Starflight™ 1+2

I bought SF1 DOS when it shipped--how time flies when you are playing games!--in either '87-'88, can't recall any closer than that! Where the graphics were of course sparse at the time--utterly basic--my imagination kicked into overdrive and filled in all of the missing graphical information wonderfully...;) (Like what happens when you read a good book, etc.) To this day my wife remembers the *huge* difference in how I described the game to her when playing it originally--and in what she actually saw onscreen when I showed it to her. This game will take you places you've never been before--through nebulae, countless charted star systems, wormholes, and contact with alien life--some benign, some funny and quite stupid, and some as malevolent as you might imagine, etc. I still have the original SF1 star charts and wormhole locator printed and on my wall in my computer room today! The game has really never let go of me. The plot of the game is fantastic--it's a space exploration/detective game-save the galaxy- from a nefarious plot that would destroy it, game--as you move from star system to system uncovering clues. You go only where you want to go when you want to go--no linear path here! You never know what is lurking in the next star system, what native flora and fauna you may uncover. You mine metals and lifeforms for cash, then use that cash to upgrade your ship with engines, armor, and weaponry you may need when hostile lifeforms pull you out of stardrive and want to destroy your ship, etc.! As others have mentioned, the Amiga version of the games are far and away the better versions--mouse interface--proper save-game function via the mouse--ie, no more of the primitive DOS savegame hustle as if you were switching out floppies...;) But I bought the GOG version, too, as I played it first--before I bought Amigas and played the games there. Both SF1/2 *scream* to be remastered--can't believe it has yet to happen!

For decades, I listed this as my #1 favorite game of all time. This was the very first computer game (IBM PC version) that I ever convinced my mom to buy for me, back in 1986 after seeing an advertisement on the back cover of Compute! magazine. I only had a CGA video card (3 colors + a background color) but I would've given anything to have had a 16-color EGA card to play this game. Alas. I tried to replay it recently, however, and my it has not aged well due to the clunky graphics and interface. I've seen numerous remaster attempts and sequel attempts over the years just all eventually fall to the wayside; I doubt anyone could ever truly recapture the magic of the first in the series... the story was superb and there's never been quite a feeling again like being thrust out into the great black deep with nothing but a paper starmap to guide your way (and a poorly trained navigator to lose it)... the first time your ship is stopped by an alien race out in the middle of nowhere, just wow. This game is a large part of the reason I went into the IT profession.

If I had to name one game that changed my life and made me a lifetime gamer, it is Starflight I. There had been nothing like it, and other than Starflight II there has been nothing close to it. Even Star Control really just didn't have the same feel of an open sand box space exploration game to me. I have always wanted a modern game like this, but they never come close. Managing your crew, expanding your ship, colonizing worlds, Alien diplomacy.

I've been looking for "a game like Starflight" for 34 years now. Starflight is the benchmark that all actual Star Trek games should be aiming for. Everything is there; exploring hundreds if not thousands of procedurally generated strange new worlds; you collect and discover new life and new civilizations. You have to discover the mystery behind the cause of a galactic armageddon, with a surprise finale that is up there with the best that Star Trek ever offered. The game allows you to freely explore an open galaxy with hundreds of star systems and thousands of planets, and yet the game lays the breadcrumbs for you to find incredible discoveries that reliably move the plot along. If you've been hoping for a Star Trek game like this, I fear you'll be waiting for a long time. Star Trek games have always been so overproduced, so top-heavy with graphics and adherance to canon that it gets in the way of a game that should be all about exploration and first contact with alien species. That's what Starflight does in abundance, and better than any Star Trek game out there.

I didn't care much for Starflight 2 as they tried to go all Wing Commander instead of RPG. SF1 however is the best of the series. I would love to see a modern version of this as I think this game gave us our real first sandbox in PC Gaming. You can go anywhere and do anything as long as you had the fuel to do it. The plot twist at the end was also unexpected. Minor hint: As long as you stay away from Uhlek space, you will have a great time. Uhlek space can be a quick death even if you are decked out in class 5 equipment. Dealing with one or maybe 2? You can probably take them on, but they always like to show up in groups.