ELITE (1984)

I wasn't around to play this first time around but when I got my first computer (ZX +2 128k) it was the only game I could be arsed to play. At the time it was a ground breaker. 3D graphics and a never before seen freedom of movement through an incredibly large universe. Elite gave the player more freedom than the ability to customise and equip their ship and particate in a career of their own choice. This was great because it was something that had never been done before, all the space combat games of it's era, and baring in mind this was the mid-eighties were totally linear and there was never any option to change anything within the game.Back in the good old days it would take a player a while to adjust to a game's interface. Elite was no exception, It would take hours of reading the manual before you were prepared to go out into the Elite universe and succeed. Sadly if you were to put Elite in front of todays games players they would give up trying to play it within two minutes because it doesn't give you access to a simple mindless blast. Elite requires you to use your brain to plan your way to succeed. You need to learn which star systems house the goods required and at what prices. You also need to know which routes are safest. A game that includes combat, financial management, strategy and playability. But this was only the beginning of what was to come...

Bloody hell! This one was so advanced for it's time, It had me and my mates gobsmacked. It had 100,000,000,000 planets and moons generated to current theories of planet formation. One of the most exciting new features was the ability to fly down to the actual planet surfaces and even fly through various cities. Planets could have several space stations orbiting them. There was also a a massive array of ships and upgrades to toy with.When I first played Frontier it as enough to slow down my Amiga to a crawl, heaven forbid we should fly close to a planet. You would land at a station or starport and the docking fee would be deducted.

You could goto the shipyard and buy new ships, upgrade your ship and get it repaired. Or you could visit the bulletin board and get a job from a client. Jobs include simple deliveries, taxi journies and even assasinations and military missions. Frontier introduced the three Galactic powers to the player, the Federation, The Imperial Empire and The Interpol. Of course these names weren't ripped off from any famous films at all! There's nothing like being caught smuggling just as your leaving a planet, you then have to blast your way through the planetry defences to leave. The 3D engine of the game allows 10s of ships to be on screen at one time leading to some intense battles. This is where the game is at its best. If you just jump into Frontier and expect to become the grand master of the universe you're into a shock.You start the game with a small in-equiped ship that won't keep you alive for long and certainly won't support you in a daring escape should you get caught breaking the law. Also the universe, as in the first game is governed by reputations.

The Elite ranking system. You start off ranked as "Harmless" this means that you are unlikely to get any of the higher payed jobs, the military will laugh at you should you approach them for work and you will appear an easy target for pirates. By showing valour in combat and ranking up some kills your elite ranking will increase thus building respect amongt the inhabitants of the universe. By trading or whatever means you choose you can acquire money to upgrade or even by a new ship. Eventually you can have a ship with a Class 8 Drive, 10 shield generators, 12 crew members and 4 30mw gun turrets. Then you are prepared to take on the entire universe and a force to be reckoned with. Of course this will do little to prepare you for...

FRONTIER : FIRST ENCOUNTERS (1995)

And on the seventh day god created FFE. I'm still playing this and I believe this to be the greatest game of all time. Okay so when it was first released it was bugged to hell but with it fully patched it is truly the most engrossing game ever. It took Frontier, and knowing you don't need to fix what ain't broke just added some new features. The planets were no longer flat and barren, they were textured wih polygon based surfaces, you could fly through canyons take cover in the clouds.Then there was probably the greatest addition you could ask for. The universe had it's own political disputes, wars and happenings. During my time playing I've been one of the most wanted criminals ever to the greatest hero of all time. From assassin to the freedom fighter Dantara Rast to the man who made contact with the ancient Thargoid race.

There are some awesome ships in the game, The Turner's Quest and the Thargoid destroyer both being under your control should you make a name for yourself. The main problem is should you annoy a certain military power enough they will hunt you to the end of time. On a mission to take recconaisance photos of an Imperial base I missed the defence satellite with my missile. With the Imperials alerted to my presence I found I was to be hunted non-stop for the next year through every system I visited even when I was thousands of light years from any starbase. Of course they were no match for my near indestructable ship but they really pissed me off. This is most likely a bug that was never addressed. FFE really gives you the impression that you are having an impact on the universe especially when your actions can lead to the outbreak or the resolution of a war.

Sadly after this the Frontier saga ended and all that remains is a string of poor efforts by other games companies with the latest being the diabolical X-Beyond the Frontier. There was a project being carried out somewhere called "The Elite Project" which was looking real promising but when I last saw it it was in such early stages it wasn't worth touching. I'm gonna find the site again and I'll link to it as soon as possible. Until then please feel free to download an of the Elite games or resources from this site. Everything you need to play and become a master at Elite is here!