I know that Startopia isn’t really that old, at least it certainly doesn’t look like it was released in 2001. But Mucky Foot did release the game in 2001, and I’ll say that it has aged very well over the years, certainly much better than most games. For Startopia still looks quite good.
For those of you who don’t know, Startopia is a simulation game wherein the player takes the role of an administrator on a space station. In the single player campaign the player is tasked with rebuilding and repairing the various space stations according to his/her employers wishes. One mission might have you build a strong and profitable trading port, and the next one, a correctional facility for rowdy aliens.
So far I’m up to mission five of the campaign and have been enjoying the game a lot. The graphics are still top notch, the humour is excellent, the talking AI which assists you on your missions has a very cool personality(sarcastic bastard!). The design of the buildings and rooms are good as are the varied missions.
As with all games, Startopia has its flaws as well. For one, I really dislike the main menu music, or for that matter most of the music used in the game as it gets very repetitive very quickly.
The other thing that annoys me somewhat is lack of miscellaneous information in the interface. For example it would be great to know the usage of a berth, be it percentage wise, or maybe even something that tells me how long the waiting times are if there are queues of aliens waiting to sleep in the berth. As it is right now, I have no real way of telling if the berth is too small or not, without carefully looking at its use all the time.
It’s a shame that Mucky Foot Productions (formed by ex-Bullfrog employees) has been out of business since 2003 already, otherwise I would have sent them a list of suggestions for Startopia 2, a game that I would definitely look forward to. But Startopia is already a great game that was really under appreciated and badly promoted by Eidos, I even hear that it’s quite hard to get a copy these days.
But if you see one kicking about in a bargain bit, or the oldie section, make sure to pick it up. It’s well worth whatever budget price they are asking for it these days.