again, it was programmed by Julian Gollop, with Ian Terry providing graphical assistance.The scenario takes place on the planet of Thray 6, on which an alien race is threatening Rebelstar. The Raiders' objective is to kill aliens, kill the alien queen, and capture alien eggs. The Raiders have a set escape window, with their shuttle landing on turn 15 and taking off on 26. At that point, the game ends and victory points compared.
The left half of the map is an outdoor environment, with bushes, trees, rivers and marshes. The Alien's fortress lies to the right; the aliens are predominantly armed with bows and arrows (in the two-player version) or "terminator" guns (in the one-player version). The alien queen herself can fire a short-ranged but deadly acidic spit.
Critical reaction
CRASH awarded Rebelstar II an overall 90%, highlighting the excellent graphics and engrossing gameplay: "it can all get very exhilarating to see laser bolts flying back and forth, occasionally missing by pixels."Similarities with the film Aliens
Aliens (film)
Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, and Bill Paxton...
were pointed out, with the visual appearance of the antagonists, the storyline, and the names of some of the Raiders: "This is a game to appeal not only to strategists, but also fans of the Alien movies and in fact anyone who enjoys a really good - and very tense - game."
Related games
All three games in the series were re-released as part of The Rebelstar Collection, a compilation of Gollop's games published in 1991 by Mythos GamesMythos Games
Mythos Games is a defunct British video game developer company founded by Julian Gollop.-Games developed by Mythos Games:* Rebelstar II * Laser Squad * Lords of Chaos * Magic & Mayhem -External links:*...
. This compilation also included Chaos
Chaos (video game)
Chaos: The Battle of Wizards is a turn-based tactics computer game which was released on the ZX Spectrum in 1985. It was written by Julian Gollop and originally published by Games Workshop.-History:...
and Nebula.
Many of the features and ideas in this series would go on to be used by Gollop in the Laser Squad
Laser Squad
Laser Squad is a turn-based tactics computer game, originally released for the ZX Spectrum and later for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Amiga and Atari ST computers, as well as PC computers. It was designed by Julian Gollop and his team at Target Games and published by Blade Software...
and X-COM
X-COM
X-COM is a series of strategy games created by Julian Gollop. In 2010 2K Marin announced the official reboot of the series, entitled simply XCOM. The original game has a cult following.- Original series :...
series of games. Rebelstar: Tactical Command
Rebelstar: Tactical Command
Rebelstar: Tactical Command is a Game Boy Advance turn-based tactical video game developed by Codo Technologies in 2005.The game was created by Julian Gollop, who designed the X-COM games...
, a Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
game released in 2005, was developed by the team behind X-COM. It shares the Rebelstar name as well as many gameplay similarities, but is neither a remake of nor a sequel to the original. Two other related games made by the same developer and sharing the same mechanics but in a fantasy setting are Chaos
Chaos (video game)
Chaos: The Battle of Wizards is a turn-based tactics computer game which was released on the ZX Spectrum in 1985. It was written by Julian Gollop and originally published by Games Workshop.-History:...
and Lords of Chaos
Lords of Chaos (video game)
Lords of Chaos is a turn-based tactics video game, published in 1990 by Blade Software. It is the sequel to Chaos and an ancestor of the popular X-COM series of games, also written by Julian Gollop. In Lords of Chaos each player controls a wizard who can cast various magic spells...
.
External links
- Rebelstar series at MobyGamesMobyGames-Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...
- A Java remake of the Spectrum versions of RebelStar I and II