3D Starstrike

3D Starstrike by Ian Oliver, Andy Onions & Graeme Baird

... suddenly there were the Outsiders. Appearing in massive fleets on the edge of the galaxy they seemed uninterested in conquest, only destruction. Earth's fleets decimated and the Federation lay on the brink of collapse. In desperation Federation Command chose to strike directly at the Outsider control centres. These immense bases were constructed within hollowed out moons.

To destroy them required a direct hit on the base's reactor systems at the very centre of the moon. The only access to the reactor chamber was through two cooling ports within the base's equatorial duct. To reach these, however, an attacker was forced to run the gauntlet of the base's heavy ground and space defences. To penetrate these a new generation of starfighters was created - the STARSTRIKE series...

Based on the extremely successful Star Wars arcade cabinet, 3D Starstrike was pretty accurate for what was a very complex game at the time. Unlike many of the other 3D games being released at the time, accuracy and strategy were jettisoned in favour of old fashioned, blasting fun.

Still plays a good game now and stands up well against the official Star Wars release on the CPC despite being released almost three years before it!

3D Starstrike was set to be the first in a series of 3D games for the Leeds based outfit that would all garner good press from the gaming world in general. The Amstrad scene was no different with Amstrad Action firmly in the belief that this was "an outstanding vector graphic shoot-out" praising its "four different and taxing stages" highly. Had the game been covered in the main magazine rather than in the Amsyclopedia section, it would undoubtedly have picked up AA Rave status.

Amtix was not short of praise either describing the game as "probably the best vector graphics game for the Amstrad that should appeal to most people"

• 1. 3D Starstrike (1985)
• 2. Starstrike II (1986)

• Appeared on 10 Computer Hits 2 from Beau Jolly in 1986
• Appeared on Kidsplay from Activision in 1987
• Appeared on Starstrike I & II from Silverbird in 1988

• 3D Starstrike was also released on the 48k Spectrum
• The game was known as 'Starburst' during its developmental phase, a name suggested by future Amtix editor Roger Kean

• Starstrike II (1986) (Ian Oliver, Graeme Baird)
• Starglider (1986) (Ian Oliver, Graeme Baird)
• Starfox (1987) (Ian Oliver)
• Carrier Command (1989) (Andy Onions)

None

• The Amstrad CPC Games Resource

• CPC game base from CPC Power

• 3D Starstrike at World of Spectrum